We primarily use Azure DevOps for the early phase of software development projects. We don't use it for building the software. Rather, it is for development support. It handles management of the features, the composition, the definition of requirements, and checking our requirements against the use cases.
Consulting services manager at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Good user interface, constantly updated, and the technical support is prompt
Pros and Cons
- "It is a well-integrated product in terms of the development lifecycle."
- "It would be very useful if it had better integration with Microsoft Word because we would like to be able to define the priority requirement document and add it to different stages of the backlog."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Since it is a cloud product, it is constantly updated and not the responsibility of the user.
The quality of the user interface is very good.
It is a well-integrated product in terms of the development lifecycle. There are different functional areas from the requirements to finish including test management, product development, and deployment. I do not personally make use of all of these components together, but I understand from my colleagues that make wider use of it that everything integrates nicely.
What needs improvement?
It lacks integration with Office 365. It would be very useful if it had better integration with Microsoft Word because we would like to be able to define the priority requirement document and add it to different stages of the backlog. Currently, it is difficult to do this. There are some third-party products for this but they are either quite expensive or do not function properly.
I would like to see the requirement management links between work items improved.
An API to develop custom functions would be useful because we work with a large integrator that uses TFS, the on-premises version, and have seen what they do. One of the advantages of it is that you can develop using the XML approach to customization. Essentially, the customizability is more in-depth. This could be done, even without going to the code level, if they provided an API or and SDK. Although the interface currently used for customization is good, we sometimes find it limited. It would be more complex to use but also allow for greater potential.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Azure DevOps services for two years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable service.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I would say that it is scalable. On a recent project, we had a lot of users and did not experience any issues in terms of performance.
How are customer service and support?
I have only been in contact with technical support on one occasion and they gave me a good and prompt answer. From my experience, I can say that I am satisfied.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I do not personally have experience with other products, although the company has some experience with Jira.
What other advice do I have?
In summary, this is a good product but I would like to see better Office integration and API support.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Ingeniero de DevOps at Babel Software
Great serverless technology that makes it quicker and faster to deploy .NET applications
Pros and Cons
- "It's a pretty problem-free solution."
- "When we don't have some permissions, we have to research how to get them."
What is our primary use case?
I use it to, for example, build applications. Not just Subnet - also Java or in OGS. I deploy Windows applications and also mobile applications with Visual Studio App Center and Azure DevOps.
What is most valuable?
Azure services like serverless technology make it quicker and faster to deploy .NET applications, for example. Similarly, the Azure Portal is faster to put in services, for example, with specific functionality. These kinds of features are faster to deploy and to put in functionalities that are specific, which is great.
I like the Azure keyboard. Keyboard permits use, for example, connection streams in secret, in a safe manner.
Sometimes I use also Azure SQL Database cloud, the serverless functionality. It's also very attractive because you can use something like a GP, like the protection of the data on the cloud. You can put a lot of information there, maybe not with banks, however, with other kinds of clients.
The ability to have cognitive services is good. For example, I use a lot of Azure DevOps, for example, Cloud, Azure DevOps Cloud, and analytics views with, for example, Power BI on-premise if you have Power BI as a service. There is a lot of pipeline potential with Azure DevOps deploying, for example, Containers, to Kubernetes, Azure Kubernetes Service, and also a lot of Azure Container repositories and Azure Container instances. This is great for quickly deploying SonarQube in a container. These kinds of things are very attractive.
It's a pretty problem-free solution.
What needs improvement?
When we don't have some permissions, we have to research how to get them. It's not obvious. For example, deploying in order to do the connections, we need permissions for quotes or quotas. A specific quota might depend on an account. Sometimes we don't have the kind of support we need to work things out easily.
When you deploy in Yaml Pilot, for example, you need to note in Yaml how to associate the piling, the release with the word items. We need more information about how this is possible and more flexibility to make it happen.
What other advice do I have?
My organization is a Microsoft partner.
I have Microsoft certifications. I always develop in Visual Studio, .NET, or Core, and now I work with Azure DevOps and also in Azure Portal.
I deployed in a hybrid environment as the clients have a lot of things on-premises. For example, the databases I use, for example, Redgate, plus Azure DevOps, or Apex with Azure DevOps, to deploy databases. In some cases, a lot of banks prefer their data on-premise. In other cases, I deploy to Azure App Services, for example, in the cloud. Also, I see things with Amazon Web Services and telephone, like multi-cloud.
I would rate the solution at a ten out of ten as it never gives me any problems.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Microsoft Azure DevOps
November 2024
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Vice President at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
It's simple to implement the SAFe Framework, but it's not easy to customize like some solutions
Pros and Cons
- "Setting up Azure DevOps was straightforward. It's easy to use the default templates. Everything is under our control, so it's simple to implement new requirements."
- "The portfolio is one area where DevOps has room for improvement. Built-in reporting and visualization also could be better. We're using Power BI and Tableau to compile more complex reports and dashboards. Azure DevOps has some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities, but they're very simple. It's usually okay on the team level, but if you have to run a complex report, it's difficult and insufficient, so we use Power BI as an extension."
What is our primary use case?
We adopted the SAFe Framework, and more than 10 teams are using the process or workflow template from Azure DevOps for SAFe. Also, we're currently using DevOps for future planning and backlog management following the scrum approach on the team and coordination level. The company plans to extend this with Lean Portfolio Management.
How has it helped my organization?
Time to Market: Teams deliver more in less time.
What is most valuable?
Azure Pipeline is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement?
The portfolio is one area where DevOps has room for improvement. Built-in reporting and visualization also could be better. We're using Power BI and Tableau to compile more complex reports and dashboards. Azure DevOps has some out-of-the-box reporting capabilities, but they're very simple. It's usually okay on the team level, but if you have to run a complex report, it's difficult and insufficient, so we use Power BI as an extension.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using DevOps for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
DevOps is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
DevOps is scalable. We have about 65 users working with it, including the product manager, product owner, scrum master developer, tester, line managers, and architects.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't experienced any significant issues so far, but any issues we've had were fixed fast, so I would say I'm very satisfied with the support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Jira, but we switched to DevOps. It was a strategic decision to reduce the complexity of the toolchains. We wanted a Microsoft solution, so we chose Azure DevOps.
How was the initial setup?
Setting up Azure DevOps was straightforward. It's easy to use the default templates. Everything is under our control, so it's simple to implement new requirements. We did it ourselves in three days. Since we used the default templates, we didn't have to change the standard Azure DevOps services. Two people are responsible for deployment and maintenance: DevOps engineer and Release Train Engineer
What other advice do I have?
I rate Azure DevOps seven out of 10. DevOps isn't so easy. In general, the solution is straightforward and suits our purposes, but it's a little bit tricky to customize the workflow. It's simple to implement the SAFe Framework, but it's not easy to customize compared to Digital.ai Agility. There's a huge gap.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
DevOps Engineer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Build pipelines are useful, and it is easy to deploy and good for monitoring purposes
Pros and Cons
- "It is good for monitoring purposes. We are using the build pipelines of Microsoft Azure. They are also valuable."
- "We are facing some problems because the capacity can only be measured within a project. It cannot be measured across multiple projects. So, the reporting needs to be enhanced, and there should be more graphs to be able to easily give the upper management insights about all the employees from different departments. It will be helpful for employee management. Currently, the managers over here are using Power BI for insights because the functionality of Azure DevOps Boards is not enough. So, we have to export the data into another visualization tool and get the results."
What is most valuable?
It is good for monitoring purposes. We are using the build pipelines of Microsoft Azure. They are also valuable.
What needs improvement?
We are facing some problems because the capacity can only be measured within a project. It cannot be measured across multiple projects. So, the reporting needs to be enhanced, and there should be more graphs to be able to easily give the upper management insights about all the employees from different departments. It will be helpful for employee management. Currently, the managers over here are using Power BI for insights because the functionality of Azure DevOps Boards is not enough. So, we have to export the data into another visualization tool and get the results.
We would like to have templates for work items. They are available in the Azure DevOps services on the server, but they are not available in the on-prem solution. We are using an on-prem server, and we are using version 2020.1119.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for almost four to five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It works well. There are no issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale. In our organization, some teams are using it, and some teams are not using it. We probably have 80 to 100 people.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support is good. We haven't faced many issues. As far as I remember, we have had only one issue. We raised a ticket for that, and they resolved the issue.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have also used Jira. We have more control over Jira than Azure DevOps, but we are using Azure DevOps for our technical side because our VMs and build pipelines are on Azure. So, it is better for us to use one solution rather than using multiple solutions.
How was the initial setup?
It is straightforward. It is not that complex.
In terms of maintenance, we only do maintenance when we have new upgrades. Other than that, we don't need to maintain it much. We have optimized the TFS and Azure DevOps database, and we have done indexing and optimized it. It is pretty good.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Devops Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Provides great agile management of projects, is stable with good customer support
Pros and Cons
- "Provides agile management of projects."
- "Reporting across multiple projects could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for planning, pipeline management and testing, as well as using it as a CI/CD tool.
What is most valuable?
I like the agile management of projects, running stand-ups and the like. The pipeline management feature is great.
What needs improvement?
We'd like to see an improvement in reporting across multiple projects. The same applies to improving program visibility so that project managers can get that pane of glass to assist with their work. It would be a big win for a lot of users as well as a good addition to the tool.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using this solution for close to four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. There are still the occasional issues but on average it's very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is easily scalable because it runs on the cloud and everything is managed by Microsoft. We don't do anything in terms of increasing capacity so when more users are added the increased capacity is automatically managed.
How are customer service and support?
We haven't made a lot of calls to technical support but when we have their response has been good and quick.
How was the initial setup?
We have a DevOps engineer who carried out the implementation for us and I believe it was relatively easy.
What other advice do I have?
I rate this solution eight out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
Delivery Lead - Agile Coach at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Scalable, reliable, and useful continuous integration and deployment
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable features are continuous integration and deployment, and simplicity."
- "The active directory password system needs some improvement because many times the password for the active directory expires before the set time."
What is our primary use case?
I am using the solution to create continuous integration and deployment agents on the server environments. We are also involved in some projects where we create user stories and features created on the solution.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features are continuous integration and deployment, and simplicity.
What needs improvement?
The active directory password system needs some improvement because many times the password for the active directory expires before the set time. Additionally, in the beginning, when I get the repository and check in my code on the dashboard to see who made changes, it shows that another user made the change that did not. This could be fixed in a future release.
For how long have I used the solution?
have been using the solution for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I have found the scalability of the solution to be good.
How are customer service and technical support?
I did not contact support but I was able to find all the information I needed on the internet.
How was the initial setup?
The installation is straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a license for this solution.
What other advice do I have?
I have experience with other solutions and with this one, you can add many addons without any difficult configuration. It has all the code and related items together, it is a total package.
I highly recommend this solution to others.
I rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Product and Systems Director at SPCM
Great automation capabilities, allows for easy integration with other tools and is quite stable
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is very easy."
- "It would be great if I could integrate with a human resource type of software that could control timesheets."
What is our primary use case?
We use the solution to store all our source codes. It's a solution that stores everything. We are an in-house development and we produce a lot of codes.
We also use it to control our development process. We follow some methodologies. Every every team has a different methodology, for instance, Chrome, Agile, et cetera. The whole process from the planning process until we deploy the solution, everything is controlled by DevOps.
What is most valuable?
The solution is very good at automating various aspects of the DevOps process. You can automate almost everything. You don't have any human intervention. It's almost automatic. As long as you finish your code and put it in, the software gets the code and tests it. If it is okay, it will go ahead and integrate it and put it in production without any human intervention. This is excellent.
The tool allows you to connect with many external tools. You can improve the whole process that way. We use a couple of things, however, there is a plethora of things you can put together in your solution.
The initial setup is very easy.
What needs improvement?
Despite the fact that you can automate most of the things, you still have to produce some scripts. There are things that are not very user-friendly. The tasks are achievable, however, it's not easy. You have a lot of steps until you can get the thing automated.
In the past, Microsoft DevOps was integrated with Microsoft Project. Out of the box. Right now, it's no longer that way. That would be interesting to have.
It would be great if I could integrate with a human resource type of software that could control timesheets.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for 15 years now. It's been a while. It's well over a decade of experience.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product is extremely stable. We've used it for 15 years and haven't had any serious issues. There are a few bugs or glitches but nothing tha can comprimses the day to day operation, and they usually fixed in the next release. It doesn't crash or freeze, though sometimes gets a bit slower due to databes overheadd, so maintance has to be done. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We are a small team, and therefore we don't need to scale. However, I've heard both that it grows 10% a year without issue and that it scales very easily and very well. As far as I know, a company can scale it if they need to.
We have between 50 to 70 people using it, including staff and managers, et cetera.
How are customer service and technical support?
I have used technical support a couple of times. Typically, it's good. It's usually a couple of hours and then, they answer you. Nevertheless, you can go to the online site and most of the time you can solve the problems just by reading. They have a lot of documentation available.
That said, when we dealt with them directly, they were pretty fast. I'd say we are satisfied with their level of service.
How was the initial setup?
The initials tup is not complex. It's a very easy, very straightforward process. A company shouldn't have any trouble with implementation. It only takes a couple of hours. It's pretty quick to deploy for DevOps purposes.
What other advice do I have?
We are just a customer.
We intend to move from on-premises to the cloud next year.
I'd recommend this solution. It's a worthwhile investment.
I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten. We've been quite satisfied with it overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Senior Business Analyst │ Microsoft Power BI & Power BI App Development at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Free for up to five users, secure, easy to use, and integrates well with other Microsoft products
Pros and Cons
- "What I like the most about this product is that it's free and it's secure."
- "The user interface could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Microsoft Azure DevOps for tracking the requirements and tracking the issues.
Any issues that we have, are tracked and logged.
Also, we check the developer's workload.
It can be used for different purposes as well. For example, it can be used by software companies and different software teams for collaboration.
What is most valuable?
What I like the most about this product is that it's free and it's secure.
You can easily assign it.
It integrates well with other Microsoft products, such as Outlook.
If we experience a login issue, it sends a notification to one of my developers and you also receive an email notification, ensuring that there is no way that a developer can miss working on it or miss seeing it in emails.
What needs improvement?
The user interface could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a stable solution, we have not experienced any issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have not had to scale it, as we have a very small team with only four members who use this solution on a daily basis.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have not had to contact technical support. There hasn't been a need, it's very simple.
If you have any issues, you are sent a link through email, you click on the link to address your specific requirements and close it.
You will receive an email notification to confirm that the case is closed.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we were using Microsoft Excel. We decided to use Microsoft Azure DevOps because it allowed us to assign tasks and get a notification.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple.
It was easy to deploy and within a day, I was able to learn it and work on it.
What about the implementation team?
I did not use a vendor or an integrator, I did it on my own. It's a Microsoft product and we all use Microsoft.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft Azure DevOps is free for up to five users and allows you to track a maximum of three projects.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution. It's a good tool and it's free.
Instead of spending money on premium tools, you can at least start with Microsoft Azure DevOps and then upgrade it slowly.
You can learn how to use this tool in less than a day.
If you have Microsoft 365, this comes with it for free.
It doesn't require any maintenance.
I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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