As you've read earlier in our blog about fusion development, fusion development teams are multidisciplinary teams that work together with only one goal: to find solutions to business challenges quickly and in an accessible way. But how do you keep a grip and overview of all these solutions in your environment? How do you ensure the quality and availability of these solutions and keep business-critical data safe? By including the Power Platform as an integral part of your IT strategy, you prevent unwanted surprises. Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is (part of) the answer to this search. In this blog, we would like to tell you about how ALM principles within the Power Platform bring you 'in control' and prevent end users from messing around.
What exactly is ALM?
Let's start with a brief introduction to Application Lifecycle Management (SALMON). ALM is about the people, policy and technology that are needed to control a software solution throughout its lifecycle. So from concept to phasing out.
There are various models that are used to set up ALM. One thing these models have in common is that they were created to capture the complex steps of software development in an unambiguous and repeatable process.
Not only the technology is taken into account, but also how you, as an organization, deal with managing and using the application. In our opinion, ALM principles are also essential for solutions created with the Power Platform.
ALM within the Power Platform
To set up ALM for the Power Platform, we use a number of different steps, each with their own characteristics. We recognize the following steps:
All these phases are reflected in the development of solutions with the Power Platform. They enable you to make the right choices and also ensure that you always know where your solution stands in its lifespan. We would like to explain the different steps in more detail.
Plan
Before creating a solution with the Power Platform, it is important to carefully consider the necessary licenses. Various license (s) (models) are available within the Power Platform, the costs of which can vary considerably. In order not to be faced with unwanted surprises, start by mapping the required functionalities and mapping them to the various licensing options. The Power Platform Licensing Guide is a handy tool for this. Use a simple decision tree to determine which components in the Power Platform are most suitable, possibly supplemented with services from Azure. As part of this, you'll also need to think about using the solution; how much data is stored on it? How many APIs are you going to call? All things that have an effect on costs.
Develop
When building the solution, you will of course use naming conventions and make choices about how you will soon arrange access to the application. The development itself takes place in an iterative process, together with the end users and is related to testing and rolling out your solution. This includes using different Power Platform 'environments' to support a deployment strategy with separate development, test, acceptance) and production (DTAP) environments. But the use of different environments can also be a solution to meet specific data security requirements.
Test
We have described in detail in our blog that low-code applications must also be tested. Low-code apps don't need to be tested. Right? It is important to complete all three test phases. Requirements are often set up in the Plan phase. Especially at that moment, it is important to hire a software tester to identify any ambiguities or contradictions in the requirements at an early stage. Next, a software tester's job is to test integrations and functionality of the process or solution. The software tester also offers help with the user test. If these steps have been completed successfully, you can use the solution with confidence.
Release
The deployment of low-code solutions is often done by giving people direct access to an app. But that way, you can't easily make changes later and test them without bothering users. This is because every adjustment is immediately “available” to your users. That is why it is always wise to deploy at least a separate test and a production version of a solution. To do this, the Power Platform offers the possibility to work with various'environments“to make logical separations. With the help of Power Platform Solutions you can easily bundle your solution and deploy it to a different environment. And with the help of Power Platform Build Tools for Azure DevOps you can even ensure that things are rolled out automatically through a deployment pipeline.
Operate
Once a solution is used, you naturally want to know how the use and status of solutions are doing. The Operate phase is therefore mainly about insight into what is happening and what the solution is being used for. Does he do what he needs to do, are there any issues or is usage increasing exponentially and you should anticipate them. The Power Platform Center of Excellence Starter Kit offers you insight and information about many of these components and, with the help of a Power BI dashboard, you can see all Power Platform solutions in your tenant at a glance. Even the ones that were built, other than you.
Learn
The insights and information you get from the operating phase, combined with usage reports for the various solutions in your environment, help you keep an overview. This is how you go from reactive management (break/fix) to proactive management (in control) to prevent problems and prevent disruptions. In consultation with users, you are continuously developing solutions and are able to continuously respond to all new business questions.
Useful tools for Fusion Development teams
If you, as a Fusion Development team, want to get started with ALM principles in the Power Platform, there are many different tools you can use. In addition to the well-known Power Platform Admin Center you can make use of the Power Platform Build Tools for Azure DevOps. This gives you a set of tools to 'build' and 'deploy' Power Platform components. In addition, we also recommend that you take a look at the Microsoft Power Platform CLI, Power Platform PowerShell Modules and CLI for Microsoft 365. All useful tools that allow you to automate administrative tasks with the help of scripts.
From Unmanaged to Managed
Many solutions in the Power Platform start as a work-around or optimization of a particular process or manual tasks. Often without further consequences or choices regarding a more formal process. However, do you want to use the Power Platform without polluting the environment, or losing sensitive data due to careless use? Then you'll need to think about controlling and managing the Power Platform solutions in your environment. Leaving everything open is not an option (because chaos), nor is closing everything (because then your users will shop outside).
So step one is gaining insight; what is already happening. Step two is making conscious choices about whether or not to manage solutions and to use a more formal process when they are managed. Without conscious choices and considerations, you will run into problems sooner or later. Make sure you stay ahead of them! And, of course, we are happy to help you gain this insight!
Want to know more? read our white paper
As big Power Platform fans and experienced software developers, we like to combine the accessibility and pragmatics of low code with the principles and best practices of professional software development. In our white paper, we have described the five key principles of this and want to provide you with a valuable tool to help you get started when you get started with the Power Platform.
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