Testing Schedule and Policy

[ama178]

All

Does anyone have a formal schedule of testing and an associated policy for it.

 

I have been asked to formalise our testing schedule and was wondering what everyone else does.

 

At the moment I have knocked up a shared calendar that my team populates with roll outs of software and hardware updates.

 

Any advice would be most welcome.

[Gibson335]

For new software install requests we have staff complete a form. We then install and test on a single clean station. If successful we deploy to a small cluster, or a small group within a major room - depending on the staff member. Provided there are no reports of issues, we fully deploy after 10 days.

 

For standard updates, windows/office clients are pushed out via WSUS on a Friday afternoon, we then have automated startup and shutdown over the weekend so's the updates have less impact on users.

 

For other updates, such as Flash, etc, basically we download and test as necessary, and then deploy fully across the live network.

 

Allowing time for issues to present themselves is, I think, critical, before pushing out across the site. Many moons ago we were undone when one of our techs deployed without testing and we had to re-image the entire site...fortunately not as extensive as it is now.