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Get Started as a Deployment Manager in DevOps Center
Promote approved work items through your pipeline stages from development to production. Coordinate releases, review test results, and ensure quality changes reach production safely. No developer background is required.
Required Editions
| Available in: Lightning Experience in Professional (API access required), Enterprise, Performance, Unlimited, and Developer Editions |
| Not available in: Government Cloud Plus. Contact your Salesforce account executive for more details. |
| Not available in: EU Operating Zone. EU Operating zone is a special paid offering that provides an enhanced level of data residency commitment. DevOps Center is supported in orgs in the EU that aren't part of EU OZ, per standard product terms and conditions. |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To promote work items: | DevOps Center Deployment Manager |
Before you start, make sure that you have these ready:
- Your admin has set up DevOps Center and assigned you the DevOps Center Deployment Manager permission set.
- Your team has a project with an active pipeline.
- You have at least one work item in Ready to Promote status.
- You have access to all pipeline stage environments.
- You understand your team's quality gates and testing requirements.
If you're new to DevOps Center, here are the key terms you must understand.
| Term | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Pipeline | The path changes follow to reach production. |
| Approved Work Items | Work items that passed team review and are ready to promote. |
| Quality Gate | Automated test requirements that must pass before promotion. |
| Promote Stage | Moving all work items from one stage to the next. |
| Merge Conflict | Two people changed the same thing differently. |
Step 1: Find Approved Work Items
Locate work items that are ready to move through your pipeline.
- From the App Launcher, find and select DevOps Center.
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Open your project.
The dashboard displays work items and pipeline stages.
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Look for work items with the status Ready to Promote.
These are approved tasks waiting to be moved through the pipeline.
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Review the list of approved work items.
Check the subject and assignee to understand what's included in this release.
Step 2: Promote Work Items to the First Pipeline Stage
Group approved work items together by moving them into the first pipeline stage (typically Integration).
- In the Approved Work Items pane, select the work items to promote.
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Click Promote Selected.
The selected work items move into the first pipeline stage. They're now grouped and ready to move as a unit through the remaining stages.
Step 3: Promote Work Items Through the Pipeline
Move all work items in a stage to the next environment. DevOps Center automatically runs tests to validate the changes before deployment.
See Promote Work Items for detailed steps.
DevOps Center automatically runs the test suites assigned to the destination stage. This pre-promotion testing validates that changes meet your quality standards before deployment.
- If the tests pass: DevOps Center deploys changes to the target environment automatically.
- If the tests fail: DevOps Center blocks the promotion. See View Test Details for Pre-Promotion Events to troubleshoot.
What happens next?
- Testing and validation: The QA team tests the changes in the new environment.
- Repeat: When validation passes, you promote the stage again to the next environment.
- Production: After the changes are promoted to the final stage (production), work items close automatically.
What If Something Goes Wrong?
Common issues and how to resolve them.
| Situation | What to Do |
|---|---|
| Merge conflict | DevOps Center flags conflicts. Use AI assistance or resolve manually in source control. See Resolve Merge Conflicts. |
| Tests fail during promotion | Click Test Results to review failures. Coordinate with developers to fix issues. Run on-demand tests to verify fixes. See Testing Before Promotion to the Next Stage. |
| Promotion is stalled | Check the Activity History for specific error messages. |
| Multiple work items have dependencies | Combine work items to prevent conflicts. See Custom Promotion. |
| Stage is out of sync | External changes were merged directly into source control. Click Complete Promotion to deploy those changes. See External Merges. |
Level Up: AI-Powered Assistance
Use DevOps Center Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools with natural language prompts to simplify promotion tasks.
- Promote stages: Use phrases like "Promote Integration stage to UAT" to trigger promotions.
- Resolve conflicts: Describe the outcome that you want in plain English, and DevOps MCP Tools helps merge changes.
See DevOps Center MCP Tools for setup and examples.
