The Build Life represents all the transformations a build has gone through, and the processes such as deployments and testing that the artifacts have undergone.
| Whether you are a developer, tester, manager or release engineer, AnthillPro provides comprehensive view (presented in a single location) of your builds from beginning to end: When a build is created, a Build Life number is created. When automated tests are run against the build, the results are recorded under the Build Life. When QA tests a build, their findings are included as part of the Build Life. Finally, when a release is performed, it is the Build Life that provides an exact trace to every change that went into the build, all the testing that was performed on the build, and the different environments the build progressed through. |
In effect, the Build Life is a map of (1.) what occurred during the build; (2.) the processes that were performed on the generated artifacts; and (3.) where the build artifacts ended up:
The build. Often called the pure build, this step takes the source as input and transforms it into artifacts. In AnthillPro, it is the pure build (or simply build) which generates the Build Life -- represented on the dashboard as the Build Life number. The build process is configured as an originating workflow in AnthillPro.
Secondary processes. Once a build is successful, that is where the Build Life begins to come into play. The generated artifacts are stored in AnthillPro and made available for additional processes -- most commonly testing. For example, many organizations have a suite of tests that run every night to check the stability of the application. When this is the case, a secondary workflow is configured to executes the processes. The testing process inherits a majority of its configuration properties from the build (originating) workflow. Once the test suit is complete, the data is collected and presented on the AnthillPro dashboard, under the same Build Life number generated by the build.
Deployments and releases. Generally, deployment and release processes are treated much the same way as testing processes. They are usually configured as secondary workflows. Once a deployment or release has been run, the results, includes the environments the artifacts were sent to, will be made available on the dashboard's Build Life page.
Much of the information presented as part of the Build Life is determined by processes you configure in AnthillPro: You configure the source and the location of the build, map out the different stages of the build's life-cycle -- including all the testing processes that the build will go through -- and configure dependencies. All of these moving parts are brought together as a Build Life.