With great power comes great responsibility.
More and more organisations are moving towards a DevOps based organisational model, putting more and more responsibility into the hands of the teams delivering software. As part of that change - and the need due to the markets moving faster and faster - more and more organisations are investing into means to release more milestones into production faster. Therefore one of the main goals within these organisations is to automate, audit, secure and ensure correct repeatability of actions.
Barriers to creating a harmonious flow are found in organizations that require more stringent verification methods on their software release mechanisms. One of the more common requirements is that of the four-eyes principle, requiring extra approval controls before release.
Let’s look at defining and implementing the four-eyes principle in a DevOps automation process.
If we look around the world we’ll find the four-eyes principle as an integral part of many business domains. Before we look closer at implementing the solution for this principle, let’s take a look at it’s definition by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
What Is the Four-Eyes Principle?
_The four-eyes principle means that a certain activity, i.e. a decision, transaction, etc., must be approved by at least two people. This controlling mechanism is used to facilitate delegation of authority and increase transparency. The processes in UNIDO’s new business model are based on the four-eyes principle, which are facilitated by electronic approvals and workflows in the ERP system. This approach not only ensures the efficiency of processes by enabling fast decision-making while ensuring effective control and monitoring, but also brings about cultural change. Staff members are able to perform these processes irrespective whether they are at Headquarters or in the field. _
There are two really interesting (highlighted in bold text) fragments in this definition that we’ll be applying in our implementation example:
- “…facilitated by electronic approvals…”
- “…workflows in the ERP system.”
Both of these aspects, automated approval using a rule based system and process automation workflows, can be applied to our software DevOps delivery model.
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