Prior to the release of a SNOMED CT Edition it is strongly recommended that an alpha and/or beta version of the edition is created and released. This will give stakeholders an opportunity to test the edition, gain an understanding of any impact to their local systems, and identify potential errors that need correction. 

A beta release of an extension functions as a candidate baseline until the extension is considered mature and ready for publication. The duration of a preproduction release period can be as long as is required to ensure that the version that is finally published is as robust and error-free as possible. Extension producers should utilize the option of distributing preproduction releases to get feedback from relevant stakeholders on the content of the extension. This is particularly important because SNOMED CT's robust versioning mechanism means that any content that is officially published by an extension producer must be maintained indefinitely. Errors identified and corrected in an alpha or beta release can be fixed without requiring an ongoing history to be maintained. In contrast, errors identified in a published release must be traceable and made permanently available in the full history of the edition.