The FINAL Product Release Checklists can be found in Hermes at: http://kb.mit.edu/confluence/x/bgK9
To construct your personalized release checklist, cut and paste each of the nine possible lists that match your criteria into a master checklist for your project. Each checklist category is divided into Low, Moderate, and High levels. If you are undecided on the right level, you should round up (That is, if you are torn between a Low or Moderate level, go for Moderate.).
Resources Required for the Release |
Low Resources |
Moderate Resources |
High Resources |
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Based on the number of personnel required to perform the release; not the whole project team; low, moderate, or high. |
Release is performed by an INDIVIDUAL staff member or equivalent within the context of existing assignments and responsibilities. No separate budgeting and resource allocation is usually done for this level. Time is usually measured in DAYS.
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Release usually performed by a SINGLE TEAM with contacts into other parts of the organization and into business stakeholder groups. Often involves formal resource allocation and an ad-hoc release team. Projects in this category may involve software licenses and other materials and services budget items. Time is usually measured in WEEKS.
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May involve an entire ORGANIZATION of project teams, release teams, and transition teams, staff in many parts of the organizations, consultants, formal budgets usually accounted for as part of IS&T’s central budgeting process, significant licensing, materials and services, and capital budgets; time is usually measured in MONTHS or YEARS.
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Impact to the MIT Community |
Low Impact |
Moderate Impact |
High Impact |
How much of the MIT Community will your project affect and how much will they be affected? |
LOW impact confined to behind the scenes, internal areas of IS&T, and business support groups; little to no customer-facing impact.
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LOCAL or bounded to small group, roles, or department; group of customers of service or product, while it may be significant in size, is usually within a specific domain with well-established communications channels; we know who uses product or service and how they will react to changes.
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WIDE impact to large segments of the MIT community, often with incomplete understanding of precise impact and user base, and without complete communication channels into community segments; customers often rely on affected products and services for their day-to-day work.
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Risk to IS&T |
Low Risk |
Moderate Risk |
High Risk |
How much will a failure to perform a smooth or seemless release affect IS&T's relationships with our customers? |
Negligible to LOW; service alternatives are readily available, service continuity is not at risk, and changes can be backed out quickly and quietly.
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MEDIUM, with failures of potentially significant impact but affecting a limited audience; contingency and roll-back checklists are needed, but can be executed and communicated quickly in the event of a problem; limited, well-understood downtime is generally acceptable to stakeholders and customers.
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HIGH risk is involved at this level; failures will have significant negative impact on IS&T’s reputation and customer’s ability to get work done; formal mitigation plans, fully tested and approved contingency plans, and communications plans in the event of failures are called for.
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