Katalyst: General guidelines for multi-environment setups (dev/test/prod)

Description

• Organizations commonly run multiple Katalyst environments:
  • Development (dev) for configuration and PoCs.
  • Test/UAT for validation.
  • Production for daily use.
• Issues arise when:
  • Configurations diverge too much between environments.
  • Users are unsure where to reproduce issues or test changes.
  • Integrations (e.g., with materials server, identity provider) behave differently across environments.

Solution

• Standardize environment roles:
  1. Development
     • Used for configuration experiments, early integrations, and PoC work.
     • May not mirror production scale but should use the same major versions.
  2. Test/UAT
     • Mirrors production as closely as possible (versions, configuration, performance profile).
     • Primary environment for upgrade rehearsal and issue reproduction.
  3. Production
     • Stable, controlled change process; only tested and approved changes are deployed.
• Keep configurations aligned:
  • Use configuration management or documentation to track key settings across environments (URLs, email, materials services, SSO).
  • When implementing a new integration or change, apply and validate it first in dev, then UAT, finally prod.
• Clarify user access and workflows:
  • Define who may access each environment and for what purposes.
  • Provide clear URLs and labels (e.g., banners) to distinguish environments and avoid confusion.
• When raising support tickets:
  • Indicate in which environment the issue occurs and whether it is reproducible in test/UAT.