Automating CI/CD build/deployment pipeline starting with the development environment

We were working on a build/deployment pipeline for the IBM Sterling Order Management System (OMS) and there seemed to be too many manual steps in this process going from development to QA to PROD. We were hoping to get a more automated build/deployment pipeline process starting from the development environment. Hopefully, the developers who are working on the build/deployment pipeline will be able to distinguish the differences between application codebase and environment settings that are required for each deployment. For example, the application source code will be checked out from the source code repository, built, and packaged into deployment artifacts. These artifacts will be uploaded into a shared artifacts repository. Then, the deployments for the successive higher environments’ deployments will be using this shared artifact. Last, but not least, the environment settings per environment like keys and secrets that are required for each deployment will be externalized or tokenized and replaced only during deployment time. Thus, once this CI/CD pipeline has been automated for the development environment, the process for the higher environments’ deployments will be streamlined, minimized, and less error-prone. The results of this automated process will significantly increase deployment efficiency and the timeline for rolling out new features.