AX 2012 Code Management Promotion Best Practices AXUG

AX 2012 Code Management & Promotion Best Practices AXUG Upper Midwest Regional Meeting Fargo, ND Sept 20 & 21, 2017

Contact Info • Steve Walsh • • Technical Director – Managed Services Steve. walsh@mcaconnect. com 720 -340 -6463 mobile https: //www. linkedin. com/in/walshsteve/ • Jason Spindler • • Senior System Engineer – Manager Services Jason. spindler@mcaconnect. com 812 -760 -2683 mobile https: //www. linkedin. com/in/jason-spindler-1708807/

Agenda • Why code management/Promotion • Code Management • • Code promotion flow Code naming convention Tracking request to completion Separation of duties Maintenance windows Communication plan Source code control & TFS • Code Promotion (Demo) • Model store move • Temp scheme move

Why Code Mgt & Promotion Standards • The key is the best practice and standard • Consistency across the team • Easier to communicate the plan for each situation • Proven steps • Minimizes risk and stabilizes Production • Able to answer “What changed? ”

Code Promotion Flow

Naming Conventions • Standardize the naming • Customization request/Functional Design/Case Number • AX Project Name: • ABC_CR 999_Functionality. Of. The. Mod • ABC_FDD 999_Functionality. Of. The. Mod • ABC_Case 201706723_Functionality. Of. The. Mod • XPO – when it exports we use the Project Name

Tracking the changes

Separation of Duties Functional/ Bus Analyst Developers Release Manager/ System Engineers/Admin

Maintenance Windows • Consider Best hours to do this: • 8 to 5 Hours of Operation • Evenings • 24 X 5 • Weekends • 24 X 7 • This is the tricky one; lower productivity time • Shift Change or Lunch time • Company events/meetings • How much time is needed? • 2 hours; 4 hours, or More? • Expect something to go wrong

Communication Plan • Communicate! • Prior to Code Promotion Communicate! • Developers, System Engineer, & Release Manager • Announcement of Maintenance Window • About 1 week • Remind a couple of days before • Remind day of… in the morning & hours before • Start of Maintenance – Announce the Start • End of Maintenance – Announce the Completion

Communication Plan • What if something starts to go wrong? Stay Calm and… • Communicate! • If you start to think you might need more time: • Communicate to User Group and Managers • Reset Expectations for more time • If you need to Roll back: • Communicate to the same groups

Communication Plan • Communicate! • Be consistent with messaging • Always include the same group for communication • Have a Plan B/Contingency Plan put together

Version Control Morph. X VCS Visual Source. Safe Team Foundation Server Concurrent development No No Yes Isolated development No No Yes Change description No Yes Yes Change history No Yes Yes Quality bar enforcement No Yes Yes Branching No No No Yes Work item integration No No No Yes Labeling support No No Yes Morph. X

Version Control – TFS • Benefits • • Integration into VSTS Branching capabilities Auto-builds Model Store numbering/releases numbers

Code Promotion using Model Store move

Code Promotion Flow

Step 1 Create Temp Scheme Initialize-AXModel. Store -AOSAccount "DomainAccount. Name" -Schema. Name Temp. Schema -Server <Server. Name -Database <Database. Name>

Step 2 Import into Temp Scheme Import-AXModel. Store -File Staging. axmodelstore Schema. Name Temp. Schema

Step 3 Apply Temp Scheme Import-AXModel. Store -Apply: Temp. Schema

Step 4 Drop Temp Scheme Initialize-AXModel. Store –Drop Temp. Schema

Links Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 White Paper: Deploying Customizations Across Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Environments https: //www. microsoft. com/en-us/download/details. aspx? id=26571 Version Control System [AX 2012] https: //msdn. microsoft. com/en-us/library/aa 639568. aspx Joris de Gruyter – Application Lifecycle Management/TFS http: //daxmusings. codecrib. com/p/alm-tfs. html

Q&A

Contact Info • Steve Walsh • • Technical Director – Managed Services Steve. walsh@mcaconnect. com 720 -340 -6463 mobile https: //www. linkedin. com/in/walshsteve/ • Jason Spindler • • Senior System Engineer – Manager Services Jason. spindler@mcaconnect. com 812 -760 -2683 mobile https: //www. linkedin. com/in/jason-spindler-1708807/