Dear Valued Customers,
In August, we informed you that Zuora is transitioning to a common quarterly release cycle for all its products and services. As a reminder, this new release schedule will give you a greater opportunity to understand the features that are coming and to prepare for their adoption. Sandbox releases will give you nearly a full month to familiarize yourself with the content, as well as an opportunity to perform any of your specific testing of customizations and integrated systems. This is ultimately intended to provide you with an improved overall customer experience.
We're excited to share more details about our release policy, which is designed to keep you informed and enhance your experience with our products. Following are the different types of releases.
Zuora Release Types:
Major Releases: These releases will be deployed once each quarter and include significant updates, new modules, major enhancements, and other significant changes. 4 weeks before a Major Release, code will be released into your Sandbox. This provides an opportunity for you to familiarize yourself with the features before they are released to your users, and it also provides an opportunity for you to test any special integrations or customizations in your instance. Note that the first two weeks of this window are particularly important for you to report any issues or concerns you find so that they may be addressed before the final two weeks in Sandbox, where changes will be minimized. Smaller defects found after the initial two weeks may be deferred to a subsequent minor release or patch.
Minor Releases: These releases may be made monthly (other than the month of the major release or near end-of-year) and include performance improvements, bug fixes, and minor enhancements that have minimal user impact. Enhancements that impact the user interface and require training will be avoided when possible and saved for the next major release or made privately to targeted customers through the use of feature flags. 1 week before a Minor release, code will be released into your Sandbox. This is for any final validation you might need to perform before the production update.
Patch Releases: A patch is a targeted update to address specific bug fixes or security vulnerabilities. It is minimally invasive and intended to maintain stability and security. Code will be released to Sandbox 6 days before production deployment.
Release Cadence
The new release schedule is designed to provide you with predictability and an option to prepare for new features and capabilities. Here's a summary of the new release cadence:
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Major Releases: Quarterly - in Feb, May, Aug, Nov
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Minor Releases: Monthly - six per year (excludes Jan/Dec, and occur intra-quarter)
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Patch Releases: 1-3 times per month
Release Calendar
Zuora's detailed Release Calendar can be accessed on the Zuora Community site Release Management
For more detailed information on our release policies and frequently asked questions, please visit Zuora Releases Explained on the Knowledge Center.
Thank you for your continued support!
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Dawn Greenwood
Zuora
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