Release Management

Release Management is the process of taking design data through formal review and approval gates, locking the approved revision against further unsanctioned change, and publishing it to downstream consumers — manufacturing, suppliers, service, and ERP. It transforms work-in-progress engineering data into a controlled, citable baseline.

Scope

A typical release walks a part or document through stages such as in-work, in-review, released, and obsolete, with role-based approvals at each gate. Release rules enforce lifecycle states on related artifacts (drawings, simulation results, 3D models, BOMs) and trigger downstream notifications, exports to ERP, or supplier package generation.

Relationships (see sidebar)

• Realizes Time to Market and IP Protection.
• Supported by logical capabilities such as Workflow Engine and Document Vault.
• Tightly coupled with Change Management (ECO/ECN) and Configuration Management.