Upgrades - donor.com

Maintenance Window Process

Large complex systems are always being updated -- somtimes for new features and sometimes for bug fixes. But without good processes, it is possible for one set of changes to introduce unexpected, and undesirable, side effects. Knowing this, DonorWare has policies and processes in place to minimize the potentially negative effects of changes to our environment.

All hardware and software changes to our production environments must go through an internal Maintenance Window process:

A detailed plan needs to be prepared in advance. This execution plan identifies:
1. each task to be performed
2. a list of potential risks
3. contingency plans to deal with each risk
4. tests to be performed to verify success
5. a rollback threshold at which time the Maintenance window should be abandoned
6. a rollback plan to restore the affected systems to pre-Maintenance Window conditions
The plan must be approved by a donor.com executive
Advance Notifications need to be sent out at least 24- hours in advance to potentailly affected clients
The Maintenance Window is peformed or rolled-back according to the plan
A Completion Notice is sent to the potentially affected clients letting them know the results of the Maintenance Window.
If any unexpected problems occured during the window, an internal debrief is performed to help us learn and adapt our process for the future.