DevOps Guide

Oracle DevOps guide

 

DevOps, like the human condition, has the property that “You can’t be a little bit DevOps!” PeopleTools doesn’t natively, directly, support a DevOps or Agile, approach to development.

However, there are a number of delivered features that lend themselves to a DevOps approach.

Below I’ve listed the “pillars” of DevOps including items for consideration in each. Some of these are delivered in PeopleTools, others are in use in the broader developer community.

DevOps

  • Plan
    • Adding New features
    • Issues from Test
    • Backlog – The list of items to be delivered in the project
    • Feature/Issue Tracking e.g. Jira

https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

Typically, the genesis of a project is the need to add new features or to bundle together issues in an existing feature that have been recognized during monitoring. Issues discovered during testing should be resolved in the coding cycle.

It is important that each developer or group of developers have a standalone environment in which to work, that way their changes are unlikely to impact the work of other groups. Cloud Manager is the most significant recent delivery from PeopleSoft, which allows dynamic provisioning of template-based environments.

ACM and ADS ensure that test relevant configurations and system data are defined in the non-production systems. For instance, you want to avoid thousands of test payroll deposits being sent to the bank!

PeopleSoft Change Control is not a versioning system, but it does provide a means to lock objects and to maintain a history of locked and unlocked objects.

    • Choose a collaboration platform, e.g. Slack ™

Collaboration tools provide a means for separated team members to keep in touch efficiently, code suggestions, responding to queries, problem responses, etc.

 

App Designer is PeopleSoft’s native IDE (Integrated Development Environment.) There is currently no other way to develop native PeopleSoft code. Note: PeopleSoft also makes some use of Java and batch and reporting languages.

Event Mapping is based on Application Classes that must be developed in PeopleCode. These do form the basis of reusable code.

 

Event Mapping is an approach to register blocks of code against events in the PeopleSoft transaction component, for instance SAVE. F&P Config makes use of delivered Event Mapping block to configure actions on a transaction page. Both features can be configured/managed through the browser interface rather than through App Designer. Event Mapping is used to inject custom code, but those customizations are isolated from delivered code and are not recognized in compare reports.  The changes are also not overridden when new images are taken.  Thus the impact of change is reduced.

 

PTF is a delivered feature to automate functional testing of new code.

    • Security
    • User Acceptance

Ultimately some testing must be carried by the people who will be using the feature and pass their approval to Release Management.

Note: Security testing is often left until the end on the project but it is more efficient if considerations for security are built in at each stage of the Agile process.

 

  • Release
    • PeopleSoft Change Control reporting
    • PeopleSoft Change Control

Release Management has to take responsibility for ensuring that objects which have been locked are unlocked for release, and the objects that were modified do not impact the release of other features or compromise the production system.

    • Code Version Control

There is no delivered PeopleSoft native code version control. Many customers have invested in third-party products.

    • Schema Version Control

There is no delivered version control for the DB schema, and the team leaders must ensure that any changes necessary do not impact other features in development or the features already in place in production. Judicious application of PTF for the relevant modules will help ensure the integrity of the system.

    • Sign off by release management

 

  • Deploy
    • Review/Define/Execute ACM/ADS for prod system

Production target endpoints and configuration data must be re-configured before the move into production of the new or modified modules.

    • Lifecycle Management (LCM) Projects

PeopleSoft delivers an extensive suite to manage the life cycle of the system and ensure its integrity in production.

    • Move to Production

 

There is a significant difference between adoption and efficient use of system features based on the level and necessity for user training. PeopleSoft delivered UPK in support until December 2022.

 

OMC which includes APM and Log Analytics is a cloud-based monitoring suite, will also monitor on-premise installations. The PeopleSoft team worked extensively with the OMC team to ensure that OMC is PeopleSoft “aware.”

Back to Plan to restart the cycle …

 

Please review the following …

Like Security, Governance remains an essential element in implementing an Agile approach, see:
Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Small Agile Team’s Journey from Scrum to Continuous Delivery 1st Edition

by Mark Lines, Scott W. Ambler

“… Introduction to Disciplined Agile Delivery provides a quick overview of how agile software development works from beginning-to-end. It describes the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) process decision framework and then works through a case study describing a typical agile team’s experiences adopting a disciplined agile approach. The book describes how the team develops the first release of a mission-critical application while working in a legacy enterprise environment. “

Your agile governance strategy will enable and motivate agile/lean teams to: 

  • Fulfill your organization’s strategies and objectives; 
  • Sustain and extend your strategies and objectives; 
  • Regularly and consistently create real business value; 
  • Provide an appropriate return on investment (ROI); 
  • Deliver consumable solutions in a timely and relevant manner; 
  • Work effectively with their colleagues and stakeholders; 
  • Adopt processes and organizational structure that encourage successful ways of working (WoW); 
  • Present accurate and timely information to their stakeholders; 
  • Mitigate the risks they face. 

 

Five Ingredients Needed for Successful Organizational Transformation: The Importance of Vision, Leadership, Technical Plan, Social Plan, and Burning Platform in Undergoing Change Efforts Paperback – July 1 2011

by Marvin Washington

“… This book will ‘walk’ you through our framework of the five ingredients of transformation: Burning Platform, why should you do anything; Vision, where are you going; Leadership, are you leading the effort, and do you have the skills necessary to lead; Technical Plan, how will you close the gap between the vision and the burning platform; and, Social Plan, how will you enroll others in the plan.”

Integrating Security with DevOps on Oracle Cloud

“… In the many engagements in which we’ve helped customers migrate and develop applications in Oracle Cloud, I have found that security is often a critical missing element in customer DevOps processes. In these cases, security is treated like a siloed and gated activity which, when missed or applied too late, leads to missed project deadlines and vulnerable systems.”