ALM for Power Platform/Dynamics 365 Projects in Azure DevOps/VSTS using Power Platform Build Tools &

Couple of months back I wrote a post on how to implement CI/CD for Dynamics 365 CE. That post can be found here and is still relevant.

CI/CD & Test Automation for Dynamics 365 in Azure DevOps/VSTS – Part 1

In this series of blog, we will explore building out DevOps processes for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) and Power Platform projects by utilizing Power Platfrom Build Tools.

Problem Statement

I have started working on ALM when I was assigned as a Platform Engineer for a Dynamics 365 CE and Power Platform implementation project. At that time, I had a few key challenges with deployments. I have listed those below:

1. Solution files were manually extracted and imported to target as a deployment process

2. Multiple deployment process is followed between release environments. For example, in Dev and Sit environment, the solution was migrated manually, and in UAT, Pre-Prod and Prod environment DB compare was applied to promote changes

3. Master data were mutually entered in each environment

4. Multiple developers working in the same organizations overwriting the changes.

To solve the above challenges, I have started working on ALM process. Before we start solving the problem, let us take a moment to see some of the Pre-Requisites which we required for building the ALM Process

Pre-Requisites

1. Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS)/ Azure DevOps

2. Dynamics 365 CE (online)

3. PowerShell

4. Power Platfrom Build Tools (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=microsoft-IsvExpTools.PowerPlatform-BuildTools)

How to Setup Azure DevOps

You will need an Azure DevOps environment. Navigate to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/devops/ and click on the Start free option.

You will need to sign in with your Microsoft account. After logging in, it will take you to the https://dev.azure.com/dharani1743/

Next, we can start by creating a new project in Azure DevOps. This will contain your pipeline and your source repository.

After creating the project, you will be able to see the below screen

Install PowerPlatform Build Tools

Next, we will see how we can install the PowerPlatfrom Build Tools into your Azure DevOps instance.

Choose your specific Azure DevOps organization (in case you have many)

select the install and click on download. Now we have installed the PowerPlatform Build Tools in your Azure DevOps instance.

In my next blog, we will see how to setup the repository and how to create a VSTS Build and Release definition to save a Power Platform solution to Source Control and import the solution into the target instance.

If you are interested in this topic and would like to do some further self-study I encourage you to check out my blog on this.

#DynamicsCRMdeploymentautomation #PowerShell #PowerPlatform #ALM #PowerApps #CICD #ContinuousDeployment #PowerAutomate #ContinuousIntegration