Release Board
Route: /org/resolve/releases · Permission: View the release board and release status.
Planning and scheduling needs Plan, schedule and manage releases.. Editing stages needs
Manage Helpdesk Settings.
1. What a release is
A release is a shipment. It carries approved changes to production together, on a schedule, under one version number.
The distinction that matters: approving a change gives you permission to make it. A release is when it actually happens — and because several changes usually ship together, the release is the unit that gets tested, scheduled, announced and, if necessary, reversed.
| Change | Release | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | One modification | Several changes together |
| Question | May we? | When, and as what version? |
| Gate | CAB approval | Stage progression |
| Identified by | Title | Version number |
| Failure | That change failed | The whole shipment is rolled back |
The page describes itself as "Release orchestration Kanban mapped directly to deployment schedules and change requests."
2. How a release spreads across the application
| Surface | Role |
|---|---|
| Changes | Supplies what ships |
| Releases (this page) | Groups, versions and schedules |
| Stages drawer | Defines the board's columns for the project |
| Resolution Queue | Where regressions arrive afterwards |
3. The screen
| Control | Behaviour | Permission |
|---|---|---|
| Stages | Opens the stage configuration drawer | Manage Helpdesk Settings |
| + Create Release | Opens the create drawer | Plan, schedule and manage releases. |
Columns
Each shows name, count and a collapse chevron. Empty columns read "Drag releases here".
Stages are configured per project. The built-in defaults are Planning · Build & Test · Deployment · Early Support · Closed, but the board above opens with Analysis because this project renamed the first stage.
The board falls back to the defaults only when no stages are configured at all; once a project defines any, only its active stages are shown. So a colleague's screenshot, this documentation and your board can all legitimately disagree. Check Stages before assuming a fault.
A release card
| Element | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title | e.g. Q3 Analytics Dashboard Release |
| Version chip | e.g. V1.0.0 |
| Description | Truncated |
| Date | Scheduled or created |
| Status chip | e.g. DRAFT |
| Link count (🔗) | How many change requests are attached |
| Advance arrow (→) | Moves to the next stage without dragging |
A release with 🔗 0 is an empty container. Before a deployment window, scan the link counts —
that is the fastest way to spot a change that was approved but never attached to anything.
4. Creating a release — the drawer
| # | Field | Control | Required | Values / notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Release Title | Text | ✅ | e.g. "Q3 Analytics & Live Reports Deployment" |
| 2 | Release Version | Text | e.g. v2.1.0. Free text — Orbit does not enforce semver | |
| 3 | Initial Status | Dropdown | Draft · In Progress · Completed · Rolled Back | |
| 4 | Deployment Schedule | Date | When it is due to ship | |
| — | Description | Textarea | What is in it |
Initial Status (Draft, In Progress…) is a property of the release. The stage is which
board column it sits in. A release can be In Progress while sitting in Build & Test. The status
chip is on the card; the stage is the column around it.
Nothing validates the version string. v2.1.0, 2.1, Q3-2026 and final-FINAL are all
accepted. Pick a scheme and hold to it — the version is how this release is referred to in incident
reports for years afterwards.
5. Configuring stages
Stages opens a drawer defining the board's columns — rename, reorder, activate, deactivate. Changes apply to the whole project, for everyone.
Release stages are one of five configurations with a Generate with AI option (Create Service Desk Release flow with AI). It drafts a stage set you then edit — faster than an empty board, and you keep editorial control.
Only active stages render. Deactivating one that still contains releases removes the column from the board while the releases keep their stage value. Move them out first.
6. Don't confuse this with…
| Screen | What it is |
|---|---|
| Release Board (this page) | Shipments — several changes, one version |
| Changes | Individual modifications and their approval |
| Problems | Why any of it is happening |
| Settings → Statuses & Workflows | Ticket statuses. Nothing to do with release stages |
Three configurable lists that sound alike:
- Release stages — the board's columns. Configured in the Stages drawer, on this page.
- Release status —
Draft/In Progress/Completed/Rolled Back, fixed, on the card. - Ticket statuses — the queue's workflow. Settings → Statuses & Workflows. Unrelated.
7. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Columns differ from this page | Stages are per-project; check the Stages drawer |
| Stages button missing | Needs Manage Helpdesk Settings, not just releases.manage |
| A stage vanished | It was deactivated — only active stages render |
| Release shipped but changes still show Approved | Change status is set on the change, not inherited from the release |
🔗 0 on a release you thought was full | Changes were approved but never attached |