Welcome to DevJev.nl: Your Guide to Azure, Cloud Security, and DevOps Mastery

So far in our Building a Cloud Center of Excellence series, we’ve covered the groundwork:

• In The Pathfinder Journey , we set the stage for the transformation ahead, breaking down the roadmap to cloud maturity.
• In The Envision Stage , we defined the why behind the CCoE, clarifying the vision, building a common frame of reference, and securing leadership buy-in.
• In The Align Stage , we tuned the instruments and synchronized the team—establishing clear accountabilities, shaping enablers, and aligning delivery around a common tempo.

We have envisioned where we want to go. We have aligned our stakeholders, mapped out the big rocks, and secured leadership buy-in. Now it’s time to light the engines.

“You can’t move fast if no one’s steering in the same direction.”

So far in our Building a Cloud Center of Excellence series, we’ve explored the big picture:

• In The Pathfinder Journey , we set the stage for the transformation ahead, breaking down the roadmap to cloud maturity.
• In The Envision Stage , we defined the why behind the CCoE, clarifying the vision, building a common frame of reference, and securing leadership buy-in.

Now it’s time to shift gears. The vision is clear, but alignment is what turns that vision into an actionable strategy. This is where planning gets real, responsibilities take shape, and the CCoE begins to operate as more than just an idea.

In our Pathfinder journey to establish a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE), we begin with the Envision Stage—the first of the stages. This stage creates a common frame of reference for your organization to define the CCoE’s purpose, structure, and alignment within the organization. If you haven’t read the introduction to this series, check out the first post: Building a Cloud Center of Excellence: The Pathfinder Journey .

Assembling the Pathfinder Team

Before the actual CCoE is established, a Pathfinder Team is formed. This team is responsible & accountable for implementing the Pathfinder Roadmap, a framework designed to guide organizations through cloud adoption and governance. It’s important to note that the Pathfinder Team is separate from the eventual CCoE members—it plays a critical role in shaping the foundational elements of the CCoE.

The concept of a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) is well-documented, and many organizations recognize its added value in driving innovation and operational efficiency. However, while there is a wealth of information on what a CCoE is, practical guidance on how to effectively implement one is often lacking, leaving organizations with more questions than answers. Even comprehensive resources like Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework primarily focus on the functions of a CCoE in its end-state without delving into the intricacies of its establishment.

This is the 6th post in the category Azure DevOps Fundamentals of the blog post series on working with Azure DevOps .

In this post, I will break down Work Items in Azure Boards. Work Items are the foundation of tracking work in Azure DevOps, and understanding them is crucial for effectively managing projects. We will explore:

• The different types of Work Items.
• How Work Items tie into the Work Item Process.
• The hierarchy of Work Items.
• Where and how Work Items can be created.
• Ownership and refinement responsibilities for each Work Item level.
• Additional useful Work Item features.

Let’s dive in!

Introduction

Managing compliance and governance in the cloud can be challenging, especially when it comes to an often overlooked yet critical system: your Azure DevOps organization. Ensuring proper auditing with securely stored logs in a centralized location is vital. Audit streams address this need by enabling you to send audit logs to a Log Analytics Workspace for detailed analysis and monitoring.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how to automate the configuration of Azure DevOps audit streams using PowerShell. We’ll focus on using a fully working script that not only automates the setup process but also ensures drift control. This guarantees that audit logs are consistently sent to your desired Log Analytics Workspace without the need for manual intervention. Let’s dive in!