Microsoft Azure DevOps Reviews

We have separate DevOps processes for different teams. We're implementing agile processes, so we have cells for each product, and each cell has its own DevOps process. This means we have a DevOps process in GitHub, GitLab, and another tool. We have lots of costs and can't share experience between teams.

The idea was to unify everything in one product to ensure that we standardize DevOps practices on the same tool to have better knowledge and expertise and focus on a specific tool.

We had a lack of governance over DevOps processes, so we had some quality issues in the end when we released the software products. DevOps has helped to resolve those issues.

Azure DevOps' collaborative features are good, and it integrates well with other tools in the software development process, like quality testing, documentation, and agile development. 

I think Azure DevOps could improve the traceability or business intelligence about the execution of DevOps processes. 

I've been using DevOps for three years.

Azure DevOps is scalable. 

We have good people with a lot of experience in DevOps, so it's not complex for us. The most significant difficulty in adopting the tool was changing our past processes to move to the standardization model we defined with Microsoft DevOps.

We have a yearly agreement with Microsoft to cover the different companies.

I rate Azure DevOps nine out of 10. I would give it a perfect 10 if Microsoft offered personalized support. Sometimes we call Microsoft with requests, and it would be nice to have personalized processes with our specialized services.

We have two different approaches for products. One is to support products that we provide our customers. The other is creating a digital transformation strategy for new products. We are using DevOps in the latest products, and in the future, we are going to grow with support for products we have produced in the digital transformation. This is part of our roadmap to implement DevOps in all the processes in every technological area of our companies.

The purpose is for development and testing from the vendor side. Our company works as a vendor, client, and implementation partner. The vendor provides the product, and we make sure that it's implemented correctly for the client. The vendor uses it for the development and tracking of the requirement and the test cases, executions, and building storage.

My access to these tools is very limited because the DevOps pipeline and DevOps is mainly used by the engineering team of development, but the QA is also part of it. Once those people are established, then we are the extended hands or extended part of that for usage. Once they have the stories and features, they start the test cases and link on it. From that point, we just take it forward and once they have a code pull, then we would pull it and build it and deploy it into some QA enrollment.

There are around 20 people using DevOps in my company.

The best tool would be Azure DevOps. There are other tools with AWS and Google, but since Microsoft has solutions for everything, it's easier because it's all their tools. We may be using different tools in order to achieve all those things because they may not have an operating system or a pipeline, so maybe we are using some of the bill tools. In order to achieve DevOps, you may be using a set of different tools and connecting it. In Microsoft Azure DevOps, you have a one shop to get everything.

There isn't a requirement traceability matrix format. In ALM, we have a centralized repository of all the requirements in one place. But in DevOps, it works like a product requirement. In ALM we have the centralized repository of requirements where you can go and see the requirement coverage and discovery and so forth. But in DevOps, it has stories and test cases. Once that project is over, nobody is going back into that requirement. It's a good tool for development activity, tracking and getting all those metrics. If they can build up a requirement traceability matrix, then it would be great.

I haven't seen any issues with stability.

The scalability of DevOps is good.

We haven't had any issues with technical support. Whatever issues we've had, they were solved.

I didn't see any complexity in the setup because everything is from Microsoft. The development tools and operation tools are coming from one shop, Microsoft, so it's easy to connect, plug in, and establish all those things. For Google Cloud or AWS, it's different because they use different tools in order to achieve what Microsoft is trying to achieve. For example, the CI/CD Pipeline.

Even in ALM or in the DevOps tool, it's initially a one-time setup.

I don't know the pricing of DevOps. It would be much cheaper than ALM because ALM came out as a software product initially. Now they are moving into a cloud and subscription model. In that case, Microsoft is coming from Azure and the cloud and DevOps and software as a service, so it would be much cheaper, but the catch would be that they are trying to get money on all sides, like an operating system, Microsoft Office, or Microsoft Azure DevOps. 

The good part is that it's a complete package, but at the same time, once you've gone with them, you don't have much leverage to split out into some other activities because everything is interconnected and entwined by that time, and it would be like a monopoly. It won't be good if you try to split out at a later point in time because everything is connected—all our Microsoft products like operating systems, OfficeSuite, MS Teams, Azure DevOps, etc.

I would rate this solution 9 out of 10.

It is used for development and life cycle management within the company. We use the SaaS version. It is called Azure DevOps services.

It has absolutely improved the way our organization functions from a development lifecycle point of view. It has enabled teams to be more Agile and flexible.

All features are good. Pipelines module is comprehensive, Boards and Artifacts modules are also really extensive.

It is really good at what it does. It is very comprehensive, and it has some really great aspects to it. It has a easy to use UI. It is probably one of the easiest to use DevOps tools in the industry, and it is well integrated.

The administrative capabilities of the tool need a huge improvement. Its Wiki and Reporting functions also need a lot of improvement. Their support can also be better.

I have been using it ever since it was created in 2012

It is very stable.

It is very scalable because it is on the cloud. We have a very large user base and they're all IT-related. The users are engineers, product managers, and management. It is the entire IT organization.

We use their technical support a lot. We have internal support, but we will also reach out to Microsoft to resolve problems. Their support is very good, but there is always room for improvement. It depends on the subject area. Sometimes, they have people who are not as well versed as others.

We've been pretty much on the Microsoft products. We used to use Team Foundation Server, which was a Microsoft product. Before that, it used to be Visual Source Safe. We also used to be on PVCS, SVN and CVS.

Being a SaaS solution, there is no setup.

It was implemented in-house as we have a high level of in-house expertise in the ALM space.

This area is very different for each and every organization and I would recommend that they research cost and pricing for their situation.

No, we did not evaluate any other options since we are heavily tied to the Microsoft stack. However over time, we have adopted other platforms (Java, Node, Python and others) since Azure DevOps is cross platform compatible with Linux, Windows, iOS and Andriod.

If you're looking for a cross-platform solution that end-to-end does everything in the development life cycle, this would be a very good solution for you. If you're looking for a more siloed product that is specifically focused on one particular area of the lifecycle, this is definitely still an option, but you should also evaluate other options as well (Atlassian, IBM Rational,  MIcro Focus ALM, GitHub etc) for completeness.

I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a solid eight out of ten. It is really good at what it does, but it also has some solid areas of improvement that are needed. Once they have addressed those, it could be hard to beat.

We use it to manage the project. We create the product backlog, and we put our tasks into the DevOps schedule.

Azure DevOps allow you to create a bridge for maintenance and support, directly to the client. We can forecast tasks and the number of hours a task will take and can compare it with how long a task actually takes. The Timetracker function allows us to put all this together. Before Azure DevOps, we had difficulty predicting how long tasks would take, considering all the parts that must work together.

We have a component server, which is basically a tracker. This is very useful for us to itemise the start and end of tasks to evaluate the resources required, based on price. So it's very valuable. It is important to be able to inspect the items required in a project.

The communication could work better, especially for the development team. The important thing is that the tracker tools provide adequate communication, as do other tools. It seems to be lacking in DevOps and is an area which could be improved. We also need to improve publishing in production. In the future, we would like Azure DevOps to work with automated tasks regarding publishing. Better integration with existing source code is another area, which would benefit from improvement. The search repository could be more comprehensive, and visualisations could be optimised, further.

We have been using Azure DevOps for around two years. We are a Microsoft partner, so we use Azure DevOps as part of that partnership.

Stability is excellent. Initially, we had some problems with performance, but nowadays it's okay. Maybe they improved the server.

It's good scalability, but we need to improve the process by understanding it a lot more.

We never actually contacted support. The best plan is to read through all the documentation, but getting the right documentation for your specific project is not always easy to find, as there is so much to go through.

It's average, because we need to research what we are trying to achieve, and the platform has rich functionality. This is a good thing, but it can also mean setup is very complicated. However, we usually find that after testing more, we find our way around what we are trying to achieve.

Our deployment took about three months, as we tracked it. Following that period, we needed another month to integrate a new component into the setup. We implemented it ourselves, with one of our team. We have about 10 users using Azure DevOps, but we have 2 people to provide the deployment out of those. These are developers. We have a small team for DevOps, including the manager. We need our staff to be flexible and agile in our team to take on various DevOps tasks.

As a Microsoft Partner, you get a discount on the pricing. Licensing costs are around $80 a month for DevOps, but for Azure, it is about $200 a month.

We tried other tools, but Azure DevOps has a richer toolset, and it fits in better with our process. To some extent, as we are a Microsoft partner, we didn't seriously consider other options. However, we did look at Jira and Gitlab as potential alternatives.

I would rate Azure DevOps as an 8 out of 10. I would ensure that DevOps' use is planned, in detail, including the implementation before using the software. I would also ensure you have a thorough knowledge of the main components of the system. This will ultimately save hours of work.

The two most valuable features are Azure Pipelines for DevOps automation, and Azure Test Plan for test management.

It is quite easy to create a pipeline, from continuous integration to automated testing, to continuous delivery, performance testing, and continuous deployment. It's graphical representation and tools are easy to use.

The automated testing in DevTest is the big advantage of Azure DevOps.

Non-functional testing such as security testing, penetration testing, and performance testing could be improved. 

This Cloud solution is very stable.

We have approximately one hundred users, the majority of which are developers. There are some project managers and team leads, as well as different levels of management who present to stakeholders.

Currently, two or three of our development teams use Azure DevOps. In the future, we plan to include five more teams. This will grow the number of active users from one hundred to two or three hundred.

I have not used Microsoft support directly. We have an internal support team that is dedicated to Office 365, Azure DevOps, and other Microsoft solutions.

Prior to this, we used Team Foundation Server versions 2017 and 2018 on-premise, and it was a stable solution.

We also used the Atlassian stack, including Jira, Bamboo, and Confluence, all on-premise. The problem is that the on-premise version has an expiry. We moved to a cloud solution because it is easy to support, easy to upgrade, and easy to stage our products. It is distributed between our offices, as we have development teams split into different locations around the country. The cloud-based solution is the best way to integrate our development effort.

I have also worked with HP ALM/Quality Center in the past.

The initial setup for this solution is quite easy.

Our internal DevOps team handled the implementation.

I have worked with other products, and this is the best solution in the market in 2019.

Deployment of solutions on Azure DevOps is a perfect way to provide Disaster Recovery and High Availability. This is a straightforward solution, and I would suggest not wasting any time looking at others.

Right now, this is the best solution.

I would rate this solution ten out of ten.

We use Microsoft Azure DevOps for CICD, and to organize it in order to visualize the ongoing work.

It allows you to save time while also providing a governance visualization of ongoing activities and transparency.

The most valuable feature of this solution is that it saves time.

The price could be reduced. It is expensive, especially when it comes to infrastructure.

The integration could be better. Being more technology-agnostic through ease of integration would be beneficial. Once you start working for Microsoft, you are frequently tied to Microsoft.

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for the last ten years.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable solution.

Microsoft Azure DevOps is scalable.

I would say the technical support is fine, but I have not had any trouble with the solution.

I have some experience using Jira.

It is very expensive in comparison to others.

As the cost structure is per user, I would recommend paying the cost structure based on the amount of data you use rather than the number of users.

I have recently researched Jira, Microsoft DevOps, TFS, and Micro Focus.

Mostly, because of the pricing, I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a seven out of ten.

We are using it for feature delivery.

Before we started using Microsoft Azure DevOps, we didn't really have a mechanism for tracking delivery against a feature or feature delivery. It has really helped us in visualizing what we need to deliver and get consensus across cross-functional teams that it is the right thing to deliver.

It allows us to prioritize an organization-wide backlog, which has really reduced our delivery time for complex projects. In fact, we are in the middle of a transformation program. We managed to kick off the program in a month and start the delivery cycle within six weeks of conception. Before adopting this tool, it would have taken us three to six months.

It is a really easy way to define all of the features that you need to deliver. You can link those features to epics and break them down into user stories. You can also assign the user stories into sprints for doing your product improvement planning.

It is a really simple tool for prioritizing a backlog, assigning that backlog into sprints, and then tracking the delivery by using sprint capacity, points of time, the velocity of the sprint, etc. It is really useful for agile delivery.

There are a couple of things. The tool has a logical link between epic feature, user story, and task, but when you try to generate a report to show the delivery progress against a feature, it is not easy. To see the percentage completion for a feature or progress of any delivery, it is not easy to draw a report. 

It doesn't give you a high-level view of your roadmap for planning a roadmap for delivery and identifying how far you are on that delivery path. There should be the ability to create a product roadmap and then based on the delivery of the user stories, link to the features against that product. We should be able to roll up a view to see how have we progressed against our targets.

When you're accessing it via the web, it works nicely, but it doesn't work for a while if you're trying to access the board via a tablet or mobile device. A lot of the time, we just want to quickly update a task or check a delivery against a sprint by using an iPad or phone. It is not really user-friendly on those devices. It works very well on the laptop but not on other devices.

I have been using this solution for 18 months.

We've had very few issues with Azure DevOps.

There were no issues.

We also use Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect. For business process modeling where you are linking different objects in the modeling domains, Sparx is the most appropriate tool. You cannot model business processes in Azure DevOps.

Azure DevOps is more appropriate as a delivery tool for building out the feature roadmap and defining user stories, tasks, features, etc. It is well suited for taking the data and building it into a delivery pipeline. These two tools don't speak well together. A solution was developed to integrate these two, but it doesn't work very well.

It was super simple. We just needed a username and a password. The board was pre-setup by our administrator. In fact, we didn't even have to go through any real training, even though the training was available. It is really intuitive to use.

Its pricing is reasonable for the number of features that you get and the functionality that you can utilize for the agile delivery, which is what we are using it for. I found it extremely cost-effective.

I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of 10. It is the primary tool that we've been using. It works very well.

We rely on Azure DevOps for our CI/CD workflows. We use it extensively in our daily operations, particularly for deployments and other IT tasks. We use it for project management and collaboration throughout our software development lifecycle. Our task is to determine if the workflow within our networks is integrated with our ITSM or focused management, enabling us to initiate tracking for these tasks.

The reporting and analytics features of Azure DevOps significantly improve our project visibility and decision-making process. This includes a reporting dashboard and integrated monitoring capabilities. We utilize Prometheus and other tools for monitoring, and Azure DevOps seamlessly integrates with various solutions, ensuring flexibility in usage while maintaining consistent concepts.

Azure DevOps has significantly enhanced the productivity and efficiency of our development team, especially considering our high volume of daily deployments. Developers find it invaluable for tracking changes, generating logs, and creating reports effortlessly. Automation of deployments is particularly crucial for us, given our extensive environment with over two thousand fifty-three instances. The most significant benefit is the reduction in time and effort, leading to a decrease in human errors.

Integrating our pipeline with Jenkins is seamless, particularly for code management using Git repositories. Additionally, for cloud-based applications, we already have native network integration with Azure Active Directory.

As we frequently deploy numerous applications, ensuring the protection and fine-tuning of these applications once they are in production is crucial for minimizing downtime and enhancing availability.

The features of Azure Repos that we find most impactful are those related to source control management within our DevOps code management processes.

If the pipeline isn't properly configured, it indicates a potential gap in the team's understanding of DevOps principles, which can lead to deployment issues. Incorporating security tools directly into DevOps is crucial, as many existing DevOps solutions lack robust security features.

I have been working with it for nine years.

We encountered certain downtime.

It doesn't provide the level of scalability as Jenkins provides. We have approximately forty users in our company. I would rate it six out of ten.

The technical support is relatively satisfactory. I would rate it five out of ten.

Neutral

Deploying GitLab or Jenkins is much easier and involves fewer requirements. Integration with various tools is readily available, especially with Jenkins Blue Ocean, which offers extensive enterprise integrations. When it comes to Azure DevOps, integration with non-Microsoft tools may pose challenges.

For any Microsoft product, Active Directory is a prerequisite, and ensuring its availability on the Azure Standard and Database is essential. This configuration is necessary for setting up the application effectively.

Maintenance is essential due to occasional exclusivity with business connectivity, leading to various issues such as data rate problems and database availability issues.

When compared to other vendors, it is cheaper.

I would recommend other tools like GitLab or Jenkins. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.