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Tag: CI/CD

Professional ALM for Citizen Developers

Professional ALM for Citizen Developers

In one of my last blog posts, I have shown you my ALM process optimized for my Citizen Developers. I have used a solution based on a Power App and some Power Automate Flows to run a fully automated solution export and import in Dataverse. You remember also my simplified process focused on the needs of a Citizen Developer: This slim process is great for Citizen Developers to get started with ALM. But I’m a Pro Developer – I need…

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Monitoring Build Pipelines with Application Insights

Monitoring Build Pipelines with Application Insights

Any kind of automation will lead into losing information about the magic in the background. You see only the results like “Build Succeeded” or “Build Failed”. That’s fine if you manage one or two Azure DevOps build pipelines, but this is terrible if you maintain hundreds or thousands! What happens is predictable. If you don’t know what is going on in the background and what causes problems – you are in trouble. You have to investigate issues direct in each…

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More Badges please, I need Project Insights! – CI / CD 9

More Badges please, I need Project Insights! – CI / CD 9

My main requirements for a modern Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central project are automation, transparency and traceability! Therefore I include status badges in my documentation to give all team members an overview of the project status. In detail, you can use status badges in Azure DevOps to visualize all information that is useful for your team. Do you know badges from Azure DevOps and their possibilities? If not, let me explain. 🙂 Badges At the beginning I told you that…

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Release Management with Artifacts & Stages – CI / CD 8

Release Management with Artifacts & Stages – CI / CD 8

In my last article of the CI/CD series I explained which package types I use to upload my Artifacts. As you can imagine, this is just one piece of the puzzle in my release management workflow for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. More important for me is the correct traceability of my artifacts. In other words, this is the key to keep control over my projects. As a result, I track each of my Artifacts respective to each deployment stage….

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Package Types for Business Central Artifacts – CI / CD 7

Package Types for Business Central Artifacts – CI / CD 7

In my last CI / CD post I promised to describe: “… why I use Universal Packages for my artifacts”. To explain this, I must answer the following question: What kind of artifacts do I have in my Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central projects? Well, my answer is simple: I usually have to manage files in my CD process… 😮 Simple Files My CI build pipelines compile and create my Apps-Files. In case of Hybrid-Development, my Artifacts are also FOB-Files….

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Branching Workflow – CI / CD Part 6

Branching Workflow – CI / CD Part 6

“How to start?” … Well, I avoided answering this question a long time, until now. I found an approach which fits perfect into Azure DevOps and satisfy my CI / CD workflow. You know, Real-Life of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is development, deployment, support, and maintenance together. Therefore all of these processes need access to the right source code. Source Code Management (SCM) Some basics: Most of us know “OMA” (Object Manager Advanced). Microsoft Navision developers uses OMA since…

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Application Versions – CI / CD Part 5

Application Versions – CI / CD Part 5

Classic NAV development processes, customizations with C/Side became obsolete in the Business Central age was replaced by Apps. Apps have version numbers to identify which app version is newer, handle updates and finally synchronize data changes in the right order. New App Versions are produced by fully automated CI processes in a very short time and the generated Artifacts replace the installed version in target environments during automated CD processes. The application version helps to keep the necessary overview and…

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Another way to Setup Continuous Delivery​

Another way to Setup Continuous Delivery​

The Azure Portal offers a new option to set up Continuous Delivery for Virtual Machines and it’s currently marked as a preview feature. The setup wizard allows to select existing Azure DevOps organizations and projects, when the Azure DevOps tenant is connected to your AAD. Azure starts to configure the continuous delivery for this virtual machine after completing the information and install the deployment agent. After completion the Virtual Machine is present in the deployment group D365BC in the selected…

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Deployment Tasks – CI / CD Part 4

Deployment Tasks – CI / CD Part 4

All we need are Tasks to deploy our Artifacts at Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS or On-Prem. In this article I’ll share with you a deeper look into my deployment stages. CI/CD Pipeline Tasks for MSDyn365BC Azure DevOps provide lots of build-in tasks to execute almost everything in the context of a Build or Deployment Agent. Unfortunately, pre-configured Pipelines or Tasks for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central are not part of this list. However, there are other good options…

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Controlling the Artifact Flow – CI / CD Part 2

Controlling the Artifact Flow – CI / CD Part 2

In my last post I described my view on Artifacts and Deployment Stages. Now it’s time to look at the Artifact flow. Remember, an Artifact is unchangeable. Therefore it’s deployed only in one direction – strait forward – until any stage in the flow fails or it reaches the final destination. Controlling the Flow You control the flow – each stage – by these questions: When is a stage executed? … Trigger(s) Who allow the Artifact to enter the stage and what must be or informed?…

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