Plan software release implementation

Variants for Software Releases

Before moving to a full implementation for variants in your production library, create a prototype plan and sample book for using variants, and test it thoroughly. Only proceed with your full implementation when the prototype meets your requirements.

Step 1. Planning

  • Start by identifying the parts of your content where you can use variants.
  • Consider the criteria necessary for each release and the fall-back requirements for your published content. For example, if there are no changes for a specific area of the product in the new release, should the deliverable include the content from the previous release?
  • Do you have any requirements for special releases, such as client specific development or branched builds?

Step 2. Testing your sample variant objects

  • Identify the objects in a book that require an update for each release. These are the objects - most often topics and images - that you can update using variants.
  • As you make changes to the product, or new functionality is introduced, the structure of your content may change. For example, you may need to delete content from a specific release, or you may need to add new content from a specific release. Make sure each object is tagged with variant criteria values for the appropriate release.
  • Use the book filter to view the content for each release. If content is missing, check the criteria values that have been assigned to the affected objects.
  • Publish the book and check that all of the expected content appears. Check the criteria values assigned to the affected objects.