Closing a release

Goal. Close a release correctly: record readiness, delivery, and client acceptance, fill in the closing data, and keep history and hours.

Who does it. The project manager.

What you need before starting. The release is at the “In development” stage. Permissions to change releases and tasks.

Time. 20–40 minutes.

Release stages

The standard workflow “Release: Kanban” goes sequentially:

Planned → In development → Ready for delivery → Client acceptance → Closed

More: “Stages and transitions”. In your company the set may differ.

Step 1. Complete the tasks

1. Open the release, the Scope tab.
2. Turn off the Hide final stages switch to see all tasks.
3. For each unfinished task choose a decision:
   • bring it to the Done stage;
   • move it to another release or to the project backlog (the “Release” field in the task card);
   • delete it if the task is not needed.

Step 2. Check the hours

1. Open the release's Tracks tab.
2. Make sure all employees have logged time.
3. Compare Estimate and Spent on the “Overview” tab: the discrepancy gets into the final data.

Reminder: time older than 7 days cannot be logged (“Time tracking”).

Step 3. Move the release to “Ready for delivery”

1. On the Overview tab, in the Stage block, choose “Ready for delivery”.
2. Click Apply transition.

Result. The cabinet records the Readiness date automatically.

Step 4. Hand over to the client

1. In the Dates block, fill in the Delivery date.
2. Move the release to the “Client acceptance” stage.

Step 5. Record the acceptance

1. When the client accepted the work, fill in the Client acceptance date.
2. If an amount and a document are needed, in the Closing block fill in the Closing amount and Act / Invoice.

Step 6. Close the release

1. Choose the “Closed” stage and click Apply transition.
2. Make sure that with “Hide final stages” on the release disappeared from the list, and with it off it is visible at the final stage.

Result. The release is closed. Tasks, hours, and history are kept.

Warning

Do not delete a release instead of closing it. Deletion erases its tasks and hours. Move it to the final stage.

Step 7. Close the project (if it was the last release)

1. Open the project, the Overview tab.
2. Move the project through stages to “Project completed”: for the delivery stages, fill in the dates, amounts, and documents that the cabinet shows.
3. If support is needed after delivery, click Create support project: a linked project with a separate workflow is created.

How to check the result

• The release is at the “Closed” stage.
• The readiness, delivery, and acceptance dates are filled in.
• The release history has records of the transitions.
• The hours on tasks are kept.

Typical mistakes

Situation	Cause	Solution
Cannot move to the next stage	A transition requirement is not met	Fill in the fields the cabinet shows
A field cannot be changed	A workflow lock	Return the release to a stage where the field is open
The release disappeared from the list	“Hide final stages” is on	Turn the switch off

What next

• Creating a project for the next delivery.
• Stages and transitions.