Ismail Kiswani - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at Al-kiswani
Real User
Good CI/CD pipeline and testing automation that is both stable and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of this solution are the CI/CD pipeline, and the testing automation."
  • "They have to add more features such as schedules and more flexibility in the platform."

What is our primary use case?

We are using this solution for CI/CD projects, for Scrum, Agile planning, testing, and business management system solutions. 

We are also using it for continuous integration, and continuous delivery of DevOps.

I am also using the Git Repositories, which is the main source control for me in the organization. We were using it on-premises and now planning to move it to the Cloud.

They are calling it repository and they are supporting an old protocol, which is a popular protocol called Git repository.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of this solution are the CI/CD pipeline, and the testing automation.

It's good that they are bringing more options to this environment, and to deploy to virtual machines.

What needs improvement?

The testing agents needs to be improved, they need to work on it.

They can enhance the areas related to continuous integration and build automation. They can add more technologies for the build.

The integration with the Azure infrastructure as a code and include more templates for infrastructure as a code in the continuous integration phase and the build phase.

They can add more flexibility to the continuous deployment.

Artifact management is also an area that needs some enhancements.

I think automation and integration with the CI/CD lifecycle it's good but it's using agents.

I am using a different tool for testing automation because I have not found any use cases on it. This feature is not covered. I'm using only testing and business management. I'm not using the testing automation feature that is provided by Azure DevOps.

I would like to see more integration with other platforms and more flexibility.

They have to add more features such as schedules and more flexibility in the platform. This will allow me to build my space and time based on the schedule and based on a calendar.

I would also like to see a release calendar so that I can plan my releases based on my sprints. 

This is required and it would give this solution more maturity. Between Scrum, Agile Planning, or Project planning with the build and deploy prophecies.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for three years.

We are using the latest version of this solution.

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

It's a stable solution. We have not experienced any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's a scalable product. We have more than 50 users in our organization using this solution.

I plan to continue using it in the future.

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

Previously, I used TeamCity, Jenkins, I used Chef, and many other technologies.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward, it's a cloud service, so it's plug and play.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Microsoft Azure DevOps for other users who are interested in using it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Project Manager at a marketing services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Good traceability and dependency-tracking features
Pros and Cons
  • "There are a lot of helpful features available for tracking dependencies."
  • "Improving the metrics that are readily available on the dashboard would be very helpful."

What is most valuable?

The key thing I find benefits me is the ability to track right from the feature and determine what has happened. I have a direct link to the test and the metrics that are available.

There are a lot of helpful features available for tracking dependencies.

What needs improvement?

The dashboard could be improved. Although there is flexibility in configuring it, there are some metrics that we have to configure ourselves. Improving the metrics that are readily available on the dashboard would be very helpful.

I would like to see better integration with third-party solutions, where if they are part of the DevOps pipeline then the reporting could be made available on the dashboard.

Having some form of check modeling integrated into Azure would be useful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Azure DevOps for the past four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have had no issues in terms of stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The offerings in terms of scalability are good.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have not had to depend much on Microsoft support for DevOps and project management. However, I can say that the general support that we get for Azure is good.

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

I have some experience with Jira from Atlassian, although I have worked with Microsoft Team Foundation Server from the beginning.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. While we were migrating, we had training from Microsoft, which was helpful.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I haven't really looked into other options.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, this is a good product and one that I recommend. The features it has have helped us, especially with tracking dependencies.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure DevOps
May 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure DevOps. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2024.
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Works at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
They fix issues and add new features quite regularly and it offers many analytical capabilities
Pros and Cons
    • "They do very frequent releases, there's a complete change in UI kind of stuff. Sometimes it feels like they change it too often."

    What is most valuable?

    The ability to interact with various other Azure services like for a deployment or using CICD was very helpful because when we leverage it for Azure IT helps. There's no CICD pipeline available. They provided us with some of the plugins to deploy that onto the Azure IOT edge.

    What needs improvement?

    They do very frequent releases, there's a complete change in UI kind of stuff. Sometimes it feels like they change it too often. They fix issues and add new features quite regularly which is good. 

    They leverage a lot of new features, new features get released frequently, and sometimes the change management on our side is a bit complicated because we'll see something and there's an entirely different way how it is presented. You need to get it all working again.

    Previously we asked them for more analytics on top of what they already had so that we could look at it comprehensively and see how the projects are progressing. They implemented these changes for us. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using Azure for the last couple of years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's stable. It's good. If there are some features missing we connect with the Microsoft team and then they get it developed and we utilize it.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    It is very scalable. We use it for quite a lot of projects including running the data and all that stuff. We do quite a lot of analysis and analytics on top of that.

    We have hundreds of users using this solution.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    We don't really use technical support for incidents but more for developing new features. 

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

    I've been using Microsoft based solutions, like VST and then like before that DSS. It was a natural progression from VSTS into Azure DevOps.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward. We've been using Microsoft products for a while. 

    What other advice do I have?

    It's a good tool, quite rich, it has a lot of features, and quite a lot of analytical capabilities which are built on top of it so that you can see how your projects are going and all that stuff. It's a good tool.

    I would rate it a nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Derek Smith - PeerSpot reviewer
    Development and Release Compliance Officer at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
    Real User
    A reliable ecosystem with the capability to expand as needed
    Pros and Cons
    • "The solution is scalable."
    • "The interface is very bad."

    What is our primary use case?

    We produce multiple different software for different markets in different countries. It's really for everything you can possibly think of, from online games to financial systems, to payment gateways, to APIs, to service desks, back-office analysis tools, admin tools, et cetera. We use it for anything and everything really.

    What is most valuable?

    The solution is great due to the fact that it's kind of an entire ecosystem. I'd say the work items are probably the most valuable aspect.

    The stability has been great.

    The solution is scalable. 

    What needs improvement?

    The interface is very bad. It's an aspect that really needs to be worked on. It is going to probably get the developers to start abandoning work items.

    Our initial setup was quite complex. 

    The presence of Microsoft in the country is limited.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I've used the solution since it came on the upgraded from Team Foundation Server - about ten years. We've used it for a very long time. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The stability has always been really good. There aren't bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    We've found the scalability to be good. We have about 2,000 users on it right now. We haven't had any issues with scaling as needed. 

    How was the initial setup?

    For us, the initial setup was extremely complex due to the multiple organizations we had on the go. We actually had to abandon our initial rollout and rethink the whole process though. 

    I'm in compliance, and therefore cannot speak to what the maintenance process is like for the solution. 

    What about the implementation team?

    We had a combination of both in-house and vendor help with the setup process. We've got enterprise agreements with Microsoft, so they always give us resources to assist with our deployments. We already had TFS deployed, so it was an upgrade, really.

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

    I don't deal with licensing. I can't speak to how much the solution costs.

    What other advice do I have?

    I'm just a customer and an end-user.

    I'd advise new users to plan very carefully the way that they would like to set up projects. The model that you choose is extremely important and you might have to do a lot of rework if you don't get it right the first time.

    I'd rate the solution an eight out of ten. It's Microsoft. It's backed by the mighty, mega Microsoft. You can't get fired for choosing the top product run by a top multinational company. The downside for us here is, in South Africa, there are only two points of presence. For the data, if it's fully hosted, we only have Capetown and Johannesburg. When it comes to back hall speeds for internet, it could be better if we had points of presence in all the major cities, however, I suppose it's too much investment for Microsoft to make.

    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.
    PeerSpot user
    Cloud Solution Architect at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
    Reseller
    Easy to set up, allows for third-party extensions, and is pretty scalable
    Pros and Cons
    • "It is possible to add third-party extensions to increase the usability of the product."
    • "Some things like project management, tasks, progress, and having work progress views require us to use some external tools, or to create our own internal tools. These are not native to DevOps. It would be ideal if, instead of searching for third-party solutions, they had these feature sets or capabilities included under DevOps."

    What is our primary use case?

    We primarily use the solution for our internal development and we have some clients that require some consulting around some DevOps functionality.

    We use the product for the development process for the repository, for the tracking of the tasks in the boards, and for the pipeline for CINCD.

    What is most valuable?

    The test plan is one feature that we are exploring more right now. This is a great feature that we want to deeper into.

    We have a solid base. We can do everything with DevOps.

    It is possible to add third-party extensions to increase the usability of the product.

    The initial setup is very simple. 

    We have found the solution to be scalable.

    The solution, for the most part, is stable. 

    What needs improvement?

    Some things, like project management, tasks, progress, and having work progress views, require us to use some external tools or to create our own internal tools. These are not native to DevOps. It would be ideal if, instead of searching for third-party solutions, they had these feature sets or capabilities included under DevOps. They need to expand the solution's offering.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    While I have used the solution for two years, the company has some personnel that have used it for longer. Our development team may have used it for four or five years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    The product is stable. We had some regional degradations a few months ago, however, it wasn't too much. For the most part, it's reliable and there aren't bugs or glitches. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The solution is scalable. If we need to expand it we can do so. 

    How are customer service and support?

    We've never had to contact technical support. I cannot speak to how helpful or responsive they would be, as I've never dealt with them directly. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is very simple and straightforward. It is not difficult or complex. 

    We use the online version. We don't have to deploy the tool. We don't have to put in a lot of effort as we already have the pipelines in the TFS. We just move it to Azure DevOps. 

    Which other solutions did I evaluate?

    I'm a solution provider. I sell Azure DevOps and I have a client that was looking to analyze some differences between Jira and Azure DevOps. Therefore, I have evaluated Jira a bit for them.

    What other advice do I have?

    We are both a reseller and a partner of Microsoft.

    We always use the latest version of the solution. 

    I would recommend this product to other companies and users. If a company or a team doesn't know how to work with Azure DevOps, the advice I would give is to find someone that knows the tool and do a POC first to make sure you understand everything a bit better before diving right in. 

    In general, I would rate the solution at an eight out of ten.

    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: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
    PeerSpot user
    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
    Chief Operating Officer Executive at a cloud solution provider with 11-50 employees
    Real User
    Fast, scalable, and stable work planning and code collaboration software; offers a good user experience
    Pros and Cons
    • "Stable and scalable solution for work planning and code collaboration. It's fast, and it offers a good user experience."
    • "The optimization feature in Microsoft Azure DevOps needs improvement. Control over multiple projects could also be improved."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use Microsoft Azure DevOps for management, e.g. managing items that we need to work on, planning activities, connecting to components to get information on how long the developer is working on the items assigned, etc. We use the solution for our projects.

    We have internal users from the development team, and we have the work logs that we need to work on for each customer. We match those to have control over the projects and the budget. We have a component plugged into the solution for the billables and performance delivery. What we don't have yet is optimization, and that is something that needs to be improved in Microsoft Azure DevOps, but the solution has all the activities and the budgeting functions, so the project is working good. We're making an exact component in seven days that we can use with the solution.

    What is most valuable?

    One of the features I found most useful in Microsoft Azure DevOps is that we can use it to plan activities. We use the dashboard to work on the tasks we have, and also use it to find out what could be better. It's also useful when you have many customers and many people working together on different projects.

    In our case, we have one developer working on more than one project within the same day, week, or month, and Microsoft Azure DevOps helps give better control of his schedule, making it easier to find out if the developer still has availability to take on new work. The solution helps us see the work status and availability of team members, making work management and task management better.

    The validation and quality offered by Microsoft Azure DevOps are very good. The user experience is good. The speed of the solution is also good, e.g. the pages load fast.

    What needs improvement?

    The optimization feature in Microsoft Azure DevOps needs improvement.

    Sometimes, having control over multiple projects for a customer could be difficult. If you're a developer, you need to know if you still have time to work on more activities within the day. When you're working on one project for one customer, Microsoft Azure DevOps is great, but when your team is working on different projects for several clients, it may be too hard to handle, e.g. you really need to organize and plan the activities, so planning is another area for improvement in the solution.

    Planning includes budgeting, e.g. creating a budget for each project, especially if the developer is working on multiple projects of customers. You need to have control and see to it that you are within budget, but it can be hard because you can't always see the daily, weekly, or monthly activities of the developer, particularly if the developer doesn't keep the calendar updated. We want to be able to view the complete list of activities of the developer, whether daily, weekly, or monthly, to make planning and budgeting easier.

    I'd also like the Microsoft Azure DevOps Gantt chart to be improved. We need to see in the schedule how to plan the fields out. We have daily activities and we'd like to use the Gantt chart to make our work approach more successful.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We've been a partner of Microsoft for 10 years, and we've been using Microsoft solutions for 10 years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    Microsoft Azure DevOps is stable. Sometimes there's a little lag, but the next day, it'll work fine. The solution works fine.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Microsoft Azure DevOps is a scalable solution.

    How was the initial setup?

    Setting up Microsoft Azure DevOps was easy.

    What other advice do I have?

    We use Microsoft solutions as part of management. We use Microsoft's platform.

    We use the latest version of Microsoft Azure DevOps for our projects.

    We have 15 people who are in charge of the deployment and maintenance of the solution. Per project, we have one or two developers who utilize Microsoft Azure DevOps: At the beginning, we have the front end developer and the cloud personnel who create the environment, the designer who works to create the right frame, the right materials, the layout, and the design for the project, and at the middle, we have four to five operators.

    The platform works well so we didn't have the need to open a ticket or contact Microsoft technical support.

    I really like Microsoft Azure DevOps, so I recommend it to people who want to start using it. My advice to them is that it's a huge platform, so it won't be easy the first time. When you test the platform, you need to spend time and make an effort to understand how it works, but it's the best solution. It's the top solution. 

    Another advice to new users of Microsoft Azure DevOps is that it's harder to have a macro view of all the processes together. When we needed to cross-match a lot of information from the different processing teams of customers, we found it difficult. You also need to plan well, particularly plan when your developer can work on more than one project. When you have many projects, you need to handle the processes well, e.g. create separate folders for each customer, separate projects, etc., to keep the information separate and be more organized.

    Microsoft Azure DevOps could still be improved more, so I'm rating it an eight out of ten.

    We are a partner of Microsoft, and we use Microsoft solutions. What we recommend to our customers is for them to use the Microsoft environment, server and databases. We work with some of the solutions and technologies from Microsoft.

    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: May 2024
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.