ZenQMS - New Versioning Format

Beginning in November 2023, ZenQMS is adopting a new versioning format for its software updates. The goal is to simplify the version numbers so they align with industry standards and clearly define what end users should expect from any new updates.

ZenQMS previously used the year (e.g. “2023”, followed by an integer (e.g. “.1”), followed by a patch number if necessary (e.g. “P1”). This led to release numbers like “2023.1” for a major release, “2023.1p1” for minor releases and emergency releases. The disadvantage of this approach was that users could not differentiate between “minor” releases and “emergency” or “patch” releases, and it took some learning to familiarize yourself with this format when beginning with ZenQMS. 

Moving forward, ZenQMS will follow the Semantic Versioning approach to its software updates so they will appear as follows:

• Major Release: 
  • Scope: New features/functionality
  • Timeline for announcement: 30 business days notice provided before the release
• Minor Release:
  • Scope: Improvements to existing features/functionality, or deprecations of existing features/functionality
  • Timeline for announcement: 10 business days notice provided before the release
• Patch Release:
  • Scope: Bug fixes
  • Timeline for announcement: no guarantee of advance notice will be provided. Notice will be provided as soon as possible, but could be hours or days before the release.

The current version of our software has changed from 2023.3p3 to 26.1.1 as a result. We will not be updating the version number of the footer of the application until the next release.

To further clarify this, let’s look at some examples in the future. Following 26.2.0, if the next release is a patch release, the next version number will be 26.2.1. If the next release is a minor release, the next version number will be 26.3.0. And lastly, if the next release is a major release, the next version number will be 27.0.0. 

This information will also be contained in our internal SOPs and the Quality Technical Agreement will be updated. For more information, please reach out to qa@zenqms.com .