This article explains what happens at each stage of the Lumary CM release cycle.
A release is a major update to Lumary CM that includes:
- new features
- improvements, and
- fixes.
Releases occur 3 to 4 times per year, depending on the scope of work included in each release.
The release process is supported by a live status page. Find out about the status of our next release.
A release cycle is made up of:
- developing and testing updates
- deploying to sandboxes
- reviewing and resolving issues
- updating production environments, and
- finalising the release.
Developing and testing updates
At the beginning of each release cycle, the Lumary team considers:
- requirements of the industry
- outstanding feature requests
- suggestions for improvements, and
- known issues that cannot be addressed in a patch release.
This guides the development of new features and improvements for inclusion in the upcoming release.
Rigorous testing is applied throughout development and prior to deployment into sandboxes for customer testing.
Deploying to sandboxes
New releases are deployed to sandboxes in the weeks prior to the release to production environments. We’ll let you know in advance when this will occur so that you can begin to plan your testing approach.
Reviewing and resolving issues
Test, test, test!
During the weeks prior to the production release, we review and resolve issues raised during sandbox testing. This is your opportunity to raise any unexpected issues caused by the new features or improvements included in the upcoming release. We strongly encourage you to take this time to test, as this helps uncover issues before they affect your live data.
We prioritise the resolution of issues raised through this process based on their potential business impact and their complexity. Issues that cannot be immediately resolved are added to a known issues repository and considered for upcoming patches or future releases.
The Lumary team will continue to test throughout this period. However, you're best placed to test your business processes against new features and improvements.
Please be aware that during this stage, we only work on resolving issues caused by the new release with existing Lumary functionality. We do not work on:
- new feature requests that arise from testing, or
- issues caused by customisations applied by a third-party or where the warranty of support has expired.
If work is required to repair customised functionality, it:
- will be assessed as a separate project
- may incur a cost, and
- will not be part of the release process timeline.
Updating production environments
After the review stage, we begin to apply the release to production environments. This includes businesses who have indicated that they’ve tested the changes and are happy to receive the release and any businesses who have not responded.
For businesses who have uncovered critical issues or who have internal IT processes that require a specific release date, we’ve included a brief window for deferment. To access the deferment window, arrangements must be made with the Lumary Customer Success and/or Delivery Team.
Finalising the release
The final stage of a release is where we finalise business critical issues raised with the release and update all outstanding production environments. It includes the updating of any environments that have been accepted for the deferment window.
At the end of this stage, all production environments are on the latest release version.