Sandbox Manager in Dalfin Application

The Sandbox Manager module in Dalfin provides an innovative solution for customizing and testing new features, all while keeping your production system operational and unaffected. It allows for the creation of isolated environments where you can freely develop and experiment without disrupting your live system, offering flexibility and control.

How It Works: The Complete Workflow

1. Branching to Development: Freedom to Customize

The Sandbox Manager allows you to checkout from the current production system to a dedicated development environment. This environment comes with its own unique domain and acts as a sandbox where you can implement customizations using the powerful BrainGrid Controller.

• Customization Flexibility: The development environment is completely isolated, meaning you can make any changes or adjustments without affecting the live production environment. Whether you're creating new workflows, modifying UI elements, or adjusting system logic, the development space is yours to control.
• Seamless Transition: You don’t have to worry about conflicting with ongoing operations in production. The system continues to function smoothly for your users, allowing them to carry on with their tasks without interruptions.

2. Sync from Production Database: Stay Up-to-Date

While you work on the development environment, you can also enable Sync from Production Database. This ensures that the development environment stays aligned with the live system by automatically syncing any new data or updates that occur in production.

• Real-Time Data Sync: As new records are entered into production, or updates are made to existing data, they are pushed to the development environment. This ensures your customizations are built on top of the most current data, providing the most relevant context for your development work.
• Continuous Workflow: You can develop and test your changes without falling behind on new data, making sure your customizations reflect the real-time needs of your system.

3. Staging: Test Changes Safely

Once you’ve completed your customizations in the development environment, it’s time to merge those changes into the staging server. The staging environment serves as your final test bed to validate all new features and functionalities before they go live in production.

• Thorough Testing: The staging environment mirrors the production system, which means you can run comprehensive tests to ensure everything is functioning as expected. Whether it’s checking new integrations, validating data flow, or testing user interactions, this is where everything is put to the test.
• Revert with Ease: If you encounter issues during testing, the Sandbox Manager provides the flexibility to revert back to development, making it easy to refine or adjust your changes without affecting the staging or production systems.

4. Final Merge to Production: Smooth Deployment

Once everything is tested and verified in staging, the changes are ready to be merged into production. The final merge ensures that all of your development work is seamlessly transferred to the live system, updating your production environment with the new features or customizations.

• No Downtime for Users: One of the biggest advantages of using the Sandbox Manager is that during the entire customization and merging process, your production system remains fully operational. Users can continue using the system without experiencing any downtime, ensuring no interruptions to their work.
• Quick and Easy Deployment: The merge process to production is streamlined and efficient, ensuring that changes are deployed quickly without causing any disruption to the users.

5. Continued Data Entry in Production

While all of this branching and customization is happening, your users can continue their regular data entry and operations on the production system without any interruption. The beauty of the Sandbox Manager is that it allows for continuous workflow without forcing a freeze on your business operations.

• Business as Usual: While the development and testing happen in parallel, your production environment remains completely unaffected, enabling users to keep adding and modifying data in the live system.
• No Maintenance Downtime: There’s no need for scheduled maintenance periods or downtime, meaning your users can continue their daily tasks while you customize and develop new features in the background.

Benefits of the Sandbox Manager

• Customization Without Risk: Test and develop new features in isolation without the risk of impacting your live production system.
• Always Up-to-Date: Keep your development environment in sync with real-time data from the production system, ensuring you’re always working with the latest information.
• Thorough Testing: Use the staging environment to conduct comprehensive testing and validation before deploying changes to production.
• Smooth Transition to Production: Easily merge your tested changes into the production environment, with no downtime for users.
• Flexibility and Control: Give your team full freedom to customize and experiment with minimal impact on daily operations, and revert to previous stages if needed.

The Sandbox Manager empowers your team to innovate and implement new features while ensuring your production system remains stable and uninterrupted. It provides a streamlined, flexible, and efficient approach to system customization and deployment, making it the perfect tool for managing system changes in Dalfin.