HarunRashid - PeerSpot reviewer
Principle BI Architect at Allshore Staffing
Real User
Top 5
Offers a comprehensive suite of tools for software development
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like most about Azure DevOps is how easy it is to manage projects and control deployments."
  • "One potential enhancement in Azure DevOps could be integrating more customizable reporting features, particularly for Power BI integration."

What is our primary use case?

As an architect, I use Azure DevOps for our projects, primarily focusing on setting up CI/CD workflows. We track tasks and maintain timesheets on Azure DevOps. I collaborate with project managers to define deployment pipelines and ensure smooth deployment processes. While Azure DevOps serves as our project management tool, my main role involves architecting deployment strategies and working closely with the project management team to implement them effectively.

How has it helped my organization?

Switching to Azure DevOps initially posed challenges, but as our team became familiar with it, we found it greatly improved our daily operations and productivity. Its streamlined processes made our development workflow more efficient.

What is most valuable?

What I like most about Azure DevOps is how easy it is to manage projects and control deployments. Once configured, team members can manage deployments if they have permissions. Additionally, the reports feature helps generate itemized invoices for the services provided to clients, which is valuable for billing purposes.

What needs improvement?

One potential enhancement in Azure DevOps could be integrating more customizable reporting features, particularly for Power BI integration, to provide better insights into project data.

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March 2024
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Azure DevOps for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Azure DevOps is quite stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Azure DevOps is scalable and can be used in distributed environments and for different tenants.

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

Before Azure DevOps, we used various tools like Jira. We decided to switch to Azure DevOps to have all services unified in one place, simplifying management. The main advantage is having everything centralized.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process for Azure DevOps was somewhat complex, requiring documentation and technical support. Migration from previous tools and configuring project guidelines were involved. The deployment strategy involved creating directories, and repositories, setting up environments, and assigning access rights, following a predefined plan. Initially, deployment took about three to four hours, but now, for regular deployments, it typically takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on project stability. 

For the initial deployment of Azure DevOps, gathering information from various resources is essential, but typically, only one person is needed to handle deployment through the web interface. Maintenance involves regular tasks like backups and occasional updates, requiring minimal effort.

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

The pricing for Azure DevOps may be higher compared to other tools, but overall, I find it reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

In my experience, integrating reporting and analytics into Azure DevOps enhances project visibility and decision-making processes. We can easily generate reports online to track project status and task progress. Additionally, I have integrated Azure DevOps with other tools like SQL Server, enabling us to gather data for generating Power BI reports.

The most beneficial integrations with Azure DevOps are integration with other project management tools for seamless collaboration and APIs for importing data into applications. Additionally, integrating with personal models allows for enhanced analytics and reporting on resource performance and other project metrics.

The source control management features of Azure DevOps, particularly Azure Repos, are highly effective. We can easily track and manage code changes, commit updates, and maintain a complete history of changes for our applications.

I would recommend Azure DevOps to others. Before choosing Azure DevOps, I would advise considering the need for better project management, consolidation of management tools, and streamlining deployment processes.

Overall, I would rate Azure DevOps as an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Malak Zouaoui - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps engineer at FORVIA
Real User
Helps to create Azure pipelines for continuous integration and deployment
Pros and Cons
  • "The tool's most efficient feature is the integration of its services in one place. It is an easy-to-use product that improves productivity. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also user-friendly. Its documentation is clear and can be found on Google."
  • "Microsoft Azure DevOps should create some training materials."

What is our primary use case?

We integrate the report pipelines with Azure pipelines, automating the creation of pipelines and initiating deployments automatically. Our process includes continuous integration, deployment, and branching strategies.

What is most valuable?

The tool's most efficient feature is the integration of its services in one place. It is an easy-to-use product that improves productivity. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also user-friendly. Its documentation is clear and can be found on Google. 

What needs improvement?

Microsoft Azure DevOps should create some training materials. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for more than four years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The product is scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't contacted the technical support team yet. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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March 2024
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Alba Jamile Diaz - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Premium Consulting SAS
Real User
Top 20
Can control the whole cycle, has good documentation, and is stable
Pros and Cons
  • "The integration of the whole cycle is the main strength of the tool. If I want to control the cycle with other tools on the market, I would have to use several tools. However, this is not the case with Azure DevOps or TFS."
  • "The ability to extend work items was more flexible than it is now. Talking version control, one of our customers had some issues because they found it very difficult to manage more than 1000 repositories for one team project."

How has it helped my organization?

We are a team of 12 consultants specializing in this solution. We have customers with approximately 200 users each, and we have been able to reduce our customers' deployment time by using Azure DevOps or TFS.

Additionally, our customers have been able to measure and improve their development process, by generating some KPI's as 'average defect fixing time', 'effort deviation', and 'velocity' among others, due to the continuous use of Azure DevOps.

What is most valuable?

The integration of the whole cycle is the main strength of the tool. If I want to control the cycle with other tools on the market, I would have to use several tools. However, this is not the case with Azure DevOps or TFS.

What needs improvement?

The ability to extend work items was more flexible than it is now. Talking version control, one of our customers had some issues because they found it very difficult to manage more than 1000 repositories for one team project.

Additionally, I would like to see more powerful dashboards that could be used instead of Power BI. Azure DevOps or TFS does not support graphics from hierarchy queries. It would be powerful to have because some customers don't have Power BI licenses.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with Azure DevOps or TFS for the past 11 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is totally stable.

How are customer service and support?

The documentation is good and thus, we have not had to contact technical support very often. However, when we have escalated an issue to technical support, they have been good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup can be straightforward if the consultant is knowledgeable.

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

The pricing is very competitive because of the whole development cycle by Azure DevOps. You don't have to buy and integrate several different tools.

What other advice do I have?

Azure DevOps or TFS is a very good tool for development teams. It's easy to use. However, you would need the help of a consultant who has a lot of experience with the tool. This is because the tool let's you do things in many ways, but not all of them will be the right way to do it. It would be better to invest in the services of an experienced consultant.

Overall, I would rate TFS or Azure DevOps at nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Director at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Easy to comprehend and easy to use but the pricing should be easier to manage
Pros and Cons
  • "The simplicity is very good and the customer experience is also great."
  • "It should be easier to manage Licenses especially because it's in the cloud."

What is our primary use case?

My team uses this solution for the CI/CD deployment, and code check-ins.

We are also using Azure Boards for tracking our work, all of the requirements, the backlogs the sprints, and the release planning.

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is that it is easy to comprehend, and it's easy to use.

The simplicity is very good and the customer experience is also great.

What needs improvement?

I am not suggesting this solution should be cheaper. I would like to see a bucket of licenses. for example, 10 licenses or 100 licenses that could be monitored to know how many of those licenses have been used. The price would be deducted accordingly.

I should not have to contact Microsoft daily to request a license or two. There should be a mechanism in place where you are able to find out where you are out of 100 licenses, or that you have used 90 licenses in that year.

I should be given a credit line of 10 licenses at the end of the year or at the end of the month.

It should be easier to manage licenses, especially because it's in the cloud. You should know the usage and based on the usage, you should be able to make decisions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for one year.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable product. I have not experienced any issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This is an area that has yet to be explored fully. We haven't taken it to this level.

We are a team of 25 to 30 members, which is fine for us. Every time we scale up we need a new license and that takes time, it's not just a click and it's done.

I don't know if it will be scalable for 200 to 300 people.

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

Previously, I was working with Jira.

How was the initial setup?

I was not involved in the installation. My team completed it.

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

Price is an area that could be improved. There are products on the market with a fixed price of 50 or 100 people, you are a bucket price. 

With Azure, you have to pay for every user.

It's good to have a bucket such as 50 to 100, or 100 to 200, and flexible pricing.

The issue may be from having more than one license. When you procure one license or two licenses, it becomes difficult.

It should be easier to procure a license, it should not be one by one. We don't know how many members I will have on my team three months from now.

What other advice do I have?

We plan to continue using this solution.

I would recommend this solution, but I would not know their business needs.

Based on the various features, the deployments, licensing, pricing, and the customer experience, I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a seven 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.
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Software Developer at Politecnico di Milano
Real User
Top 5
Can be used for task management, software tests, and documentation
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of the solution is task management."
  • "The solution could be made faster because it can be a little unnerving to browse through too many pages and press too many buttons."

What is our primary use case?

We use Microsoft Azure DevOps as a code repository, for task and work management, software tests, and documentation.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is task management.

What needs improvement?

The solution could be made faster because it can be a little unnerving to browse through too many pages and press too many buttons.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for six years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable solution.

I rate the solution ten out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a scalable solution. In my current company, around 30 users are using the solution. In my previous organization, more than 100 users were using Microsoft Azure DevOps.

What was our ROI?

The solution makes you faster. You can organize your work in an easy and shared way. You can configure different types of access to allow some people just to read and to be able to modify some things. Since the solution gives you all the benefits of Git, you have a commit history.

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

We have an MPN subscription for Microsoft Azure DevOps, and it's all included.

What other advice do I have?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is deployed on the cloud in our organization. The product supports our agile project management practices very well. We can configure a process, and it would give you some different types of tasks, like the epics feature, user stories, and tasks. We need very little staff for the solution's deployment and maintenance.

For source control, we use Git repositories that are perfectly integrated into our IDE, Visual Studio 2022. Everything is available, and we can create or pull requests from Microsoft Azure DevOps. We can also manage, reject, and accept the requests. I would recommend the solution to other users.

Using Azure Boards for tracking work items and bugs is clear and visually appealing. It's easy to add tasks. In our current configuration, every time I go inside the tasks and go back using the browser, it doesn't redirect me to Azure Boards, even if I am coming from there.

Since the solution is available as Software as a Service (SaaS), you won't need to do any setup, installation management, etc. It's very straightforward, and there is no particular study required. To a certain degree, the solution is configurable and can suit different use cases. It is working very well in terms of Git repositories. Microsoft Azure DevOps is also very accessible.

You can define tasks using Microsoft Azure DevOps and then reference them when you write a commit message or push code. You can open a previous commit in the browser from Visual Studio, and you can use DevOps to compare some files or to check commits done by Visual Studio. So, the solution is perfectly integrated.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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
Has good features, but it is very difficult to integrate it with third-party tools
Pros and Cons
  • "The build and release management features are valuable."
  • "It is very difficult to integrate the product with third-party tools."

What is our primary use case?

We use the solution mostly for automation, deployment, generating build, and creating virtual machines.

What is most valuable?

The build and release management features are valuable. The deployment packages are also valuable.

What needs improvement?

Requirements traceability must be customizable. It is very difficult to integrate the product with third-party tools. It is all proprietary. It's not very customizable. It should be managed better. The product is not sufficient to generate documentation automatically.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for three to four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool’s stability is good. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have around 60 users in our organization.

How are customer service and support?

The turnaround time is high.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

My team set up the solution. It took one and a half years to stabilize.

What was our ROI?

The tool helps us save reasonably.

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

The solution is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I rate the product a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
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Software Engineering Manager at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Provides the best full integration feature on the market; our most important tool
Pros and Cons
  • "This is an all-in-one, one-stop shop, nothing comes close."
  • "Project management could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We're using Azure DevOps Services for three things: First, for project management, second, for storing the source code, similar to GitHub Repository, and finally, we use it as our CICD build server or build environment, which builds for us and runs tests and so on. In general, these are the three main use cases for this product. We are large customers of Microsoft and we're on a corporate level with them. We pay extra for support. I'm a software engineer manager. 

What is most valuable?

I like that this solution is all-in-one, a one-stop-shop, it's the killer feature. I haven't seen anything that comes close. I guess GitHub will be close soon, but that's it, there's really nothing right now for that full integration. Other solutions require three tools so this is really a great feature. The solution has a better user interface and better CICD tools compared to what we used previously when we ran TeamCity. I think it scores higher on most things, including better developer ergonomics. Since it's Git-based, there's no training because everyone uses Git. I've found it to also be very customizable so that on all points it's better. This is an important tool for us. 

What needs improvement?

This solution is not as good as Jira when it comes to project management and I think they know it, but it's good enough. I'm very used to it now, so I can work more quickly, but I've had colleagues who are very Jira-focused and they don't like Azure DevOps at all. When it comes to the handling of tickets or tasks or the product backlog, Jira is much more customizable and more intuitive. It's an area that Microsoft could improve. 

The instructions could be a little better. We are doing some weird stuff where we're building some things, including embedded firmware. It wasn't super intuitive to set that up which was an issue although it's something minor and we managed to solve it. I just expected it to be a little easier, although it's not what the solution is built for. We're going a little out of the normal use case. It is a little clunky compared to Jira and hosting your own builds could be a little easier.

I'm aware that they're putting money into GitHub to add more features around vulnerability scans and statical analysis and so on, basically taking on cloud and what have you, as well as Vericode that we are using. It would be great if it was built into the tool. I get things from other vendors that are provided out of the box, and it would be awesome for me to have that with DevOps. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for several years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution is good. We've had a couple of dashboards out and they have a nice page share where they show what's out and what's not. A few months back they had some issues with the Active Directory and we were pretty much locked out of some things. We lost Teams for a while and we use that a lot in Azure DevOps. It was quickly fixed. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the stability. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is good and there's no maintenance required. We're a small operation and we could grow by a factor of 10 and it wouldn't be a problem. This is an SaaS and if you need to take care of it, there's something wrong. We use the solution extensively and soon we'll have almost every piece of software, including all our test automation and embedded firmware there so we'll be increasing usage. 

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

The company previously used TeamCity, and I have used Jenkins in the past, the grandfather of everything. Azure DevOps is nicer. Jenkins is very configurable, but a pain. I like Azure a lot more and I think this or something like it, GitHub Actions, for example, is the future.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very intuitive. What I think they could work on is the whole permissions model where you have projects and other things which require permissions and which is not very intuitive. You can do almost everything but I want a more granular permissions model that's also easy to maintain. I don't quite like the way it's set up so there's some work to be done there. I think I'd rather do it in text because it's hard to see everything clearly otherwise. If you have a complex permissions system, it's complex to set up and it's not super intuitive. Compared to AWS, which is a very different system, that aspect of Azure is not very intuitive.

I work in an engineering department so we didn't feel the need to get any help with deployment. If you read the manual, create the sandbox, and test it out you're able to roll it out. It's not that hard. 

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

We're not paying a lot for this product. As developers, we have a Visual Studio license which is basically free. That's how their licensing model works. Then we have a number of stakeholders who need to do edits in the system, but not work with code necessarily. I believe they're paying $5 a month per user. We also have users who only need to read things and don't need code so I set that up for everyone who needs it. We're probably paying a few hundred dollars per month altogether. That's a minor cost for us; we're not currently hosting anything on cloud, so it's a small cost compared to hosting a solution. 

We ran into a few things where we had to pay more because of the number of concurrent building agents. We had capped it low and the developer was unhappy so we paid a little more to get what we needed and that's been good. I don't like it when you get a big bill and you don't know about it. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm somewhat critical of the documentation for certain things, but overall, the documentation is really good. In general, Microsoft is really good at documentation. It's worth taking a few hours to read it and then you'll know a little about how Access works. If you set up a sandbox, you're not going to destroy anything and you'll learn by trying things out. I would still read the documentation and go in parallel so you can at least know enough and be aware that it's safe to get in there.

We are very heavy users in creating small projects and then sometimes deleting them because they weren't useful but I like that model. Create a little sandbox and go build. We have done our own workflows and they are always tested in a sandbox before going live. That would be my suggestion. 

I rate the solution eight out of 10.  

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
Project Manager at a government with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Difficult to customize and limited in terms of project management, but is stable and easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "I found the Kanban board to be the most useful for my needs."
  • "In comparison to JIRA, I believe DevOps has very poor reporting and metrics support."

What is our primary use case?

We have a number of use cases. One of them is development, which includes several development teams that use source code control and testing support, as well as the entire software development toolset. I only use the front end, which is the project task management part.

How has it helped my organization?

I don't have any metrics on that. I can only give you anecdotal evidence. 

One of the benefits of using a Kanban board is that it keeps track of how long tasks take. People would hold onto tasks for three or four weeks before we started using the Kanban board. However, once we began using the Kanban board, it became more visible. 

We also realized that we needed to divide the tasks into smaller sections, and the tasks lasted an average of a week. As a result, the throughput and velocity increased simply because the Kanban board made them more visible.

What is most valuable?

I found the Kanban board to be the most useful for my needs.

I'm a project manager. I've been working with non-technical teams and training them on agile methodologies. Using a Kanban board is usually the most straightforward way to get a non-technical team started with an online task tracking tool.

What needs improvement?

In comparison to JIRA, I believe DevOps has very poor reporting and metrics support. They've done very little work, and they could benefit greatly from improved reporting and metrics.

Essentially, I would like to see more reporting support.

For how long have I used the solution?

This solution was already in place when I started. I'm not sure when it was first put in place.

I started with the company in May of 2018, and have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps ever since.

We are using the most recent version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is difficult to customize DevOps. It's similar to a product that has had features added to it rather than being completely redesigned. As a result, it has limitations in terms of scalability and customization.

The most successful users are software developers and technical software managers.

How are customer service and support?

I believe it is quite minimal. Microsoft, in my opinion, does not provide adequate support. My solutions are mostly found online. 

With JIRA, you could call someone, and they had a large community of users who could answer your questions. They also had a support department that provided assistance. Microsoft has a lot of information online, but you have to find it, look around its various websites. It is not well supported.

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

I used to work as an engineering manager, a scrum master, and as part of a technical team. JIRA is my preferred tool for this. 

JIRA is a more robust and mature tool. However, as you are aware, JIRA is more modular and requires integration with other parts. DevOps, on the other hand, has everything in one, it combines source code control, release management, and task tracking.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is fairly straightforward. It's one of its advantages over JIRA. It is easier to set up because it is a simple product, whereas JIRA is more complex, more mature and complete, and more difficult to set up.

We have two or three technicians who deploy and maintain this solution.

What other advice do I have?

You would really have to do a comparison, and you would need some training. 

It really depends on your project management and reporting requirements. DevOps is simple to use, but it is severely limited in terms of project management. JIRA is complete, but it's a lot more complicated.

I only use it for project management and the tools associated with project management. I know it's popular among those who use it for source code control and release management. It appears to be more satisfactory for that purpose.

I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a five 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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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.