Re-platformed 300+ CI/CD pipelines in 2 weeks

CI/CD re-platform delivered 50% faster — 300+ pipelines in 2 weeks

Client: Tier-1 Australian Grocery Retailer
Scope: GoCD + Bitbucket → Azure DevOps Pipelines + Git
Engagement: 15 weeks end-to-end (6-week POC and pattern sign-off, 2-week delivery of 300+ pipelines, 7-week validation and rollout)

The risk: re-platforming release automation at scale

The client's legacy CI/CD stack — GoCD for orchestration and Bitbucket for source control — had become unmanageable. Pipelines had diverged, audit trails were inconsistent, and manual fixes were eroding reliability. A mandated shift to Azure DevOps promised consistency and control — but introduced risk: hundreds of critical pipelines, tight release cadences, and no tolerance for disruption.

What we did differently to reduce risk early

Delivered all 300+ pipelines in two weeks: elfware used Enterprise Low Code to print every pipeline in the estate within two weeks — from build through deploy — based on existing metadata and standardised patterns. This created a functioning baseline in Azure DevOps before any manual migration began.

6-week pattern sign-off: Over six weeks, the target transformation pattern was validated and refined using representative samples from several product and application types. This confirmed governance, quality gates, and rollback mechanisms across the full pipeline set.

2-week transformation implementation: Following approval, the transformation templates were printed into Azure DevOps with embedded quality gates, approvals, rollback logic, and audit tagging — ensuring every pipeline adhered to the new governance baseline.

7-week configuration and testing phase: Application-specific configurations and module-type variations were finalised. Pattern refinements identified during test cycles were folded back into the shared library within hours to maintain parity and audit coverage.

Delivery flow (15 weeks)

Weeks 1–6 · Requirements analysis, POC and DevOps pattern sign-offs
Governed pattern samples hand crafted across multiple application types. Target design tested and approved by all release owners.

Weeks 7–8 · Initial delivery of all pipelines
300+ pipelines generated for Azure DevOps, replacing legacy GoCD definitions. Early telemetry confirmed repeatability and audit compliance.

Weeks 9–15 · Configuration, Validation and pattern optimisation
Detailed configuration alignment, controlled testing, and adjustments applied within hours based on pattern feedback. No rollbacks required.

Enterprise controls baked into delivery

• Golden agent images prevented environmental drift and improved fault isolation.
• Secrets and variables securely managed through Azure variable groups with RBAC.
• Audit-ready observability built into every pipeline: tagging, artifact provenance, telemetry, and change traceability.

Outcomes

• 300+ pipelines delivered in 2 weeks using elfware Enterprise Low Code - Code Printing.
• 90% faster code delivery than manual YAML authoring.
• 50% project delivery to end.
• Zero rollback events or production impact during cutover.
• 100% onboarding to governed, auditable release pipelines.

Why it mattered

This wasn't a lift-and-shift. It was a complete re-platform of the organisation's delivery automation in the merchandising space— executed at scale, under governance, and without downtime. By completion, every product team was building and releasing through the same compliant, auditable Azure DevOps pipelines.

"elf delivered at least 50% cheaper and faster than traditional methods … quality, consistency and pattern agility that could not be matched." — Software Engineering Manager

Client Attestation

"By taking this ingenious approach ... on pipeline code/config, it has allowed [us] to migrate 300+ pipelines without needing multiple engineers hand coding them individually. It also means design changes only take few hours instead of days or weeks to implement into all pipelines. It was simply the right fit for this pipelines migration project."