Check out this interesting post to learn how we enabled a logistics company to implement #DevOps to resolve challenges with its #Salesforce system and meet its dynamic needs. #Solunus #SalesforceDevOps #SalesforceImplementation

1. Implementing Salesforce DevOps at a Logistics Firm to Deliver More Value
For years, IT organizations within large enterprises have struggled with balancing two
seemingly conflicting goals while introducing new capabilities.
Time to Market: Getting new features deployed into production quickly
Stability: Any change introduced into a system causes some disruption. It could be availability
– systems being down for short intervals and features that used to function no longer work.
Companies may also need to train their people on the change.
DevOps, as a discipline, came into vogue to bridge the conflict between the two IT teams
responsible for these goals, viz, development and operations. The requirements of a modern
business evolve quickly, and this calls for the ability to add new capabilities to its software
systems rapidly and cater to the needs with minimal disruption to its operations.
DevOps has matured and is being practiced in most software development shops that develop
code in a high-level programming language like Java or C#. However, it is not as widely
adopted in low code/no code environments like Salesforce.
Here, we’ll see how our team helped a leading logistics provider realize greater business value
using DevOps for their Salesforce system.
About the Client
The client is a well-known provider of logistics services with headquarters in the USA. The
company has been providing customized moving and storage solutions across the USA, the
UK, Canada, and Australia.
Project Overview
The client was facing various issues with one of their Salesforce applications, which caused
problems in ensuring the successful delivery of goods. The firm sought our assistance in fixing
the issues and acquiring the capability to enhance its delivery processes to meet its ever-
evolving needs.

2. Challenges Faced by the Client
Salesforce DevOps Solution Provided by Solunus
Before proposing specific solutions, we undertook a discovery exercise to:
 Understand the customer’s existing IT landscape
 Know the tools they had invested in
 Learn about processes they follow and the level of their efficacy
Finally, we took time to study the company culture, maturity of the development team and
their appetite to change behaviors.
This enabled us to comprehend the problems faced by the client thoroughly
Here are some findings from the discovery phase
 Degree of customization > # Apex Classes; # LWC/Aura components
 Typical number of changes in a release
 The customer had licenses for Azure DevOps (ADO), Git, and Confluence
 ADO board was used to maintain the backlog, but it was not effective in
refining the backlog and updating status

3.  Coverage from unit tests in lower environments were lower than the 75%
mandated by Salesforce
 Deployments were done using change sets that were created manually
 Lots of manual effort was spent in: > Tracing a change made in the system back
to a business requirement > Comparing Salesforce metadata across two
sandboxes – for example, Dev and QA > Back propagating changes made
directly in production back to lower environments > Creating base data in the
development environments > Verifying code quality and security violations
when it was done
 We identified the lacunae in their current processes and systems
 Our team determined the feasibility of automating their processes; we
identified the scope for automated releases and automated sandbox
management within the current architecture
 We also developed a robust system to facilitate hassle-free communication
between different teams
 Our experts ensured complete security of sensitive business data during the
Salesforce system enhancement
We shared our findings along with a set of recommendations with the client. The
recommendations included:
 Using the Azure repository (Git-based) to version and store Salesforce
metadata
 Use an off-the-shelf tool that automated Salesforce deployments while
integrating with GIT and ADO. We evaluated multiple tools and suggested the
one that best fit the customer’s use case
 Having a process to manage the various environments > Guidelines on the
number of development sandboxes, QA and UAT and the type of sandbox
needed for each > Processes and schedules to provision, refresh and
deactivate sandboxes > A mechanism that maps the features being developed
and the sandbox to specific branches in Git > Branching strategies for feature
development vs. hotfixes that take into account parallel development >
Mechanisms to seed data in each of the environments and mask data
wherever appropriate
 Approach to Release Management > Mapping releases to environments and
Git branches > Configure the ADO board and reports to provide visibility on the
status of each release; the work items in each release and the status of each
of the work items > Planning internal releases around the scheduled platform
releases from Salesforce
After some discussion on negotiating the sequence of activities, the client accepted our
recommendations. We worked with the tool vendor to provide a trial edition of the
deployment software while the client’s procurement group went through the process of
securing the licenses.

4. We then started the work to provision the various tools and configure them to create a
seamless process for Continuous Integration and Deployment (CI/CD). As we worked on these
items, we completed this work in a couple of sprints and managed this body of work through
the ADO board.
Adoption and Other Success Metrics
We also involved the client team of developers, administrators and scrum masters as we did
the work. In addition to formal demos, we had multiple “who and tell” sessions. The idea was
not just to show that we did the work, but to demonstrate how work gets done.
We also worked with the client as they used the new process and tools to perform releases
with new features, hotfixes and backporting changes to the various environments. We also
practiced how to do a rollback should it become necessary. This significantly reduced the
effort we had to spend in training while increasing confidence within the client teams that
the process works for them.
Furthermore, we worked with the client team to baseline and continuously measure the
following metrics.
1. Time taken for the delivery of a feature from concept to release in production
2. Time taken to recover from a software failure
While we could see that the new processes are faster and safer, the degree of improvements
will become apparent over time.
We also developed a comprehensive DevOps training manual for the customer’s team,
enabling them to use the streamlined processes and tools effectively.
Hope you liked this post. We would like to know how you use DevOps to add new features to
your Salesforce org.
Why Choose Solunus to Implement Your DevOps Project?
Solunus is a dedicated Salesforce partner organization, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. We
have highly competent, dedicated Salesforce DevOps professionals serving prestigious
customers. Our team has rich experience in Salesforce DevOps implementation services for
firms of all sizes across the industry spectrum.
 Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) score of 100% from all clients
 5-star Salesforce AppExchange rating for all projects
 Strong focus on comprehending your unique business requirements

5.  A robust, proven process that can be fully customized to meet specific needs