Zuora releases explained

Planned major releases

Major releases are deployed once each quarter and include significant updates, new modules, major enhancements, and other significant changes. Four weeks before a major release, code is released into your sandbox environment to provide an opportunity for you to familiarize yourself with the features before they are released to your users in a production environment. You should use this time to test any special integrations or customizations in your instance. The first two weeks of this sandbox window are particularly important for you to report any issues or concerns you find, so that Zuora can address them before the final two weeks in sandbox, when changes are minimized. Smaller defects found after the initial two weeks may be deferred to a subsequent minor release or patch.

• Major release cadence: quarterly in February, May, August, and November

  • Sandbox 4 weeks prior to production deployment

  • Second sandbox release 2 weeks prior to production deployment to address critical customer-reported issues

The quarterly release schedule is available on Zuora Community. See Zuora Release Management.

Planned minor releases

Minor releases may be made monthly, except for 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. Minor releases do not include early access (EA) or general availability (GA) of new features or enhancements. Enhancements that impact the user interface and require training or documentation are avoided when possible, and are instead scheduled for the next major release, or made available privately to targeted customers through the use of feature flags. One week before a minor release, code is released into your sandbox environment for you to perform any final validation required before the production update.

• Minor release cadence: monthly except month of major release, and December or January; up to six per year

  • Release to sandbox 1 week prior to production deployment

Planned patch releases

A patch is a targeted update to address specific bug fixes or security vulnerabilities. Patches are minimally invasive and intended to maintain stability and security. In a patch release, code is released to your sandbox environment six days before production deployment.

• Patch release cadence: 1-3 times per month

  • Release to sandbox 6 days before production deployment, while adhering to quiet periods for production

Unplanned hotfixes

A hotfix is an urgent and unplanned global code fix to address critical issues, or security vulnerabilities that require immediate resolution. Code is released to your sandbox environment the same day as your production environment.

• Hotfix cadence: As needed for critical Incidents

  • Sandbox deployment same day as production deployment