What is continuous delivery (CI/CD)?

In a CI/CD pipeline, you record how the code and process is built up. This delivers significant quality benefits thanks to HybrIT’s quality standards:

• Uniformity in the code is enforced;
• Unit tests, integration tests and possibly performance tests & UI tests are performed automatically;
• Tests must have >80% coverage in order to deploy.

At HybrIT, we used to work with scripts that determined the layout of our DevOps cycle. Nowadays we build and run our software in Docker containers, using a Dockerfile. The advantage is that the conditions remain the same regardless of whether we set up an Azure DevOps, Gitlab, Google cloud build or Jenkins CI/CD environment. This provides speed in setting up the CI/CD cycle and contributes to the standardization and quality of the software.

This way, a CI/CD development cycle contributes to your development speed as an ICT company:

• Simultaneously work on multiple functionalities (or bugs) of the software;
• Quickly publish a new release through the automated DTAP environment;
• Accelerate the time to market while retaining quality

* How it works? A developer basically copies a piece of code he wants to work on to his own development environment. Another developer can do that at the same time. Once the piece of code is finished and tested, and he wants to add it to the master branch to pass it through the DTAP (Develop, Test, Acceptance, Production Environment), the system first inquires (automatically) if any changes have been made to the master branch. If that is the case, it will also implement that change in its own development environment and it will be tested again. Does it work well? Then he pushes the code to the master branch. This prevents new code from suddenly not working when going live due to changes made later by another developer.

Thanks to continuous delivery, uniformity in the code makes your software more manageable:

• Every developer can put an update in the production environment;
• The risk of errors during live operation is considerably lower;
• You work together more efficiently;
• Work is easier to transfer;
• Errors in the software can be solved faster.

To enforce uniformity, we use linters. Linters are tools that do static analysis of your code as you type. Among other things, they enforce certain coding standards. We also work with commit linters. This way, we include explanations with each piece code, so that it is easily transferable.

At HybrIT, we mainly use community-driven technology: the larger and more active the community is, the more knowledge and experience is available for the best application of the chosen technology.

Would you like to realize continuous delivery for your software development? We look beyond just the technical delivery. What problem is there in your company and what do you want to solve with CI/CD? Which parts of your software are the most important to organize differently? HybrIT has a great deal of experience with various organizations, each using its own technical platforms. We can realize a CI/CD pipeline in any environment that suits your internal organization.

If you are curious how far away your company is from continuous delivery, please answer the questions below for yourself:

• Do you have version control yet (Github, bitbucket)?
• Is there a Devops environment yet? E.g. Azure, gitlab, Google cloud build or Jenkins.
• Does it run in the cloud or on premise?
• Do you have automated tests? E.g. Unit tests, integration tests, performance tests.
• Do you have a DTAP environment?

Did you answer yes to all questions? Then you already have most of the components available and it is relatively easy to set up a CI/CD environment. Is there no version control and DTAP yet? Then we will map out the complete development environment and bring it up to the latest standards.

We have all the knowledge necessary to provide you with the best continuous delivery solution for your organization. No matter how short or long the road to it.

Are you purchasing a portal from us? Then you are assured of a thorough CI/CD build cycle based on our DevOps principles for maximum quality, manageability and speed. When setting up the development cycle, we make no distinction between type of customer or product.

Want more info?

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