I'm currently using an automation platform to connect various internal systems, but I'm finding it difficult to manage changes effectively. There's no efficient way to track modifications, and if someone happens to break a workflow, the process of rolling it back is pretty manual and stressful. I feel like we're really just guessing without proper oversight. How do others handle version control and change management for their automation workflows?
3 Answers
I totally get how frustrating it can be. Many companies struggle with managing complex workflows due to lack of version control. What we do is focus on creating a centralized process that serves as a single source of truth, which includes robust change management. If your current automation platform isn't serving you well, it might be worth considering a more integrated solution that can scale with your needs, especially if you’re managing sizable operations.
It sounds like you're facing a common issue in automation. I think the key is really in the tooling you're using. For instance, at my place, we leverage Azure Functions for business automation and implement proper CI/CD practices. This basically allows us to version control everything through repositories. When we make breaking changes, we create a new module version. Everything is tracked and we aim to maintain minimal manual intervention—keeping it all as 'everything as code' really helps with traceability. The more structured you can get, the less you'll experience those 'flying blind' moments!
Makes sense! I was initially thinking about those UI-driven workflows that make tracking changes feel so tedious. Your setup sounds much more robust. It's definitely the direction I want to move towards.
We also use tags and releases in our repositories where code and pipelines are maintained. This allows for straightforward rollback—if something goes wrong, you just select the previous version in your CI/CD tools like GitHub Actions or Jenkins and relaunch the pipeline. It's a pretty seamless way to ensure consistency without getting bogged down in manual fixes.
Absolutely! The idea of using CI/CD as the sole deployment method really cuts down on any manual processes. Great insight!
Thanks for sharing that! I see how crafting a custom platform could really streamline things for larger operations. Definitely something to consider!