First look at Power Platform pipeline deployment
- admin
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
Traditionally in the simplest way, we would use the web UI to export a solution, save the solution zip file locally, then import the file to the target solution.
A more complex and controlled enterprise approach would be to use a governed source code repository which facilitates automated CI/CD deployments in one click. DevOps is one of many tools that are used for managing the source code, triggering the build process, unpackaging and packaging the solution components then deploy to the target environment. Such process would require resources of different skillsets from Dynamics 365 Developer, Azure Pipeline Developer, and any other tools used already embraced by the enterprise, eg. Octopus, etc.
Recently, Microsoft has released a new feature Pipeline deployment.
Here I am sharing my very first look into this feature using platform host. The feature is undoutedly a better option than the traditional export/import approach.
The feature is free at no additional cost
No more exporting/importing solution file, or saving file to local disk.
Faster as everything is automated in one/less clicks execution.
Better security as solution file is no longer saved to local disk.
All deployments are logged and history are viewable.
This feature seems to be a good choice for smaller organisations.
Below are my experience:
My starting point is via Power Apps portal, make.powerapps.com. I have no doubt Microsoft will introduce new management portal or other starting point in no time.
Select of a solution, then a button menu 'Deploy' will appear. You would notice that the button is disabled if you are selecting a Managed solution.
Clicking on Deploy button, we will see a link to Create new Pipeline. In the screenshot below, last used pipeline from my previous test was automatically selected.
Clicking on Create new pipeline will display a new pane on the right. Simply give a name, brief description and select the target environment.
In a healthy software development lifecycle, the solution would be deployed to a test environment (eg. UAT) before going to production/live environment.
In this context, you would select the lowest next environment after development.
The pipeline is then created at the simplest configuration, ie. deployment from one to another environment.
Stages can be added, for example, to deploy to another upper environment such as PreProduction or Production environment.
Deployment to a later stage/environment will only be enabled when the previous stage deployment is completed successfully.
Click on 'Deploy here' button to start deployment to the selected stage/environment. The deployment may be scheduled to run at a specific date and time.
All Connection references are to be resolved through this process.
Environment Variables can be entered for the target environment.
A nice touch of AI to automatically generates the release notes in Summary based on components included in the solution. Although, it could get very lengthy if you have a big solution file comprising many components of various types.
Once deployed, the 'Deploy here' button is then enabled for the next stage.
Noted the 'Deploy here' button is also enabled for the previous/current stage so user may re-deploy if needed.
This concludes my first discovery of Power Platform pipeline feature.
Overall, it is a very nice experience, easy and straight forward. However, I noticed there is no way to start the whole end-to-end deployment through multiple stages in one go. User must manually trigger the start of deployment of next stage. I guess this is where 'extending' the pipelines provides the possibilities.
That's it for now in this post.
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