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Do I Need to Scan Source Code for Release Management?

Josh Rank
May 3, 2023

Code overwrites, improper coding structures, and mistakes can have disastrous impacts on a DevOps project. Scanning source code helps eliminate these threats.

Why It Matters: Multi-developer teams help companies push out updates and applications more quickly. However, combining the efforts of multiple team members can result in incompatible code updates. These issues can be addressed by using an automated tool to scan the source code for bugs and errors.

Bad code can result in unforeseen security vulnerabilities like the Heartbleed bug in 2014.
Functional misfires can also result from improperly arranged code, negatively impacting the end-user experience.
Faulty code can result in increased maintenance costs as the updates become more difficult to manage over time.

Here are 9 reasons release managers need to scan source code:

Quality Control
Data Security
Regulatory Compliance
Consistency
Scalability
Performance Evaluation
Eliminate Technical Debt
Streamline Integrations
Sufficient Testing

1. Quality Control

The quality of your code directly correlates to the eventual quality of your DevOps project. An update or application with errors and incompatible lines of code will be glitchy, causing the end-user experience to suffer as a result of these errors.

Release managers need to ensure that products produced by their Salesforce DevOps pipeline consistently meet internal standards to support a positive industry presence.

Your reputation hinges on the success of your business ventures. Continually introducing reliable and secure products positions you as a leader in your industry. Scanning source code for every project will help you achieve the highest levels of consistency in quality.

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2. Data Security

Errors in your code can be found and flagged by a code scanner. Failing to incorporate this step allows these errors to move into production and eventually into a live environment. Bugs in your updates and applications create misfires that have the potential to damage or expose sensitive information.

If quality is the first goal of a Salesforce release manager, data security needs to be a close second. Code quality is fundamental to producing secure products.

Automated code scans are much more reliable than manual testing. The amount of code in a single project can be massive. Automating scans of the source code drastically increases speed and reliability. And when it comes to data security, reliability is non-negotiable.

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3. Regulatory Compliance

Data security is an important consideration for release managers because it’s essential for an organization to protect system data. However, for companies operating in regulated industries like finance and healthcare, there’s a second side to the importance of data security: regulatory compliance.

Updates and applications that have verified stability through source code scans are more likely to help a company remain compliant with applicable data security regulations.

Code scanning enables release managers to produce strong products with accompanying reports that prove necessary measures were taken to protect sensitive data. Integrating automated DevOps tools is a critical aspect of remaining compliant, and scanning source code is an essential piece of the puzzle.

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4. Consistency

The people who use your products don’t like surprises. They want to know what to expect and how your release is going to fit within their system. And as you produce reliable, consistent products over time, your esteem in the market will grow.

Manual code reviews inevitably miss errors here and there. Release managers who utilize automated scans of source code can be confident that their structures are reliable for every project and product.

Locking in a process and repeating it over time increases the speed at which you can produce updates and applications. And once a release manager settles into a rhythm of scanning source code for bugs and errors, they can turn their focus to other aspects of the application development lifecycle.

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5. Scalability

Your organization is likely to grow over time. The processes and tools used by your release managers need to grow along with your company to continue to adequately address IT needs. There’s no point in taking a shortcut today that will require an update in the near future. Verification of code quality is one of the considerations you need to incorporate to scale with your growth.

Failing to implement automated code reviews not only reduces the capacity of your current Salesforce DevOps pipeline, but it also means more work will be needed as your organization expands.

Release managers should reduce as many manual processes as possible to keep up with an increasing workload in the future. Scanning source code should be one of the first steps you automate.

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6. Performance Evaluation

Release managers need to know what to expect from their products because their customers need to know what to expect. The performance of the application is tied to the quality of the code. And once the product is released, the code that makes it up is almost set in stone.

An automated source code scan provides visibility into how the application performs long before it gets into the hands of the end user.

Release managers can use these tools as a way to prevent problems before they occur and ensure they are fixed before the DevOps project gets anywhere near a live environment.

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7. Eliminate Technical Debt

Some release managers prioritize speed over quality. They may expedite a release with the idea that patches and updates can be issued after production to address any bugs or errors. The problem with this approach is that sometimes these errors aren’t addressed and continue to exist within a live environment, creating data security and functionality risks.

Automated source code scans find and flag errors that otherwise become technical debt so the development team can quickly fix them.

Technical debt has the potential to create data security vulnerabilities and degrade the end -ser experience. Salesforce release managers who need to prioritize speed can also address quality by implementing strategic automated tooling.

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8. Streamline Integrations

Multi-developer teams located in geographically disparate areas are great to work with talented team members and quickly produce DevOps projects. However, release managers need to be careful when integrating the work of these individuals into a singular project.

Source code scanning streamlines the process of integrating the work of multiple developers by ensuring there are no code overwrites or competing directives.

Reliable integrations performed in a timely manner provide the speed release managers want with the reliability their end users need.

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9. Sufficient Testing

Overseeing the various aspects of a development pipeline can be daunting. There are multiple handoffs between teams, which can also be potential failure points. The only way to avoid numerous mistakes throughout these processes is to implement multiple rounds of testing.

Source code scanning is an essential function to maintain high quality levels for new projects, but it shouldn’t be the only type of testing. Release managers should also utilize:

Unit testing
Functional testing
Performance testing
Security testing
Regression testing

Applying a comprehensive approach to testing helps Salesforce release managers produce reliable and secure products.

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Next Step…

A code scanning tool has a lot to offer. So how can you be sure you are getting the most from your code scanning efforts? Checklists provide repeatable procedures that can be refined over time.

Check out our blog, A Complete Salesforce Code Review Checklist, to learn more.

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FAQs

What is release management?

Many processes go into developing new updates and applications. This includes planning, development, testing, integration, monitoring, and deployment. It takes a series of teams working together to accomplish all these essential functions. A release manager is in charge of planning, coordinating, and overseeing the entire process. This person aims to streamline the software development lifecycle to create the best products as quickly as possible. Successfully accomplishing this makes an organization more agile, flexible, and able to produce reliable products. Failing to properly oversee this process results in failed deployments, faulty products, and the introduction of data security vulnerabilities.

What is source code?

Source code refers to a set of instructions that developers write in a programming language to create a program, update, or application. The source code essentially becomes the building blocks that dictate how the software will function. Source code is an important asset for software development, as it allows developers to modify, update, and improve software. It also allows developers to collaborate, as multiple developers can work on the same source code at the same time. In addition, the ability to access and modify source code is a key feature of open-source software, which is software that is made available to the public for free and can be modified and distributed by anyone.

How does bad code impact data security?

Improper coding structures have many negative effects on an application or update, and data security often suffers as a result. Any misfires in a program create weaknesses and vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cybercriminals. Sensitive and critical data can be accessed, exposed, or corrupted once a bad actor gets inside the system. These attacks are often not immediately found, which allows them to continue for a length of time, increasing the attack surface and cost to repair.

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Do I Need to Scan Source Code for Release Management?

1. Quality Control

2. Data Security

3. Regulatory Compliance

4. Consistency

5. Scalability

6. Performance Evaluation

7. Eliminate Technical Debt

8. Streamline Integrations

9. Sufficient Testing

Next Step…

FAQs

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