Software Build and Release Specialist

Numerous times in the past as well as recently my SCM group have ran into service related problems with the company’s IT.  The underlying concern is where do we draw the line of support between SCM and IT when the build farm servers need servicing.  In particular, when important reporting/build servers crashes which dramatically affects development, who should be responsible for the on-call duties?

There really isn’t one clean cut solution that will work for anyone because this largely depends on your organization’s structure and relationship with the IT group.  What has worked for me in the past SCM group was drafting then approving a service agreement with IT. In it, we specifically address the following questions:

1. What is expected of them?
2. How urgent each request should be classified?
3. What is the reasonable response time?
4. Which personnel resources are available?

If establishing a service agreement is too formal, and you don’t believe in the CYA (cover your ass) route then your team must have a rotational on-call support where at any given time you’ll have a point-of-contact SCM person.