Issue tracking systems and methods

1. A computer-implemented method executed by an instance of software instantiated over at least one processor, comprising:

receiving an operation notification from a change requesting system, the operation notification being in respect of a gated operation to be performed by the change requesting system, the gated operation associated with a risk value;

in response to receiving the operation notification:

determining an issue type associated with the gated operation, the issue type associated with a workflow that includes a plurality of workflow states including at least one pending workflow state and at least one operation resolution workflow state;

automatically creating an issue of the determined issue type; and

defining a rule for the issue, the rule including a set of one or more conditions which, when satisfied, causes the issue to automatically transition from a first workflow state to a second workflow state;

in accordance with a determination that the set of one or more conditions is satisfied, including a determination that the risk value satisfies a risk condition, automatically transitioning the issue from the first workflow state to the second workflow state;

in accordance with a determination that the issue has been transitioned to a particular operation resolution workflow state, automatically communicating an operation resolution message to the change requesting system.

2. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the particular operation resolution workflow state is an operation approved state;

the operation resolution message is an operation approved message; and

communicating the operation approved message to the change requesting system causes the change requesting system to perform the gated operation.

3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the particular operation resolution workflow state is an operation rejected state;

the operation resolution message is an operation rejected message; and

communicating the operation rejected message to the change requesting system prevents the change requesting system from performing the gated operation.

4. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the risk value associated with the gated operation; and

associating the determined risk value with the issue.

5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 , wherein determining the risk value associated with the gated operation comprises:

determining a first service, the first service being a service that the gated operation relates to, the first service having a first service criticality measure; and

determining the risk value based at least in part on the first service criticality measure.

6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 5 , wherein determining the risk value associated with the gated operation further comprises:

determining a second service with which the first service has a dependency relationship the second service having a second service criticality measure; and

determining the risk value based on the second service criticality measure.

7. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4 , wherein:

the change requesting system is a source code deployment system;

the gated operation is an operation involving deployment of particular source code to a particular environment; and

the risk value associated with the gated operation is determined based on the particular environment.

8. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the workflow defines a manual state transition to the particular operation resolution workflow state and the method further comprises:

generating an approval request;

causing the approval request to be communicated to a user device;

receiving an approval response from the user device, the approval response indicating approval; and

in response to receiving the approval response, transitioning the issue to the particular operation resolution workflow state.

9. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein determining that the issue has been transitioned to a particular operation resolution workflow state comprises:

subscribing to a publication/subscription service to which issue events are published;

receiving a notification that an issue event in respect of the issue has been published on the publication/subscription service; and

determining that the published issue event corresponds to a transition to the particular operation resolution workflow state.

10. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the change requesting system is a source code deployment system; and

the gated operation is an operation involving deployment of source code to a deployment environment.

11. A computer processing system comprising:

one or more processing units;

a communication interface; and

a non-transient computer-readable storage medium storing sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the one or more processing units to:

receive, via the communication interface, an operation notification from a change requesting system, the operation notification being in respect of a gated operation to be performed by the change requesting system, the gated operation associated with a risk value;

in response to receiving the operation notification:

determine an issue type associated with the gated operation, the issue type associated with a workflow that includes a plurality of workflow states including at least one pending workflow state and at least one operation resolution workflow state;

automatically create an issue of the determined issue type; and

define a rule for the issue, the rule including a set of one or more conditions which, when satisfied, causes the issue to automatically transition from a first workflow state to a second workflow state;

in accordance with a determination that the set of one or more conditions is satisfied, including a determination that the risk value satisfies a risk condition, automatically transition the issue from the first workflow state to the second workflow state;

in accordance with a determination that the issue has been transitioned to a particular operation resolution workflow state, automatically communicate an operation resolution message to the change requesting system.

12. The computer processing system according to claim 11 , wherein:

the particular operation resolution workflow state is an operation approved state;

the operation resolution message is an operation approved message; and

communicating the operation approved message to the change requesting system causes the change requesting system to perform the gated operation.

13. The computer processing system according to claim 11 , wherein when executed by the one or more processing units, the sequences of instructions further cause the one or more processing units to:

determine the risk value associated with the gated operation by:

determining a first service, the first service being a service that the gated operation relates to, the first service having a first service criticality measure; and

determining the risk value based on the first service criticality measure; and

associate the determined risk value with the issue.

14. The computer processing system according to claim 11 , wherein:

the change requesting system is a source code deployment system;

the gated operation is an operation involving deployment of particular source code to a deployment environment; and

the risk value associated with the gated operation is determined based on the deployment environment.

15. The computer processing system according to claim 11 , wherein the workflow defines a manual state transition to the particular operation resolution workflow state, and when executed by the one or more processing units, the sequences of instructions further cause the one or more processing units to:

generate an approval request;

cause the approval request to be communicated to a user device;

receive an approval response from the user device, the approval response indicating approval; and

in response to receiving the approval response, transition the issue to the particular operation resolution workflow state.

16. The computer processing system according to claim 11 , wherein:

the change requesting system is a source code deployment system; and

the gated operation is an operation involving deployment of source code to a deployment environment.

17. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the determination that the risk value satisfies the risk condition corresponds to a determination that the gated operation corresponds to code deployment to a testing deployment environment.

18. The computer-implemented method according to claim 17 , wherein the risk value fails to satisfy the risk condition if the gated operation corresponds to code deployment to a production deployment environment.

19. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1 , wherein the risk value is based at least in part on a first risk factor and a second risk factor.

20. The computer-implemented method according to claim 19 , wherein:

the gated operation corresponds to an operation to deploy source code to a software service;

the first risk factor is based at least in part on a service criticality level of the software service; and

the second risk factor is based at least in part on a deployment environment in which the source code is to be deployed.