Vice President at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
A very stable and scalable solution which seamlessly integrates all ends of the process
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is good for everything, including end-to-end planning and its deployment and testing."
  • "The solution should have fewer updates."

What is our primary use case?

I do not recall which version we are using. 

The solution is good for everything, including end-to-end planning and its deployment and testing. 

What is most valuable?

I like that the solution is stable and that all ends of the process are integrated seamlessly into the tool. These are the solution's greatest strengths. 

What needs improvement?

The solution should have fewer updates. We need the updates for July. Microsoft tools are sometimes too feature heavy and offer more features than the person actually needs to use. This is why I did not rate it as a ten out ten. 

While the installation did seem to be pretty straightforward, I believe it took awhile, even though I am not aware of the specifics involved. We initially found ourselves struggling with this process.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for around two years. 

Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure DevOps
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure DevOps. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I feel the technical support to be fine. We have not encountered any issues in this regard. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Prior to Microsoft Azure DevOps, we were using Jira and, before this, KFS. 

How was the initial setup?

While the installation did seem to be pretty straightforward, I believe it took awhile, even though I am not aware of the specifics involved. We struggled with this initially.

What about the implementation team?

The installation was undertaken by a consultant. 

There was a team of, perhaps, five engineers involved. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not aware of any licensing subscriptions for the solution. 

What other advice do I have?

I would very much recommend the solution to others. 

I don't see the need for more integration with other platforms, as the solution is already pretty well integrated, at least, that is, for our needs. 

I rate Microsoft Azure DevOps as a nine or ten out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Principal Project Manager at Systems Limited
Real User
Gives you the ability to run test cases, but query functions aren't as helpful as other solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "You can have test cases in DevOps but not in JIRA. And, DevOps has advantages in terms of executing those test cases."
  • "With the query feature, we have to group items, so it becomes difficult for everyone to understand it. It's easier in JIRA, which has filters and other query options."

What needs improvement?

With the query feature, we have to group items, so it becomes difficult for everyone to understand it. It's easier in JIRA, which has filters and other query options. So, I think this query option should be there in the DevOps also. Also, I don't like the DevOps' boards at all. It's more complicated than JIRA, I think. So, DevOps can improve in terms of its boards, work items, and filters. 

Then there is also an issue with user access. We have about 10 to 15 users that we can add to DevOps. But only the first five users have basic level access, and the rest have stakeholder access. That means they can change the task status but not add or do anything. I think Microsoft should remove this restriction from DevOps. With the access restrictions, it's tough for us to add any status for our users or filter anything on the boards. So, Microsoft should add this functionality for the other roles as well.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

DevOps is a stable solution.

How are customer service and support?

It's average. It's not better than JIRA. It's average because many things need to be improved by Microsoft in all their products.

How was the initial setup?

Setting up DevOps is easy. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay for DevOps when we use it for our clients. But for personal and internal projects, we can use the free version. But there are restrictions on the trial plan. It should also be available for free use. However, the trial version of DevOps is free for only five basic users. So, I think it should be free for others also. And other extensions like test plan creation should also be available for the basic users, at least. We have to purchase the license for this.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We use both JIRA and DevOps. The main difference between DevOps and JIRA is the test cases. You can have test cases in DevOps but not in JIRA. And, DevOps has advantages in terms of executing those test cases. You can develop releases from DevOps but not from JIRA. At the same time, JIRA's jQuery is the best. I don't like the grouping and filtering in DevOps. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Azure DevOps seven out of 10. I would recommend it to others. It's a nice and helpful tool.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure DevOps
March 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure DevOps. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2024.
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Manager Systems Engineering at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Helps to improve productivity but specific disciplines need to be addressed
Pros and Cons
  • "We can eliminate some of the middleman processes."
  • "It should be able to handle the different types. There is ecosystems engineering, and there is software applications engineering. There is a need to bring these teams together, but the disciplines don't integrate very well, and so it won't work."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure DevOps to place our corporate servers into the cloud. We perform evaluations in the cloud for clients. Occasionally, we provide a hybrid solution in a specific cloud. For corporate work, we usually use a different cloud. With Microsoft Azure DevOps, as with any DevOps, it is not always possible to identify specific use cases. How do you identify a specific feature from a hundred requirements into a specific use case? It is very easy to lose detail. Traditional teams and ways of working methodically for safety-critical systems are not always prepared to handle that. It is important to be able to handle hundreds of detail-oriented requirements.

How has it helped my organization?

Azure DevOps is now used for safety-critical systems, whereas in the past the traditional approaches were used in requirements management. This is more like the traditional waterfall model. Improvement is always unique to productivity. That's why we switched to Microsoft Azure DevOps. The software teams prefer it to IBM.

What is most valuable?

We can eliminate some of the middleman processes. In the process, we are merging DevOps with development and operations. So developers act like our operation team as well. That concept is a great exchange. It brings a high level of visibility. It helps the team and department cohesion, which helps to improve productivity. 

It also includes a high level of traceability and elimination of some of the unwanted silos in productivity. Testing and transparency need to be defined within the boundaries. If a backlog occurs, you should be able to group them as a whole. This means there is a backlogging to the team, as opposed to individual areas. Each area needs to be visible to other areas, at all times.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft needs to consider ruggedization and addressing specific disciplines. Fundamentally what I mean by that is you cannot merge everything. It should be able to handle the different types. There is ecosystems engineering, and there is software applications engineering. There is a need to bring these teams together, but the disciplines don't integrate very well, and so it won't work. For example, there is expertise in an area, and they tend to view the project from their own perspective. 

For example, the software UI/ UX team needs to view it from the UX perspective. Application engineers need to view it from the application viewpoint and the engineering perspective is different again. Although we need to be cohesive in our approach, we need to keep some boundaries as well. The idea of containers arises, such as those provided by the open source software product Kubernetes. We need to containerize different disciplines and then merge them. As a manager, I should be able to ask the formative team to focus on their creative section, and that their task is completed. In the Application layer, you also focus on their requirements and you establish traceability. Other teams may also be involved in linking to the overall requirements.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Azure DevOps for one year. It has been used in the company for about two years. It is used in the cloud and on-premises, as a hybrid cloud solution.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented on-premise as a hybrid solution, and on the cloud.

What other advice do I have?

I would give Microsoft Azure DevOps a six out of 10. Microsoft Azure DevOps is not perfected yet, as it needs to be more user friendly. If it can achieve that it will eventually reach a 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Abhay Rawat - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Engineer at Hanu Software
MSP
Helps improve the productivity and efficiency of development teams
Pros and Cons
  • "The product is easy to use...It is a stable solution."
  • "The tutorials for building pipelines are an area that is a bit technical for a beginner."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution in my company to mostly build CI/CD pipelines.

How has it helped my organization?

The benefits from the use of the product in our company stem from the ease that the tool provides when working with different teams. The product is also helpful in assigning tasks to team members easily. Following step-by-step processes, including testing and integration of the testing phase, all the other areas are easy with the use of the tool.

What is most valuable?

The product is easy to use. There are many options to choose from in the solution. Working with different teams in my company becomes easy when everything is integrated into Microsoft Azure DevOps.

What needs improvement?

The tutorials for building pipelines are an area that is a bit technical for a beginner. I would want the product to have some comments on the pipeline side to help beginners understand more about the solution.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for around 6 months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution. I did not face any issues with the tool.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. That would already work with third-party platforms. In the future, I believe that the solution will be integrated with other platforms.

Around five to six people in my company use the product.

The product is deployed only at a single place in our company.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was not complex, especially since the work items are mostly descriptive, making it an area that everywhere can use easily. The CI/CD part is a bit technical. One can get a hold of the CI/CD part over a period of time, so I don't think it is a difficult task.

Our company's team handled the product's rollout phase. The rollout phase was divided into parts. A single person did not carry out the rollout phase. I only took care of some of its parts. I cannot tell the exact time taken by our company to deal with the product's rollout phase.

What other advice do I have?

My company utilizes Microsoft Azure DevOps for continuous integrations and deployments of CI/CD workflow since my company uses IaC. My company uses pipelines for continuous integrations. Moreover, one of the teams in my company uses the tools available in Microsoft Azure DevOps and various work items in it to integrate into the project.

My company utilizes Microsoft Azure DevOps for project management and collaboration across the software development lifecycle with the help of work items, like Azure Boards, which is a necessary part of team management. The task assigned to our company's team members is integrated into Azure Boards.

The feature of Azure Repos I find to be the most effective for source control management stems from the fact that it is integrated with third-party platforms, like Jenkins and GitHub, making it an option that is very usable in our company's environment.

I won't be able to comment on the product's reporting part. Our company's project manager takes care of the product's reporting part. To date, I have had no concerns with the project visibility area in the product. Working with Microsoft Azure DevOps is great because it provides top-notch integration capabilities.

Microsoft Azure DevOps has improved the productivity and efficiency of my company's development team. In the past, when my company wasn't using the portal in Microsoft Azure DevOps, there used to be no continuous integrations. After my company started to use Microsoft Azure DevOps, we got to know about the CI/CD pipelines. Now, it is easy for us to make changes in the code, and simultaneously, the code starts working at the production end. My company majorly uses the solution for CI/CD pipelines.

Speaking about the integration part, I would say that my company mostly works with Terraform as it is a scripting language. Along with Microsoft Azure DevOps, my company has only worked with Terraform for now. Though my company works with other platforms, like GitHub, we haven't done projects with GitHub. Working with TerraForm and Microsoft Azure DevOps has been great.

The tool's maintenance part is great. I did not face any issues during maintenance.

I recommend the product to those who plan to use it.

I suggest others watch some online tutorials before purchasing the product, as it can help them get the basic information related to the solution, making it easier for them to use it.

I rate the overall tool a nine to nine and a half out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Mohammad Alyounis - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps engineer at Q-pros
Real User
Top 10
Significantly enhances our project management capabilities and simplifies package management
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature in automating our build and release processes with Azure DevOps is the scheduling capability."
  • "Azure DevOps could be improved with more security plugins, especially for SaaS scanning and vulnerability scans."

What is our primary use case?

With Azure DevOps, I plan and track my project using Azure Boards, manage my code with Azure Repos, and automate build, test, and deployment processes using Azure Pipelines. This streamlines my development workflow and ensures efficient collaboration and project management.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature in automating our build and release processes with Azure DevOps is the scheduling capability. At the end of each sprint, we schedule automatic releases to QA and development environments, ensuring our latest code gets deployed without manual intervention. Additionally, triggering pipelines upon code upload to the main repository adds significant value to our development workflow.

What needs improvement?

Azure DevOps could be improved with more security plugins, especially for SaaS scanning and vulnerability scans.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Azure DevOps for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability of Azure DevOps as a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I would rate the scalability of Azure DevOps as a ten out of ten. At our company, it is used daily.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support from Microsoft is very helpful, especially when I need assistance with tasks like migrating work items between Azure DevOps and other platforms. I would rate the support as a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. Deployment typically takes around ten minutes at most. We have set up an automated process that recreates everything, so even if there is damage to the VM or target machine, we can quickly retrieve and redeploy everything ourselves.

We require about two DevOps engineers to maintain Azure DevOps for our company, which has around 400 users in total.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I would rate the costliness of Azure DevOps at a seven out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

We ensure the security of our company's source code uploaded to Azure Repos by using a SonarQube Plugin and then automate its deployment to various environments like development and QA. Once approved by QA, we deploy to the production environment, passing through our firewall for protection. This streamlined process ensures efficient and secure CI/CD pipelines with Azure DevOps.

Azure Boards has significantly improved our project tracking and adjustability. It is a powerful tool where we can easily trace work items and monitor the progress of our projects.

Azure Boards is a powerful tool for tracing work items and project progress. It simplifies uploading and versioning of project assets and tools, enabling easy refreshes or benchmarks.

Overall, I would rate Azure DevOps as a nine out of ten. I would recommend it to others.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Krishnakumar Subramanian - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Director at Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A.
Reseller
Top 10
Allows us to easily build and deploy applications
Pros and Cons
  • "Overall, so far we have no major issues to report."
  • "I think that the integration is to some extent, immature."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for continuous integration. It provides us with strategic analysis. We use it to create and deploy virtual machines. In short, we mainly use it for integration and deployment.

Currently, there are five to ten of us working on conception. Soon, there will be more than 200 of us using this solution. 

What is most valuable?

The most interesting subject for me is the deployment part where you build virtual machines and enable them to learn. That's interesting to me.

What needs improvement?

As I'm in the very early stages of this story, this is a hard question for me to answer. However, I think that the integration is to some extent, immature.

Overall, so far we have no major issues to report. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been evaluating this solution for roughly six to eight months. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing costs are reasonable. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated GitHub and GitLab. We actually have one deployment that is already ongoing in GitLab. 

Currently, we're evaluating both GitLab and Microsoft. We're trying to get a sense of which one is better for us. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would give this solution a rating of eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Soft Engineer at SECP
Real User
Top 10
A user-friendly Azure DevOps server with a great user interface, but the testing environment could be better.
Pros and Cons
  • "It has a good GUI, and it's very user-friendly."
  • "The testing environment and different pipelining concepts can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We are exploring this solution. There is not enough protection in the environment at the moment. It's been almost six months since we started the process of exploring the DevOps environment in Microsoft Azure DevOps.

We have a customized development methodology so that it is easily marked to our existing environment. Currently, we required that all these systems blend easily in this one environment. We can actually use all the large frameworks within DevOps properly and automate most of our support, starting from planning through support to deployment.

What is most valuable?

It has a good GUI, and it's very user-friendly. It is also a familiar environment as we are used to it. All our users are very comfortable working with it. I think the Azure methodology and all those DevOps features in the dashboard are very effective in our environment. 

It's very implementable in our environment compared to the other DevOps environments which we experienced. I won't name them, but this one part of DevOps we have found very easy in our environment because the infrastructure there is fairly supportive and very integrable to the current DevOps environment we use.

What needs improvement?

The testing environment and different pipelining concepts can be improved. It can also be more user-friendly. They can actually incorporate all those other features, current tools and have those mind maps.

They could add some good analytic features. I think they can be more enriched with some good reporting features. They can also improve the designing tools.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for about six months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable product. I feel it's stable enough for us at the moment. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not overly complex. It's fairly straightforward. Other than the Java environment variables which lack documentation, it's not complex and easy to follow.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The main agile features are very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Microsoft Azure DevOps a seven.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Project Manager at Shell Exploration & Production Co.
Real User
Good organization and structure, and the scheduling works well
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like the most is the DevOps Boards. It's easy to create a hierarchical project structure, assign tasks to people, and to track their tasks."
  • "I would like to automate notifications on sprint planning. When we are getting to the end of sprint planning, we would be automatically notified."

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is the DevOps Boards. It's easy to create a hierarchical project structure, assign tasks to people, and then track their tasks.

I also like the scheduling functionality.

What needs improvement?

I would like to automate notifications on sprint planning. When we are getting to the end of sprint planning, we would be automatically notified. 

Also, it would be nice to have a percentage complete. For example, if a task is in progress, how much of it is complete, how much is left outstanding. I'd like that to be something that the assignee fills in and that automatically reports back to me.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I used Microsoft Project. We chose to use Microsoft Azure DevOps because I needed something that my stakeholders could access.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward.

The time it takes to deploy is dependent on the type of deployment. Deployment of software, or deployment of the project into the software? 

It took me a week to deploy the project into the software. It's approximately 800 PBIs.

What other advice do I have?

Before implementing Microsoft Azure DevOps, I would suggest doing your research on how to configure it. It is a product that I recommend

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.