Here at Webtrends Optimize our Platform Release Program helps us strive to have an optimisation platform that is always forward thinking and ambitious. Even our clients help drive our roadmap of features and ideas, which they themselves would benefit from using.
We also have a very fluid communication flow within the company and are not a top down organisation. Which means all employees and clients are encouraged to contribute their ideas, which helps keep our Product relevant for all users.
At Webtrends Optimize we follow an Agile methodology for our Product releases. This method allows for requirements to evolve over time through small iteration cycles.
On average we have about 10 projects being worked on at any one time. These can range from brand new features and tools, to smaller usability enhancements.
Our Release Management team is responsible for creating the continuous flow to Production. This helps organise our Product Development team with the priorities for each current release.
Release Management Process
This is the typical process we follow as part of our platform update and release cycle – we are ITIL compliant in terms of Incident, Change and Release management Protocol.
We follow the 6 sub-processes, that enable Release Management to be performed effectively, efficiently, and safely to facilitate the flow of changes into the operations environment. They are:
1.Release Management Support
Set guidelines and support are in place for the deployment of releases. The guidelines define all the roles who are involved in the release. As well as the deployment of a service or component being carried out within the cycle.
2.Release Planning
This stage defines the scope and content of releases according to the Release Management policy. Therefore before we start any development work, we make sure we know what each project scope entails and how the work and QA of it will be completed. This means we can anticipate the completion dates and complexities.
3.Release Build
This is the stage when all release components / projects are in build. This process deals with the actual development and makes sure that they are ready for validation and testing.
4.Release Deployment
Next when all of the project builds have been QA’d and tested, we then move on to deploying the changes to our live Production environment.
All employees are then shown the new releases within the UAT environment.
This helps train everyone up on the newly released functionality as well as having more people validate the changes before they are released.
5.Early-life (post-release) support
This post-release stage happens straight after the deployment of new releases, to help resolve any operational issues quickly and to remove any remaining errors or deficiencies – should there be any.
This is the time when the Release and Deployment Management team work in parallel with the Incident Management team.
6.Release Closure
This stage ‘formally’ closes a release order and verifying if the activity logs are properly up to date.
You can find all our latest platform releases detailed as an overview within our product help site, as well as receiving direct updates and demonstrations from your Optimisation Consultant if required.
Continuous Improvement
We are in a great position within the online digital space to be on top of the latest website trends as well as testing brand new concepts with our clients before anyone else has thought of an idea or the latest ‘must-have’ comes along.
That’s why we love testing!
Any idea can be created and tested to see if it’s something your customers even want to see and use on your website, before the idea has even been considered elsewhere.
If we prove that it is a valid idea, and there is demand, we will build it as a tool within our platform. This then means that all our clients can benefit from these new features and can manage these all via Webtrends Optimize, without having numerous vendors to manage.
We have done this many, many times and it’s where tools such as our Product Recommendations and Social Proof engines originally came from. And if at first you’re unsure how it will work for you – test it!
In Conclusion
I hope this post details a few insights into the agile, but extremely detailed, way we work here at Webtrends Optimize. Not only from a Product release perspective but also expanding on the vision we have of creating a testing and personalisation platform to caters for all your CRO needs!
If you would like any more information please do get in touch we would love to hear from you.
