In order for this to work most efficiently, it is important that we understand some basic concepts and terminology. First, it is important that everyone is working with the same ALM definitions. Remember that these definitions are specific to ALM. An ALM release represents a group of changes that are distributed to the end-users at the same time. Don’t define releases that contain too small of a group of changes. For example, don’t try to keep track of builds given to the testers by development every week. A milestone is a place in the release timeline that signifies the completion of the deliverable. One example of a milestone is when the database design has been completed. A cycle is a set of development and quality assurance efforts that achieve a goal within the release timeline. A release may have multiple cycles, and those cycles may overlap (and typically do). A scope item is a section within the release which defines requirements and their associated tests. For example, you could define a scope item for making sure you can successfully log into the application. Here you would define the requirements for logging into the application and then write the test cases for testing those requirements.

With that understanding of the key terms and concepts, let’s walk through an example of using releases. The first step is to actually create the release structure. The easiest way to do this is to use the project plan, which will contain the start and end dates for the application releases and the different testing cycles. Start by navigating to the releases module that is found under the management bar. This module uses “smart” buttons that prevent you from making mistakes as you work. For example, because you can only place a release inside of an application folder, the release button is not enabled unless you have first selected a folder.

Let’s first create a folder for each of the applications in our project. Select the desired application folder and click the new release button. In the sample screenshot you can see that if your project is connected to a template project you can create releases from the template. You’ll be asked to provide a name for the release and to define its start and end dates. The dates will come from the project plan. Now you should highlight the release that you just created and click the new cycle button. We will give the cycle a name and define a start and an end date. Note that the cycle start and end dates must fall within the release start and end dates.

One final step is to create milestones, which are only available if you have ALM. First, you must give the milestone a name and a due date. Milestones are associated with scope items. Scope items are typically application features, to which we associate related requirements, tests, test sets and defects. Milestones are a component of Project Planning and Tracking and are used with key performance indicators to create a scorecard. This is how milestones can be tracked on a daily basis to determine the overall health of the project and its readiness for deployment.

Remember that project plans are living documents and will often change frequently. The release definition will now contain starting dates, ending dates, and due dates as taken from the project plan. If you find along the way that these dates need to change, please remember to make those changes in the release structure. For example, if a testing cycle is supposed to begin on October 14th but the testing group does not receive the application build until October 30th; we would need to change the defined starting date for that testing cycle. If this change is not made, it will appear that we had the full time available to complete that testing when in reality we were two weeks short.