Application Release Manager 2.0

Application Release Manager (ARM) is a flexible, workflow-driven, Web 2.0-enabled
solution for end-to-end software release management. ARM organizes the business
aspects of application development, enabling better alignment between IT and the
mission of the organization. With ARM, you can do the following:

• Track requests for change (RFCs)
• Organize requests for change into releases and units of development work
• Allocate units of development work across multiple SCM systems
• Track business tasks that support release rollout
• Schedule milestones and deployment dates
• Coordinate approvals at each step of the lifecycle
• Monitor progress for units of work and the release as a whole
• Manage multiple releases concurrently and efficiently

Whether you are developing a complex new release or just rolling out a patch, ARM
provides end-to-end process control across the software release lifecycle.

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High Level Architecture

- Functional Architecture

- Structural Architecture

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ARM Components Overview

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Workflow Objects

ARM workflow objects are the items created within and transitioned step by step through the release management workflow. Workflow objects also include the SCM objects, such as ChangeMan ZMF change packages and Dimensions CM requests, which are managed by ARM indirectly.

Workflow objects are related to each other and to their corresponding SCM objects
hierarchically.

• A release calendar is a parent object to one or more release packages (RPs). RPs inherit timeline information from their parent release calendar.
• A release package (RP) is a parent object to one or more release units (RUs). RUsinherit default RFC assignments and timeline information from their parent RP.
• A release unit (RU) is a parent object to one or more Work Change Requests (WCRs).WCRs inherit RFC and timeline information from their parent RUs. WCRs of different types may be linked to the same RU.
• A Work Change Request (WCR) has a one-to-one relationship with an SCM item (for example, a ChangeMan ZMF package). The WCR type must match the type of system where the SCM item resides.

There are state transition dependencies between a parent object and its child objects. In general, the parent object cannot advance from one phase of the release lifecycle to the next until all of its child objects have made that transition. Conversely, for some parent objects (but not all), when the last child object makes a lifecycle transition, ARM triggers the corresponding transition in its parent.