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Version: 2.4.1

Release Date: 12th December, 2025

Summary

This release includes several bug fixes and improvements. Please review all the changes here: Brief Connect v2.4.1 Release Notes.

Package version: 2.4.1

Manual pre-deployment steps

Update environment variables

Update environment variables for all environments in Libraries - Variable Groups in in Azure DevOps

Note: Do not delete any excessive variables, only add missing variables.

Each environment should have next required environment variables with next values:

Name Is Required
appSettingsJson true
applicationDomainName true
azureFunctionAppName true
azureFunctionDomainName true
azureResourceGroupName true
azureStorageAccountWebName true
azureWebApiWebAppName true
clientAppRegistrationClientId true
devOpsAppRegistrationClientId true
serverAppRegistrationClientId true
sharePointSiteUrl true
tenantId true

Description:

  • applicationDomainName: Public domain name for the Brief Connect application (UI). Example: briefconnect.contoso.com
  • azureFunctionAppName: Brief Connect Backend API Azure Function App name (lowercase, no special chars). Example: azureResourcesNamePrefix-PFA
  • azureFunctionDomainName: Domain name mapped to Brief Connect Backend API Azure Functions endpoints. Example: briefconnect.contoso.com
  • azureResourceGroupName: Azure Resource Group name that hosts Brief Connect resources. Example: rg-briefconnect-prod
  • azureStorageAccountWebName: Azure Storage account name (lowercase, no special chars) for UI web assets (bundles/static content). Example: azureResourcesNamePrefixwsa
  • azureWebApiWebAppName: Brief Connect Integration API Azure Web App name (lowercase, no special chars). Example: azureResourcesNamePrefix-API
  • clientAppRegistrationClientId: 'Client' App registration Application (client) ID for the client/UI app. Example: 10000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001
  • devOpsAppRegistrationClientId: 'DevOps' App registration Application (client) ID used by CI/CD and DevOps automation. Example: 20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000002
  • serverAppRegistrationClientId: 'Server' App registration Application (client) ID for server-side/API components. Example: 30000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000003
  • sharePointSiteUrl: SharePoint site URL used for storing Brief Connect documents. Example: https://contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/BriefConnect
  • tenantId: Entra ID (Azure AD) tenant GUID. Example: 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555
  • appSettingsJson: JSON object containing application settings. See the section below for available settings included in this variable.

App setting JSON

This variable contains a JSON object with multiple application settings. Example: {"Key1":"Value1", "Key2": "Value2"} Must be a valid JSON format. Please validate final JSON in any JSON editor/validator on your choice.

List of required settings in JSON:

  • AppName
  • Example (in JSON):"AppName": "Brief Connect".
  • Description: The name of the application displayed in the UI.
  • AuthorizedGroupId
  • Example (in JSON): "AuthorizedGroupId":"140fa905-7baa-499b-b0b0-088920c7a9ea".
  • Description: Microsoft Entra "Brief Connect All users" Group Id (Object ID) used for users authorization to access the application.
  • AuthorizedGroupName
  • Example (in JSON): "AuthorizedGroupName":"BriefConnect-ABC-Users-G"
  • Description: Microsoft Entra "Brief Connect All users" Group name used for users authorization to access the application.
  • EmailNotificationsServiceAccount
  • Example (in JSON): "EmailNotificationsServiceAccount":"BriefConnect-Admin@engageau.onmicrosoft.com"
  • Description: Service account UPN used for sending email notifications.
  • TopHeaderBannerText
  • Example (in JSON): "TopHeaderBannerText":"AlphaDev environment with always latest DEV changes" or "TopHeaderBannerText":"" as empty value.
  • Description: Top header banner text shown in the UI; use empty string if not required to show on UI.
  • WEBSITE_TIME_ZONE
  • Example (in JSON): "WEBSITE_TIME_ZONE":"AUS Eastern Standard Time".
  • Description: Brief Connect server timezone. It's not required if you use AUS Eastern Standard Time zone, as it's used as default value. This property is required for any other value, for example W. Australia Standard Time.

Setup Release Pipelines

  1. Rename Deploy Brief Connect Application release pipeline in Azure DevOps to [OLD] Deploy Brief Connect Application.

  2. Import Pipeline JSON and rename

  3. Import the release pipeline .json file provided (refer to: Release Pipeline Template - Deploy App).

  4. Note: This template is pre-configured for a single environment associated with a deployment stage within the release pipeline.
  5. Rename the pipeline to "Deploy Brief Connect Application".

After importing the pipeline, you need to update several settings to tailor it to your environment.

  1. Add and setup environment (first)

  2. To deploy to a new environment (e.g., DEV) rename the initial stage to the target name. Use the same environment/stage name from [OLD] Deploy Brief Connect Application pipeline.

  3. Open stage tasks
  4. Update Agent Pool specifications to the old values from [OLD] Deploy Brief Connect Application stage Agent Pool task (agent pool and specification).
  5. In the Universal Packages task Download App Package, update the service connection ('organization/collection connection' dropdown) to use the same service connection as in the old release pipeline.
  6. In the Azure CLI task Deploy App, update Azure Resource Manager connection to use the same connection from 'Azure CLI' task or 'Azure Functions Deploy' task in the old release pipeline.

  7. Go to Variables tab, select "Variable groups", click on "Link variable group" and link variable group for this environment. Make sure only 1 Variable group is linked to 1 environment (in following steps when you clone environment it will keep the link, so you need to remove it)

  8. Repeat previous step for all other environments from old release pipeline. For every new environment you need to clone and rename the initial environment from the previous step.

  9. After all configurations, save the Release Pipeline.

Create release for 'Deploy Brief Connect Application' release pipeline

Pipeline deployment steps (in order)

  1. Deploy release v[Package Version] (n) (where (n) is latest number available, and Package version from the section above) for Deploy Brief Connect Application release pipeline in Azure DevOps to the target environment.

Manual post-deployment steps

SP columns

  1. Log into the target Brief Connect environment as the Brief Connect Admin user and open the Admin Panel (https://[WEB_APP_URL]/#/adminPanel).
  2. Make sure the active configuration is selected in the dropdown.
  3. In the menu bar, click Update SharePoint Content Types.
  4. Tick Clean up unused fields from content type. It won't remove any data, only detach unused fields from Content Types, then click Confirm.
  5. Wait 20 minutes for the process to finish.
  6. Click Cleanup Unused Fields from SP Lists, then Confirm in the confirmation dialog. This process will cleanup unused fields from lists (fields provisioned with old configs and removed in later configs).
  7. Wait for 10 minutes for the process to complete.

Clear the Server cache

Role required: Brief Connect Administrator

  1. Log into the target Brief Connect environment as Brief Connect Admin user. Open the Admin Panel (https://[WEB_APP_URL]/#/adminPanel)
  2. Open browsers Developer Tools, open Console tab and run the command window.clearCache() there. After successful execution, you should see Cache cleared. Server Result: true message in the console.

Smoke Tests

We recommend following our basic testing guide after this release: Basic testing of Brief Connect - Brief Connect Documentation