{
  "id": "SOP-QA-001",
  "title": "Software Release Quality Assurance Checklist",
  "version": "2.1",
  "status": "effective",
  "effective_date": "2026-01-01",
  "review_date": "2027-01-01",
  "department": "Engineering",
  "category": "Quality Assurance",
  "purpose": "Ensure all software releases meet quality standards before deployment to production.",
  "scope": "Applies to all software engineers, QA engineers, and release managers involved in production deployments.",
  "responsibilities": [
    {
      "role": "QA Engineer",
      "responsibility": "Execute the test plan, document test results, and sign off on release readiness."
    },
    {
      "role": "Release Manager",
      "responsibility": "Coordinate the release schedule, approve deployment, and communicate status to stakeholders."
    },
    {
      "role": "Software Engineer",
      "responsibility": "Resolve defects identified during QA and confirm fixes in staging."
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "step_number": 1,
      "title": "Code Freeze",
      "instruction": "Announce code freeze to all engineering teams. No new features may be merged after this point.",
      "responsible_role": "Release Manager",
      "expected_output": "Code freeze announcement sent; all feature branches merged or deferred.",
      "decision_point": false,
      "cautions": ["Hotfixes for critical security issues may bypass code freeze with manager approval."]
    },
    {
      "step_number": 2,
      "title": "Deploy to Staging",
      "instruction": "Deploy the release candidate to the staging environment using the automated deployment pipeline.",
      "responsible_role": "Release Manager",
      "expected_output": "Release candidate running on staging environment; deployment log saved.",
      "decision_point": false
    },
    {
      "step_number": 3,
      "title": "Execute Regression Test Suite",
      "instruction": "Run the full automated regression test suite against the staging environment. Document pass/fail results.",
      "responsible_role": "QA Engineer",
      "expected_output": "Test report generated with pass rate and list of failures.",
      "decision_point": true,
      "branches": [
        { "condition": "Pass rate >= 98%", "next_step": 4 },
        { "condition": "Pass rate < 98%", "next_step": 5 }
      ]
    },
    {
      "step_number": 4,
      "title": "Conduct Manual Exploratory Testing",
      "instruction": "Perform manual testing of new features and high-risk areas identified in the release notes.",
      "responsible_role": "QA Engineer",
      "expected_output": "Exploratory testing log with any defects filed in the issue tracker.",
      "decision_point": false
    },
    {
      "step_number": 5,
      "title": "File and Triage Defects",
      "instruction": "File defects in the issue tracker. Classify each as Critical, High, Medium, or Low priority.",
      "responsible_role": "QA Engineer",
      "expected_output": "All defects logged and triaged.",
      "decision_point": true,
      "branches": [
        { "condition": "No Critical or High defects", "next_step": 6 },
        { "condition": "Critical or High defects present", "next_step": 3 }
      ]
    },
    {
      "step_number": 6,
      "title": "Release Approval",
      "instruction": "Release Manager reviews test report and approves the release for production deployment.",
      "responsible_role": "Release Manager",
      "expected_output": "Written release approval recorded in the project management system.",
      "decision_point": false
    },
    {
      "step_number": 7,
      "title": "Deploy to Production",
      "instruction": "Execute the production deployment during the scheduled maintenance window.",
      "responsible_role": "Release Manager",
      "expected_output": "Production deployment complete; smoke tests passing.",
      "decision_point": false,
      "cautions": ["Monitor error rates and latency for 30 minutes after deployment."]
    }
  ],
  "author": {
    "name": "Jane Smith",
    "role": "QA Lead",
    "email": "jane.smith@example.com"
  },
  "approver": {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "role": "Engineering Director",
    "approval_date": "2025-12-15"
  },
  "revision_history": [
    { "version": "1.0", "date": "2024-01-01", "author": "Jane Smith", "changes": "Initial document" },
    { "version": "2.0", "date": "2025-01-01", "author": "Jane Smith", "changes": "Added automated regression step" },
    { "version": "2.1", "date": "2026-01-01", "author": "Jane Smith", "changes": "Updated pass rate threshold to 98%" }
  ]
}