Owning Change in a Continuous Release World

Keep this: job aid

Release owner card

• Keep one annual calendar: SAP release events, internal change windows, freeze periods and your own close dates.
• For each release, read the What's New Viewer (and RASD in Public Edition) filtered to your scope.
• Tag every relevant change: affected process, impact level, regression scenarios to rerun, owner.
• Adopt, defer or decline each optional innovation, with the reason written down.
• After every change, update, add or retire regression scenarios; never let the pack drift from the live process.
• Entry criteria: test system on the new release, impact list closed, test data ready, testers named.
• Exit criteria: all critical scenarios passed, no open severity 1 or 2 defects, workarounds agreed in writing.
• Sign the same release record every time: scope, evidence, open risks, decision, date.
• Track defects per release by severity and root cause; review the trend once a year.