Introduction to Release Management

This help article is split into six sections. Click the links below to navigate to the relevant section:

Workflow overview |  Publish multiple items in one release  |  Release notes and news items  |

Edit release notes  |  View version control information  |  Disable release management  |

Applicable to	Centro QMS/QMS Starter, Centro KMS
NOT applicable to	Centro ESSENTIALS

Release management features provide you with a version control system that is integrated into your Centro web app. This tool is designed to assist you with your version control requirements and create a structured release management workflow for your organisation.

Release management is a set of features for Centro administrators (users in your organisation that have administrator access in the web app)  that includes: 

 

• a workflow to publish an item (e.g. a policy or process), including draft, review, approve and publish states
• a workflow to delete an item (e.g. a policy or process), including approve deletion and delete on publish states
• a workflow to publish one item or multiple items at the same time, and automatically create a news item on the Welcome sub-tab 
• version control information/history for each item—this includes changes to both the web-app interface and the PDF documents. 

 

In release management, PROFESSIONAL and BUSINESS customers retain access to all previous web app editing options. 

 

Workflow overview 

Release management workflow refers to the steps that you need to take to finalise and record information about content changes. Content changes include: 

• updates to an existing policy, process, document or role
• creation of a new policy, process, document or role
• deletion of a policy, process, document or role
• updates to, creation or deletion of a work instruction (if you have requested for work instructions to enabled).          

 

Create, edit and publish item

 

There are four key phases in the release management workflow when you are creating, editing and publishing any content. When you enter a new phase by working on a single item you will always see a timeline representing the workflow. This timeline indicates where you are in the workflow. At each stage, you can write and edit the summary of what was/will be changed. 

 

 

Workflow step	Description
Start Editing	An item in this stage is marked ‘Draft’. At this stage you can edit content by making all required changes and/or additions.
Finish All Editing	An item in this stage is marked ‘Awaiting approval’. You can either approve the document (if you agree with all changes) or revert it back to the ‘Draft’ state to make further changes.
Approve	An item in this stage is marked ‘Ready to Publish’. You can either publish the document (if you agree with all changes) or revert it back to the ‘Daft’ state to make further changes.
Publish	An item this stage is marked ‘Published’. It is online and available for non-administrators to view. If you have assigned the content to a specific role, only people that have that role within the system can view the content.

 

IMPORTANT

Review your content carefully at every stage. Once you have reached the end of the workflow and published your content, you cannot revert the item to an earlier version (e.g. if you have fully published version 3 of a policy, you will not be able to revert to version 2 within the web app).

 

Tip

BUSINESS customers requiring content migration services from Centro can have their content migrated in the following states:  Draft Awaiting approval Published.

 

Delete content  

Document deletion within release management is subject to a workflow similar to that which determines content editing and creation. It is comprised of three key steps. 

IMPORTANT

Once approved and confirmed, all deletions are permanent.

 

Workflow step	Description
Delete	Content in this stage is marked ‘Awaiting Delete Approval’. You can either approve it for deletion or reverse the deletion.
Approve deletion	Content in this stage is marked ‘Delete on Publish. If you agree that the item should be deleted, you can finalise the deletion. At this stage, you still have the option to revert the deletion if required.
Delete on publish	Content in this stage is permanently removed from the system. It will not be visible to any users.

 

Publish multiple items in one release  

While you can publish each update/deletion individually, you can also make multiple changes at the same time. If all the changes are published at the same time, they are part of the same release. 

Access the Home tab and click Manage Changes to view all items within the system that are pending deletion/publication. Use the top bar to manage item changes. 

Button	Description
Revert Delete/Revert to Draft	If the item on which you have clicked is marked ‘Delete on Publish’ you can reverse the deletion. If the item is marked ‘Ready to Publish’ you can revert it to a draft.
Open	Open the item and view content.
View Change Details	View the summary of what was changed (for each individual item).
Approve	The option to approve single items for publication.
Publish	Publish all items in one release, write release notes and create a news item about the release.

 

Release notes and news items  

When you are about to publish an item (or several items), you are asked to write Release notes. Release notes are a record of all the content changes you have made (e.g. added a new policy, deleted a document, updated a process) as well as reasons for the changes. 

Tip

You can edit your release notes later if required. See Edit Release Notes in this guide.

 

To notify users about the release tick Post a News Item about this when the items are published. If this is selected, a news item appears in the Home tab of your Centro Web app. Tick Include a link to the Release Summary to link the release notes to the news item. 

You can also send an email notification to all activated web app users in your organisation by ticking Email all users when this News Item is Published. 

 

Edit release notes

Release notes are a summary of all the updates you have made to content in your web app. Every time you publish a new item (or items), you can write release notes. Once your item/s have been published and release notes completed, you have the option to edit these release notes.

 

1. There are two ways to access the editing functionality for release notes:

• If you have created a news item for the release notes, access the Home tab and find the release note under News & Updates. Double click on the release note.
• If you have not created a news item, access the Admin tab and click the Publication History subtab. Find the relevant release and double click it.

 

2. Click Edit Label to edit the title of the release. 

3. When you are done editing, click Save to commit changes.

 

4. Click Edit Notes to edit the title of the release. 

 

5. Click Save to commit changes.

 

View version control information 

 

As part of release management, you have access to version control information about each item in your web app. This information is automatically generated when you edit, approve and publish items.

 

Version control information can be viewed in different ways.

 

The version number is available in the list view.

 

 

When you open any item, click on the Version subtab. This shows you all version control information for that item.  The information you will see will differ depending on your subscription level. For instance, PROFESSIONAL and BUSINESS customers will see the date the policy was approved within the release management workflow. 

 

Tip

As with other aspects of web app content, you can edit version control information for policies, processes, documents and work instructions (if they are activated for your organisation) using the Version subtab. See guide about editing the relevant content type for more information (e.g. Edit, Review and Approve Policy).

 

 

When you download your content as a PDF, the version control information for each item is available under the heading for that item.

 

 

IMPORTANT

Full control information for our standard content will not appear in the PDF until each item has been edited, approved and published by you.

 

Disable release management  

When you disable release management, all other features will still be available.  

 

IMPORTANT

You cannot disable release management until all unpublished versions (including content that is awaiting approval and publication) are either published or deleted.

 

Overall, we strongly recommend that you carefully consider which option is best suited to your document management practices. Version control is vital for recording content management information and ensuring compliance. 

 

If you change content while working without release management, your version number will not be automatically updated and there will be be no official release notes for your changes. 

 

To disable release management, refer to the steps below.

 

1. Access the Admin tab and click App Settings. 

 

2. Select Unmanaged editing.

 

3. A warning message appears. Click Continue to disable release management. This may take over a minute. To re-enable release management, return to App settings and select Release management. 

For more information about release management and all other features, please visit the Manage Content (Release Management) group in this Support Portal.