Enabling Pipelines: Easier than ever
Tags: powerplatform, pipelines, powerapps, powerfuldevs
Published: 2024-03-20 12:01:55

Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)strategy is a topic that you keep encountering more if you are building applications/automations in Power Platform.

There are multiple ways to implement ALM for power platform. But I want to focus on [deploying solutions using pipelines] (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/pipelines). So far, you must be an admin to set up and manage a pipeline. This process requires the admin to install the power platform pipelines and setup pipelines for the end user to implement them.

But now we can create [personal pipelines] (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/set-up-pipelines#create-a-personal-pipeline-using-the-platform-host-preview) using the platform host. At the time of writing this piece, it is still a **preview feature**, so please **don't** do this in your production environment. This feature stimulates you to skip the manual export/import process, and that is a good step in enabling citizen developers to implement ALM practices.

## How to implement it?

For my test use case, I have two environments, one being Dev, and the other being Test. I have a solution that contains a demo app.
![Simple Solution](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/c97q9wilcsxfckv124mg.png)

When you select the export solution button, I see a card about the deployment process **(preview)**..
![Deployment Process](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wb1rr7b9of3mwo44w5yr.png)

When you are doing it for the first time it takes a few seconds for the setup to be completed. Once the setup is complete, you see a screen which you might already be familiar with (if you have used power platform pipelines before).
![Screen Pipeline](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/dbw0gligr1zu7t4kke4y.png)

Now we are ready to create a new pipeline for our use case. Here you can select your target environment, for now you can only select **one target environment**. You can filter the target environments in terms of Your role, Data platform, and Environment type.
![Create pipeline](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mgyma8b04ghowihklfnh.png)

After creating a pipeline, the next step is to then deploy it to our target environment.
![Test pipeline](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/94cl9wn79eaq14v8c1or.png)

We can also schedule our deployment if needed. After this step it first validates the solution and gives us a summary in which you can add some deployment notes for future references.
![Summary](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/hp6ywep0mbh6891cc6wo.png)

Once the deployment is succesfull, you can find your solution(managed) in the target environment. You can also manage your own pipelines, which is a model driven app. It contains essential information like the setup, run history, artifacts etc.

But this preview feature does come with some limitations (at least for now):

- We cannot extend the personal pipelines.
- We can select only one target environment.
- Pipelines remain personal to you and can't be shared.

## Conclusion

Personal pipelines do enable citizen developers to move away from the manual export/export process. Even though it's a preview feature, it has enormous potential.