# How to review a Salesforce release before it reaches production. > Reviewing a Salesforce release with SyncOnAI 360 means comparing the sandbox with production, reading each proposal's named checks, risk, blast radius and validation, approving inside the deploy policy's windows, and keeping a receipt for every deploy with the work items it delivered and its rollback. Source: https://synconai360.com/use-cases/release-review ## Key facts - **1**: View of each change's checks and risk - **12**: Affected components named per proposal - **Every**: Deploy linked to its work items - **30**: Days of Setup Audit Trail read per audit ## Why release reviews miss things A change advisory meeting reviews a list of tickets. What actually differs between environments, and what each change touches, is rarely on the screen. - **Tickets, not changes.** The review sees descriptions, not metadata. - **Environment drift.** Production has changed since the sandbox was refreshed. - **Unknown blast radius.** Nobody can say what else each change affects. - **Evidence afterwards.** The record of the release is assembled later. ## How do you see what differs between sandbox and production? Compare metadata between the two orgs to see exactly which components differ. The audit flags production changes made outside the deploy pipeline, so drift is visible before the release overwrites it. - Org comparison - Side-door changes flagged - Drift before release ## What does a reviewer see for each change? Each proposal shows a before and after of every file, the named checks with pass, warn or fail, the overall risk, the policy decision and up to twelve affected components, with a validation against the target org. - Before and after per file - Checks, risk and policy - Blast radius and validation ## How is the release approved? Production needs approved proposals, from a second admin where there are two or more. The deploy policy's freeze windows and required approvers apply, and each proposal explains which rule applied. - Maker-checker - Freeze windows - Rule explained per proposal ## How does the release link to the plan? Work items on project boards link to the proposals and deploys that delivered them, so the release can be read as the list of work it completes, and the board shows what actually shipped. - Work items linked to deploys - Release as completed work - Board shows what shipped ## What record does a release leave? A receipt for every deploy, with the request, checks, approver and time, and rollback to the recorded previous version. Deploy results can post to Slack as they happen, and the activity log records deploys across the workspace. - Receipts - Slack results - Activity log ## What should a release review check first? Whether production has changed since the release was built. Compare the sandbox with production, and read the audit's change checks for side-door edits and recently deactivated validation rules. A release built on a stale sandbox can overwrite a fix nobody recorded. Then work through the proposals by risk, high first, reading each one's checks and affected components. - Production drift first - Side-door edits - Highest risk first ## How to review a release 1. **Compare.** See what differs between sandbox and production. 2. **Review.** Read each proposal's checks and blast radius. 3. **Approve.** Approve inside the policy's windows. 4. **Deploy.** Ship with receipts and Slack results. 5. **Report.** Point the release report at receipts. ## A release review, tickets versus evidence | Without | With SyncOnAI 360 | |---|---| | Reviewing ticket descriptions | Reviewing the actual changes | | Drift found after release | Environments compared first | | Blast radius unknown | Affected components named | | Evidence assembled later | Receipts as the release happens | ## Release review checklist - [ ] Compare the sandbox with production for drift. - [ ] Check the audit for side-door changes and deactivated validation rules. - [ ] Review proposals highest risk first. - [ ] Confirm every warning, especially access changes, is intended. - [ ] Check test coverage for every proposal with Apex. - [ ] Approve inside the deploy policy's windows. - [ ] Point the release report at the receipts afterwards. ## Who reviews releases - **Release managers.** Run the review from evidence. - **Architects.** Check each change against the design. - **Delivery managers.** See the release as the work it completes. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can we compare a sandbox with production? Yes. Metadata can be compared between orgs or between snapshots. ### Does it catch changes made directly in production? Yes. The audit flags production changes made outside the deploy pipeline. ### What does a reviewer see? Before and after per file, checks, risk, policy decision, affected components and validation. ### Can we enforce a freeze? Yes, with freeze windows in the deploy policy. ### Are releases linked to work items? Work items link to the deploys that delivered them. ### Can results go to Slack? Yes, every deploy result can post to a channel. ### Does it bundle proposals into a named release? Releases are planned on project boards; each proposal deploys and is recorded on its own. ### Is this on every plan? Yes. Every plan includes every feature. ### Can we see recently deactivated validation rules? Yes. The audit flags validation rules that were recently deactivated. ### Who can approve a release? Admins; in multi-admin workspaces, someone other than each change's author. ### Can the review happen without a meeting? Yes. Reviewers read each proposal's checks and blast radius and approve in the workspace. ### Can reviewers see what was asked for? Yes. Each proposal and receipt records the request that produced the change, which matters most for AI-built work. ### Can a release be paused? Yes. A freeze window in the deploy policy blocks deploys until it ends. ### Does it work for releases built outside SyncOnAI 360? The comparison and audit work for any org; the checks, approval and receipts apply to changes shipped as proposals.