Two Approaches for Application Lifecycle Management in Power Platform Solutions

Correct Answers:B and E

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) includes the governance, development, and maintenance of applications.

Microsoft Power Platform ALM contains the following components: Environment - a container to store and isolate data, applications, and business processes.

Solution - a package of the components that can be distributed between environments.

Continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD)- automatic code/solution integration, testing, and deployment to the environments.

Source Control - a source control management tool for solutions' and components' descriptions and code.

Dataverse - the central storage of all artifacts, including the solution.

All Power Platform environments following the ALM must use the Dataverse database.

There are two approaches to the Application Lifecycle Management design: Environment-centric and Source code-centric.

For the Environment-centric approach, the development environment is the master copy of the code and all changes.

The solution deployment moves from development to test and then to the production environment.

As a Solution Architect, you need to define procedures for promoting the code from dev to test to production.

You need to specify a configuration for each environment as well.

For the Source code-centric approach, the source management system is controlling the code and all changes.

You need to check out the code and recreate a dev environment, and when you are done with coding, check the code back in source control.

The Source control-centric approach allows the use of CI/CD pipelines.

For example, Azure DevOps pipelines or GitHub Actions can check the code from source control, build a solution, test it and deploy the solution to the production environment.

Microsoft recommends using the Source code-centric approach for the Power Platform ALM design.

All other options are incorrect.

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As a Solution Architect, you are responsible for designing the application lifecycle for the Power Platform solution. There are various approaches to application lifecycle management that you can use in your design. Two of these approaches are:

1. Environment-centric: In this approach, the application lifecycle is centered around environments. An environment is a logical container for apps, flows, and other resources. Each environment can have different stages such as development, test, and production. The environment-centric approach allows you to manage the lifecycle of your solution by promoting changes from one environment to another.

For example, you can develop your solution in a development environment, test it in a test environment, and then promote it to production when it is ready. This approach provides you with a high degree of control over the application lifecycle and allows you to manage each stage separately.

2. Solution-centric: In this approach, the application lifecycle is centered around solutions. A solution is a container for apps, flows, and other resources that are related to a specific business scenario. You can export a solution from one environment and import it into another environment. The solution-centric approach allows you to manage the lifecycle of your solution by packaging and deploying it as a single unit.

For example, you can develop your solution in a development environment, export it as a solution package, and then import it into a production environment. This approach provides you with a way to manage your solution as a single unit and simplifies the deployment process.

Other approaches that you can consider for application lifecycle management include:

3. DevOps-centric: In this approach, the application lifecycle is centered around DevOps practices such as continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). You can use tools like Azure DevOps to manage the development, testing, and deployment of your solution.

4. Azure-centric: In this approach, the application lifecycle is centered around Azure services. You can use Azure services such as Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, and Azure API Management to build and deploy your solution.

5. Source control-centric: In this approach, the application lifecycle is centered around source control. You can use source control tools like Git to manage the code changes for your solution.

Ultimately, the approach you choose will depend on the needs of your organization and the requirements of your solution.