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Boxcurve Unity: Updates & Change Management

This document explains how updates to Boxcurve Unity are produced and delivered, what changes in your environment when an update is applied, and what you should review afterwards. It is written for your IT operations and change-management teams.

Boxcurve Unity is a Microsoft Power Platform application that runs inside your own Microsoft 365 tenant. It is delivered as a Power Platform solution that bundles the app together with its supporting Dataverse tables, cloud flows and security roles. You receive an update by importing a new version of that solution into your environment.

Updates and change management for Boxcurve Unity are a shared responsibility:

  • Microsoft provides the underlying Power Platform application-lifecycle tooling (solutions, managed-solution import and upgrade, the Solution Checker) and the Dataverse environment your data lives in.
  • Boxcurve produces each release through a single, controlled build process and packages it as a managed solution.
  • You (the customer) control your own Power Platform environment, decide when an update is applied to it, and review the environment-specific configuration after each update.

How the application is versioned and packaged​

Each release of Boxcurve Unity carries a solution version that identifies it uniquely. The application also displays a version on one of its own screens, which your users and administrators can read directly.

Recording the installed version

The authoritative version for your change records is the version of the installed Boxcurve Unity solution as shown in your own environment. The version displayed inside the application is a convenient on-screen reference. Read the installed solution version in your environment whenever you need the exact value to record against a change.

Boxcurve Unity is delivered to your environment as a managed solution. A managed solution is locked: its components cannot be edited directly in the environment it is installed into, and changes can only be introduced by importing a newer managed version. Boxcurve develops the application as an unmanaged solution and converts it to a managed solution before delivery. For your environment this means:

  • You cannot alter the application's components directly. This protects your environment from accidental or unauthorised changes to the application.
  • Every change to the application, including a fix or a configuration change to a delivered component, reaches you as a new managed version, not as an in-place edit.

For background on Power Platform solutions and managed versus unmanaged solutions, see Microsoft's documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/alm/solution-concepts-alm

Quality and security scanning before release​

As part of producing a release, the application is automatically scanned by the Power Platform Solution Checker (Microsoft's code-quality and security scanner) during the build. A build that the Solution Checker flags with Critical or High severity findings fails and is not published. A release is therefore only offered after it has passed this check.

How updates are delivered into your environment​

The in-application update indicator​

Boxcurve Unity compares the version it is running against the version information held in your licence. When the licence indicates that a newer version is available, the application shows an update notification to users. The notification is one of two kinds:

  • A required update notification, shown when the licence marks a newer version as a critical update. The message asks that the update be installed immediately.
  • A recommended update notification, shown when a newer (non-critical) version is available. The message describes the update as improving functionality and performance.

In both cases the notification directs the user to instructions for how to install the update. The in-application indicator signals that an update is available, it does not apply the update itself. Applying the update is a deliberate, customer-controlled action.

You control when an update is applied

Because Boxcurve Unity is delivered as a managed solution into an environment you own, the timing of an update is under your control. The update indicator informs your users and administrators that a newer version exists; the new managed version is then imported into your environment as a separate, deliberate step that you schedule in line with your own change-management process.

Applying an update​

An update is applied by importing a new managed version of the Boxcurve Unity solution into the target Power Platform environment. Importing a newer version over an existing installation upgrades the application in place, and your existing data in the application's tables is retained.

When an import runs, it targets a specific named environment and, where applicable, applies the per-environment configuration described below. Once the import completes, the changes are published so that the updated application becomes active.

How Boxcurve produces and stages a release​

Boxcurve moves each release through successive environments, build, then test, then user-acceptance testing, then production, so that every release is validated before it reaches a live environment. The build is produced when approved changes are accepted, and the deployments onward to user-acceptance testing and to production each pass through an approval gate that must be approved before the deployment proceeds.

Boxcurve orchestrates these builds and deployments, including the approval gates, through its own application-lifecycle management process. That process is internal to Boxcurve; the artefact it produces for you is the managed solution version. For background on Microsoft's application-lifecycle tooling for Power Platform, see: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/alm/overview-alm

Release cadence, approval and support window

The frequency of releases, who within your organisation approves an update for your production environment, and how long earlier versions remain supported are coordinated with the customer and are not defined within the product. Agree these as part of your change-management arrangement with Boxcurve.

Testing updates and rolling back​

The managed-solution model supports a controlled approach to validating and, if necessary, reversing an update:

  • Test before production. You can import a new managed version into a non-production Power Platform environment (for example a sandbox) and validate it there before applying it to your production environment.
  • Roll back by reverting to a prior version. Because each release is a discrete managed version, a problematic update can be addressed by returning to a previously installed managed version. The exact rollback procedure, including any data considerations, is coordinated with the customer as part of your change-management arrangement with Boxcurve; it is not defined within the product.

Dataverse capacity

Boxcurve Unity's tables, and the data your users create in them, consume Dataverse storage capacity in your tenant. Installing or updating the application, and operating additional non-production environments for testing, consume capacity that is governed by your own Power Platform licensing and capacity allocation. Capacity, environments and licensing are Microsoft Power Platform matters; for guidance see: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/admin/capacity-storage

What you control and should review after an update​

Boxcurve Unity uses a per-environment configuration mechanism so that the same application can run correctly in different environments. Two categories of environment-specific configuration apply:

  • Connection references, the bindings that connect the application's flows and integrations to the services they use in your environment.
  • Environment variables, configurable values that the application reads at run time.

Both categories are applied per environment during deployment. The specific configuration that applies to your environment is established at installation and reapplied on each update.

Configuration values are environment-specific

Boxcurve Unity provides the mechanism to supply per-environment connection references and environment variables; the specific values are established for your environment during installation rather than fixed in the product. Confirm the exact set of connection references and environment variables that apply to your environment with Boxcurve at installation.

After an update, you should review​

  • Connections used by the application. Confirm that the connection references the application relies on are present, valid, and connected to the correct accounts in your environment. For how connections and connection references work in Power Platform, see: https://learn.microsoft.com/power-platform/alm/connection-references-environment-variables-deployment-pipelines
  • Environment variable values. Confirm that any environment variables the application uses hold the correct values for your environment.
  • Security roles and access. Confirm that the access granted to the application's users remains correct for your organisation after the update.
  • The version recorded in your environment. Confirm that the installed solution shows the expected new version and update your change records accordingly.

Responsibilities at a glance​

AreaProvided by Boxcurve / MicrosoftCustomer responsibility
Building and versioning each releaseBoxcurveNone
Quality/security scan before releaseBoxcurve, using the Microsoft Solution CheckerNone
Notifying users that an update is availableIn-application update indicator (Boxcurve)Decide and schedule when to apply the update
Importing the update into your environmentPer your arrangement with BoxcurveControl the timing; approve where an approval gate applies
Testing an update before productionManaged-solution model supports itOperate a non-production environment and validate there
Rolling back an updateCoordinated with the customerInitiate per the agreed procedure
Per-environment connection references and environment variable valuesMechanism providedConfirm correct values for your environment after each update
Security roles / user access reviewRoles delivered with the solutionConfirm access remains correct after each update
Dataverse storage and environment capacityNoneGoverned by your Power Platform licensing and capacity
Release cadence, support window, rollback procedureNot defined in the productCoordinated with the customer