Overview
As modern software projects become increasingly complex, one of the key success factors is DevOps. Companies with a robust DevOps pipeline experience fewer production issues, and their developers spend less time worrying about deployment-related concerns and more time developing and creating value for users.
Macedon Application Pipeline, or MAP solves the DevOps problem by connecting any Appian instance into a new or existing CI/CD pipeline. MAP uses a simple, Appian-based interface to unlock access to a powerful set of tools for developers: upload Appian objects, packages and SQL scripts to a repository, build and execute a release across a series of environments, view the status of any deployment-related activity, run FitNesse test scripts, and more! All of the MAP features come with robust user and access management to ensure environment security.
In developing MAP, Macedon has drawn upon our wealth of expertise: our teams have seen what works and what doesn't, and we kept all the best parts when designing MAP. The end product was so successful that once our internal project teams started using it, we saw a notable increase in developer velocity, even as the number of production issues has gone down.
Simply put, MAP works for us - and it can work for you, too! MAP was designed with flexibility in mind and is suitable for many different types of organizations and teams. MAP can also fit into your existing DevOps pipeline and works seamlessly with existing solutions, like Jenkins. Whether your Appian program is in its infancy or if it has already grown into a complex ecosystem, MAP is the tool you need to streamline your program and get rid of your DevOps headache!
Key Features & Functionality
MAP includes a robust set of features:
Full Lifecycle Management: Coordinate your Appian applications across multiple phases - development, testing, and release.
Source Control Integration: Create and merge branches from within Appian and view a detailed activity log for each branch. Developers can check in Appian and SQL code, which gets committed and becomes available for deployments.
Simplified Releases: Releasing new code to a higher environment is as simple as clicking a button. MAP integrates with your pipeline automation tool to make deployments a breeze. Uploaded packages are validated and cross-checked, which solves code conflicts before they become issues on deployment night.
Robust Auditing: MAP records a full activity history for each application, including data on packages, deployments, and code objects. Unexplained code changes in Prod are a thing of the past!
Role-Based Permissions: Need to ensure that only a handful of people can deploy to your production environment? MAP makes it easy by allowing you to restrict permissions by environment based on Appian groups.
Developer Tools: MAP gives developers access to the tools and data they need to manage their code efficiently as well as diagnose any potential problems right away.
Built for Flexibility: MAP natively works with Jenkins and SVN, but it can be customized to integrate with a wide array of pipeline and repository technologies or utilize out-of-the-box deployment functionality for faster deployments!
Automated Testing: Add further confidence to your deployments by running FitNesse scripts as part of your MAP deployments. View results and more directly from Appian!