In line with standard industry good practice, we will be implementing a live code freeze over the holiday period this year. During this time, we will not be making any changes to the live environment, except in emergencies, or if it has been pre-agreed as an exception. Please note that this applies only to the live environment, staging/UAT will be unaffected.
What
We will not be deploying any new code to any of our live sites, or making any changes to existing live code during the period of the freeze. Nor will we be making any changes to the hosting environment unless previously planned.
In the event of a service outage, we will continue to resolve issues as normal, and these may require some emergency changes to be made.
Any emergency change required during this window will need full approval from goDonate, and may be declined if we consider it to pose significant risk to service.
We will reserve the right not to deploy outside our code freeze, if there is a conflict with a third party’s change freeze period.
Why
Change freezes are standard practice within the industry when there is a period of reduced availability of support. During the Christmas and New Year holidays, we will be operating with a significantly lower number of staff than usual and we intend to minimize risk by not introducing new changes to the environment during this period.
When
The live change freeze will come into effect at 15:00 on Wednesday 18th December 2024, and will be lifted at 10:00 on Monday 6th January 2025.
We will operate with a reduced number of staff during the week before Christmas, and the week after New Year. Between Christmas and New Year, the office will be closed. However, we will have staff on standby in case of emergency. If your site is down during this period, please email down@godonate.digital.
Summary
| Date | Office | Code freeze | Zendesk monitored |
| Mon 16th December | Normal hours | No | Yes |
| Tue 17th December | Normal hours | No | Yes |
| Wed 18th December | Normal hours | All sites from 15:00 | Yes |
| Thu 19th December | Normal hours | All sites | Yes |
| Fri 20th December | Normal hours | All sites | Yes |
| Mon 23rd December | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Tue 24th December | Early finish – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Wed 25th December | Public holiday | All sites | No |
| Thu 26th December | Public holiday | All sites | No |
| Fri 27th December | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Mon 30th December | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Tue 31st December | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Wed 1st January | Public holiday | All sites | No |
| Thu 2nd January | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Fri 3rd January | Normal hours – reduced staff | All sites | Yes |
| Mon 6th January | Normal hours | Lifted from 10:00 | Yes |
| Tue 7th January | Normal hours | All sites | Yes |