How do you move changes between environments?

Required tools

• Development, test, and production environment — At least three. Two is the absolute minimum.
• A solution with the changes — Unmanaged in development.

From development to testing

1. 1.Increase the version number before exporting

   Without a new version number, it becomes impossible to see what was actually deployed and when. This is the simplest habit that provides the greatest value when troubleshooting.

2. 2.Export as managed

   For testing and production, the solution must always be managed. In practice, an unmanaged solution cannot be removed from production.

3. 3.Import for testing and verification

   The test environment should resemble production closely enough for the test to be meaningful. Go through the actual workflows, rather than merely checking that the import completed without errors.

From testing to production

1. 4.Set environment variables and connection references

   After import, the values must be set for production. If you forget this, flows and integrations will still point to the test environment—and this is rarely detected immediately.

2. 5.Deploy outside working hours

   Importing may lock parts of the system for a period of time. Schedule it for a time when few users are logged in, and notify users in advance.

3. 6.Verify in production afterward

   Go through a short checklist of the most important tasks. A successful import does not necessarily mean that users can do their jobs.

4. 7.Record what was distributed

   Version, date, what was included. The next time something fails, this is the first place you should look.