diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 41efe8ca8..a9ebeb9a2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ ___
     - [Conformance](#conformance)
 - [How to build](#how-to-build)
 - [How to run](#how-to-run)
+- [How to release](#how-to-release)
 - [Plugins](#plugins)
     - [Built-in Plugins](#built-in-plugins)
 - [How to contribute](#how-to-contribute)
@@ -311,7 +312,7 @@ The list of additional options available for running Standardization:
 
 Most of these options are format specific. For details see [the documentation](https://absaoss.github.io/enceladus/docs/usage/standardization-formats). 
 
-<sup>*</sup> Can also be specified as a unicode value in the following ways: <code>U+00A1</code>, <code>u00a1</code> or just the code <code>00A1</code>. In case empty string option needs to be applied, the keyword <code>none</code> can be used.
+<sup>*</sup> Can also be specified as a Unicode value in the following ways: <code>U+00A1</code>, <code>u00a1</code> or just the code <code>00A1</code>. In case empty string option needs to be applied, the keyword <code>none</code> can be used.
 
 The list of additional options available for running Conformance:
 
@@ -324,6 +325,10 @@ The list of additional options available for running Conformance:
 
 All the additional options valid for both Standardization and Conformance can also be specified when running the combined StandardizationAndConformance job
 
+## How to release
+
+See the detailed document in [scripts/release/README.md](scripts/release/README.md).
+
 ## Plugins
 
 Standardization and Conformance support plugins that allow executing additional actions at certain times of the computation.
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 4086c19ac..651d09a9f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -140,11 +140,13 @@
         <dockerfile.maven.version>1.4.13</dockerfile.maven.version>
         <gitflow.maven.plugin.version>1.16.0</gitflow.maven.plugin.version>
         <maven.antrun.plugin.version>1.8</maven.antrun.plugin.version>
+        <maven.central.publishing.plugin.version>0.8.0</maven.central.publishing.plugin.version>
         <maven.gpg.plugin.version>1.6</maven.gpg.plugin.version>
         <maven.jar.plugin.version>3.2.0</maven.jar.plugin.version>
         <maven.rat.plugin.version>0.12</maven.rat.plugin.version>
+        <maven.resources.plugin.version>3.1.0</maven.resources.plugin.version>
         <maven.shade.plugin.version>3.2.1</maven.shade.plugin.version>
-        <maven.source.plugin.version>3.0.1</maven.source.plugin.version>
+        <maven.source.plugin.version>3.3.1</maven.source.plugin.version>
         <maven.surefire.plugin.version>2.18.1</maven.surefire.plugin.version>
         <maven.war.plugin.version>2.2</maven.war.plugin.version>
         <scala.maven.plugin.version>4.8.1</scala.maven.plugin.version>
@@ -189,7 +191,7 @@
         <spark.hats.version>0.2.2</spark.hats.version>
         <spark.hofs.version>0.4.0</spark.hofs.version>
         <spark.version>2.4.4</spark.version>
-        <spark.xml.version>0.5.0</spark.xml.version>
+        <spark.xml.version>0.13.0</spark.xml.version>
         <specs.version>2.4.16</specs.version>
         <spline.version>0.3.9</spline.version>
         <spray.json.version>1.3.5</spray.json.version>
@@ -400,7 +402,7 @@
                     <filereports>WDF TestSuite.txt</filereports>
                     <!--
                         Set heap memory to 4000 MB so array conformance test and conformance
-                        end to end test could run. This can be removed later when dynamic conformance
+                        end-to-end test could run. This can be removed later when dynamic conformance
                         becomes more efficient
                     -->
                     <argLine>-Xmx4000m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8</argLine>
@@ -462,7 +464,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.1.0</version>
+                <version>${maven.resources.plugin.version}</version>
                 <configuration>
                     <delimiters>
                         <delimiter>@</delimiter>
@@ -478,6 +480,30 @@
                     <aggregate>true</aggregate>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
+                <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven.central.publishing.plugin.version}</version>
+                <extensions>true</extensions>
+                <configuration>
+                    <publishingServerId>central</publishingServerId>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.rat</groupId>
+                <artifactId>apache-rat-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven.rat.plugin.version}</version>
+            </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven.source.plugin.version}</version>
+            </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven.gpg.plugin.version}</version>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
         <resources>
             <resource>
@@ -594,6 +620,16 @@
                             </execution>
                         </executions>
                     </plugin>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.sonatype.central</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>central-publishing-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <extensions>true</extensions>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <publishingServerId>central</publishingServerId>
+                            <autoPublish>true</autoPublish>
+                            <deploymentName>${project.groupId}:${project.artifactId}:${project.version}</deploymentName>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </plugin>
                 </plugins>
             </build>
         </profile>
diff --git a/spark-jobs/pom.xml b/spark-jobs/pom.xml
index 8a05deac9..704570989 100644
--- a/spark-jobs/pom.xml
+++ b/spark-jobs/pom.xml
@@ -239,7 +239,6 @@ spark-submit -(remove this)-packages org.apache.spark:spark-sql-kafka-0-10_2.11:
                 </executions>
                 <configuration>
                     <args>
-                        <arg>-Xfatal-warnings</arg>
                         <arg>-unchecked</arg>
                         <arg>-deprecation</arg>
                         <arg>-feature</arg>