Concepts: Promotion Method
Topics
Definition 
As the project progresses and the quality and stability of baselines improve. A promotion level is an attribute of a baseline that is used to indicate its quality or stability. Baseline attributes and levels can be defined by the project, however, some example promotion levels are the following:
- Integration Tested
- System Tested
- Acceptance Tested
- Production
The levels are ordered to reflect progression from the lowest to the highest quality. The act of changing the promotion level of a baseline is called promoting or demoting the baseline.
Explanation
On occasion, the configuration manager may need to demote a baseline by changing its promotion level to one that is lower in the promotion level order. For example, the integrator may discover a a major bug in a newly created baseline. To prevent developers introducing this bug into their development workspaces, the baseline could be labeled as rejected.
Use
The recommended baseline represents a system configuration that has achieved a specific promotion level. A baseline becomes part of the set of recommended baselines when it is promoted to a certain level, for example, TESTED. Promotion levels can be used in project development policies. For example, a project policy could state that a given baseline is the recommended baseline when it reaches a particular promotion level. This policy helps to ensure that developers rebase their work areas whenever a baseline passes an acceptable level of testing.
