Given the time zone difference between the development team, testing team and the CM team here is what is being proposed;
1. TEST Environment will be ready for functional testing at 12PM EST on Monday.
2. Code will be tagged and versions updated on Friday 6PM EST (3PM PST).
3. Release notes should be completed by Friday (EOB offshore).
4. Release notes should include all the testable JIRA tickets for the appropriate module (JIRAs themselves should include the latest status of each item and also any testing instructions along with attachments if necessary).
5. If there are unit test failures, deployments are at risk of being promoted.
6. If the code does not meet certain defined metrics (to be documented) that also can put the deployments at risk.
The bottom line is it gives the:
1. Dev team to finish checking in everything by Friday their EOB without onshore having to rush or wait around;
2. Testing team to start testing the functionality on Monday (and not Friday);
3. CM team to finish their tagging process and pushing out the build at a reasonable time with a reasonable notice.