From the Current System Office Information Technology Newsletter
We will begin releasing D2L Brightspace upgrades on a monthly basis starting on July 7, 2015. D2L calls this their “Continuous Delivery” program. This monthly schedule will provide a number of benefits to MnSCU.
Background
Historically D2L has offered upgrades in two forms: 1) the major annual upgrade which we apply annually in May, and 2) service packs, which include smaller enhancements and fixes. In 2014 and 2015, MnSCU accepted the following upgrades from D2L:
- March 24, 2014: SP14
- May 30, 2014: Annual Upgrade to v10.3 SP5
- July 8, 2014: SP6, 7, 8
- September 18, 2014: SP9, 10
- December 30, 2014: SP12, 13
- May 30, 2015: Annual upgrade to v10.4.10
For each release we follow a consistent three-step process of internal testing, campus testing, and then deployment into our production environment for use by all MnSCU schools.
New Monthly Cadence Beginning July 7, 2015
We will begin releasing D2L Brightspace upgrades on a monthly basis starting on July 7, 2015, and the annual upgrades will become a thing of the past. D2L calls this their “Continuous Delivery” program. This monthly schedule will provide a number of benefits:
- Expeditious delivery of security-related upgrades;
- Expeditious delivery of fixes and enhancements;
- Better support from D2L, as compared to a less frequent release schedule.
Our monthly schedule for these releases will continue to use our existing methodology for testing and deployment, as follows (subject to change):
| Stage | Schedule (based upon calendar months) | Description |
| BETA Testing | Tuesday after the first Thursday | Install monthly release in MnSCU’s BETA environment.
· Open to system office staff and select other testers, as needed |
| QA Testing | 3 to 4 weeks prior to production deployment | Apply monthly release to MnSCU’s D2L QA environment.
· Open to all D2L administrators, trainers, and faculty |
| Production Deployment | Second Tuesday, except during semester startup months which will delay at least one week. | Apply the release to our D2L production environment. |
Note: We reserve the right to defer an upgrade if it fails testing or presents a serious user experience concern.
Impact
- We believe that adopting D2L’s continuous delivery program will greatly reduce the duration of downtimes associated with upgrades, and in some cases will eliminate the need for downtimes altogether.
- Campuses will need to communicate more frequently to faculty and students regarding changes.
Contact Info
For more information or to ask any questions you might have, please contact: