Streamlining DevOps with Salesforce Release Management Tools
Automated release management tools are a nonnegotiable part of an optimized, secure, and streamlined approach to software development on Salesforce.
Why It Matters: Manual errors are a massive drain on ROI and lead to data security vulnerabilities. Addressing this potential for errors with automation eliminates a major factor in slowing down release cycles.
- A study by Stanford University found that 88% of data breaches are the result of human error.
- Slow release cycles make it much more difficult for organizations to address evolving customer needs and emerging data security threats.
- Providing the proper tools for your Salesforce DevOps team creates an environment centered on productivity and security.
Here are seven considerations for streamlining software development with Salesforce release management tools:
- Understanding Key Challenges
- Recognizing the Importance of CI/CD
- Having Visibility Into Focus Areas
- Making Automated Testing Nonnegotiable
- Using Version Control to Simplify Collaboration
- Incorporating Data Security at Every Stage
- Prioritizing Compliance
1. Understanding Key Challenges
Streamlining DevOps processes starts by taking the time to identify potential challenges. Managing teams across the application lifecycle, resistance to adopting new tools, and implementation downtime must all be addressed to see the greatest benefits from Salesforce release management tools.
Meet with team members across the DevOps lifecycle to discuss challenges and establish a unified approach to implementing new tools and processes.
These initial planning stages will pay off as your team moves forward toward optimized and streamlined development and deployment processes.
2. Recognizing the Importance of CI/CD
Packaging up code changes and deploying them to a live environment can be a complicated process. There are multiple layers of testing that need to occur to ensure these updates won’t break existing functionality or introduce data security issues.
Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) automates many of these critical processes to reduce manual errors and expedite the delivery of new updates.
Utilizing automated release management tools to address processes like deployment and testing of new code helps maintain the stability of Salesforce environments.
3. Having Visibility of Focus Areas
Adjustments will need to be made over time. However, you’re not going to know which aspects of your DevOps pipeline need attention if you don’t have visibility into the successes and failures of your processes.
Access to metrics through dashboards and reports enable intelligent review of your DevOps processes to make necessary corrections and further refine your approach.
Salesforce release management tools like CI/CD and static code analysis automatically compile these metrics to enable accurate and insightful visibility.
4. Making Automated Testing Nonnegotiable
We’ve mentioned the risks of manual errors, but the importance of this can’t be overstated. Manual processes are slow. And when the task is highly-repetitive—such as code reviews prior to integration—errors become increasingly likely.
Multiple layers of automated testing ensure nothing slips between the cracks to negatively impact the security and functionality of your update or application.
A comprehensive set of Salesforce release management tools will provide multiple layers of testing to free up your team to focus on more complex tasks.
5. Using Version Control to Simplify Collaboration
Multi-developer teams are a great way to expedite the production of application and updates. However, overwrites and incompatible code become more likely as these development teams grow larger.
Version control is a critical tool for aligning the efforts of multi-developer teams and enabling simplified rollbacks when mistakes are identified.
Utilizing a version control tool in your release management strategy reduces the likelihood of these mistakes, so your team can focus on hammering out beneficial code.
6. Incorporating Data Security at Every Stage
Data security needs to be a major concern for every organization, regardless of the industry in which they work. Formerly, security was only considered at the end of the DevOps pipeline, but this is an outdated way of looking at it.
Security must be addressed at every stage of the application lifecycle—from planning all the way through deployment.
Salesforce automated release management tools are a huge part of accomplishing this with numerous levels of scanning and testing.
7. Prioritizing Compliance
Taking data security another step further, organizations need to consider the regulations that apply to how they handle their data.
Salesforce security posture management tools can be used to scan your Salesforce environment for adherence to specified best practices, which should align with application regulations.
Reliability is a huge part of maintaining compliance. But even organizations that don’t operate in regulated industries should use these scanning capabilities to ensure they aren’t opening up themselves to unnecessary data security vulnerabilities.
Next Step…
Now that we understand the necessity of Salesforce release management tools, it’s time to consider how you can see the greatest returns from utilizing them.
Check out our blog, How to Get the Most from Your Release Management Tools, to learn more.
FAQs
Which release management tools will provide the quickest ROI?
The fastest way to reduce costs is to automate time-consuming, manual tasks. Deployment automation and testing automation provide immediate returns by reducing the time it takes to address these critical processes, while also eliminating manual errors. Simple mistakes lead to costly rework while also taking team members away from accomplishing their tasks. And any mistakes that aren’t caught create functionality and security vulnerabilities once they are deployed. Get everything right the first time and reduce costs by automating critical processes.
How does metadata factor into release management in Salesforce?
Metadata plays a crucial role in Salesforce release management. It defines the structure and configuration of a Salesforce environment, including custom objects, fields, workflows, and permissions. In Salesforce, changes are typically made to metadata rather than data itself, meaning deployments and version control are centered around moving metadata between environments. Effective metadata management ensures that the correct configurations are deployed consistently, minimizing errors and ensuring compatibility across environments. Release management tools are available to automate metadata extraction, packaging, and deployment, enabling teams to manage complex releases more efficiently and maintain system integrity.
Why do I need Salesforce release management tools?
Salesforce release management tools are essential for managing the complexities of deploying changes in a Salesforce environment. Salesforce configurations involve numerous metadata components, which makes manual deployments error-prone and time-consuming, leading to inconsistencies and downtime. Release management tools streamline the process by automating version control, testing, and deployments, ensuring smoother transitions between development, testing, and production environments. These tools also enhance collaboration across teams, reduce deployment risks, and provide tracking for changes.