Environment refers to a collection of servers and databases pertaining to one CRM instance used for one specific objective.
| Environment | Use it when... | The header will be.... | The data will be refreshed.... |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA | you're testing a new Atlas feature or bug fix. | Purple | Shortly after each deployment. |
| Sandbox | you're trying out a new feature or process, and you don't want your test data to disappear. | Green | Whenever you want! Just enter a Mojo ticket. |
| Staging | you're helping with the "sanity check" before deployment, or you're trying out a new feature or process and you don't care if your test data disappears. | Coral | The week of each deployment. |
| Development | a developer has asked you to check something out in the development environment (they will give you the URL). | Grey | |
| Production | you're working! | Grey | |
| Training | you're in training. | Green | Prior to each class. |
The Development environment (“dev”) is for product development. It’s generally considered unstable because developers are constantly changing it.
The QA environment (“QA”) is for user testing, particularly for new features currently in development. It’s somewhat more stable, as typically only features that have passed initial developer testing are deployed here. This is where users will perform unit testing. The databases in the QA environment are refreshed (from production) monthly.
When you’re in this environment, the banner is purple (technically “orchid”), to quickly differentiate between it & production. (You don’t want to spend time working on QA when you really intended to be in Production. Nor do you want to be in Production when testing a new feature.)
The Staging environment (“Staging”) is for the final sanity check before deploying the release to production. The databases in this environment are refreshed with each patch or full deployment.
When you’re in this environment, the banner is “light coral”; again, this is to help you avoid working in this environment when you intend to be somewhere else.
You are free to use Staging for testing or trying out a new feature; however, since the databases are restored regularly, you should not use this for a project that will take more than a day or so. For that sort of project, use the Sandbox environment.
The Sandbox environment is a copy of the current version of Atlas where the database is completely under the affiliate’s control; it will be updated only as requested.
When you’re in this environment, the banner is green.
To request that the data in this environment is restored from Production, enter a ticket in Mojo. (MGH and BWH do not have Sandbox environments, as there’s not currently enough disk space for those databases).
Note that the Sandbox environment shares servers with the Training environment; in the list of databases, scroll down to the _SNDBOX entries.
The Production environment (“Prod” or “Production”) is the actual user environment.
Good to Know!
- We typically refer to these environment solely by their abbreviations (“Is that customization in QA yet?”)
- If you’re not in Atlas often enough that the color-coded header is helpful, you can also replace the default Blackbaud CRM logo with the environment name. Click on your name in the header, and choose Atlas Info, and then click on Show Environment.
