Adaptavist optimises tooling and drives DevOps excellence for Canadian finance provider
Requirements at a glance
- Implement a more automated development pipeline
- Enable automatic code testing and deployment
- Automate testing to reduce manual intervention
- Evaluate and recommend a new repository tool with seamless Jira integration
- Optimise tool performance across the entire stack
Location: Global
Industry: Automotive financing
Team size: 5,400 employees with 50 developers
About the client
Our client is a leading Canadian automotive finance provider, formed as a joint venture with a major consumer finance company and serving as the official finance partner for three major car brands.
It is part of a global financial services group with operations in 14 countries and over 5,400 employees. With ambitions to be a global leader in its field, speed to market and a modern technology foundation are key to its future growth.
As a result, it set out to modernise its software development lifecycle to reduce manual, error-prone processes and ensure that the right tools and practices are in place to maximise operational efficiency.
The client's goal was to enhance its development processes by optimising tooling and embedding DevOps practices across a diverse technology landscape. They were looking for a trusted partner to guide the transformation and ensure DevOps was seamlessly integrated and aligned with its business goals.
Jason Spriggs
DevOps Consulting Team Lead at Adaptavist
The challenge
Our client’s in-house automotive funding tools were deployed through an entirely manual process, with no pipelines, and most code stored and deployed locally from engineers' computers.
Testing was manual, DevOps expertise was limited, and poor documentation created significant operational risk, especially as over half of its 50-person developer team consisted of contractors working in other parts of the group.
Our client’s existing infrastructure was fragmented, including AWS Glue jobs, Lambda functions, and Redshift queries. It also relied heavily on Salesforce UI and Mulesoft packages, as well as AWS CodeCommit for code storage.
Key challenges:
Outdated technology stack
The company’s technology and processes weren’t keeping pace with industry standards. CodeCommit was part of that setup and, with AWS phasing it out, the pressure was on to find a better solution.
Knowledge risk
Reliance on a team of contractors meant critical expertise could easily be lost.
Lack of best practices
Developers stored code locally and pushed it to production without a built-out test suite.
Poor documentation
Key system information wasn't recorded adequately.
Weak testing
Manual, inconsistent testing required constant monitoring.
A lot of the knowledge on how to build and deploy applications wasn't written down. It lived in the minds of individual developers or teams. There was a lot of institutional knowledge that had never been recorded. On top of that, they were using a wide variety of tools, many of which were very out of date.
Talgat Ryshmanov
Principal DevOps Engineer at Adaptavist
The solution
The engagement began with a discovery phase, including a full assessment of the client’s technology environment and team interviews to uncover workflow inefficiencies, tooling issues, and DevOps gaps. From there, Adaptavist delivered several key services:
Strategy and design
- Evaluated existing infrastructure and created a modern Git strategy.
- Proposed Git Flow tailored for release and patching needs.
Migration
Migration
- Planned and executed the migration of nine repositories to GitLab.
- Jira and GitLab integration to enable a streamlined workflow for development teams
Automation & Pipelines
Automation & Pipelines
- Built secure, repeatable pipelines using GitLab AutoDevOps.
- Integrated unit, integration, container, SAST, and secret scanning tests.
Security
Security
- Migrated secrets from code to GitLab’s secrets manager.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
- Set up repeatable and scalable GitLab runners using Terraform and Ansible.
Enablement
Enablement
- Delivered training on CI/CD, Git, deployments, and failure handling.
- Enabled rollback mechanisms and monitoring alerts.
- Provided full documentation and post-implementation support.
Strategy and design
- Evaluated existing infrastructure and created a modern Git strategy.
- Proposed Git Flow tailored for release and patching needs.
Migration
- Planned and executed the migration of nine repositories to GitLab.
- Jira and GitLab integration to enable a streamlined workflow for development teams
Automation & Pipelines
- Built secure, repeatable pipelines using GitLab AutoDevOps.
- Integrated unit, integration, container, SAST, and secret scanning tests.
Security
- Migrated secrets from code to GitLab’s secrets manager.
Infrastructure
- Set up repeatable and scalable GitLab runners using Terraform and Ansible.
Enablement
- Delivered training on CI/CD, Git, deployments, and failure handling.
- Enabled rollback mechanisms and monitoring alerts.
- Provided full documentation and post-implementation support.
Our client evaluated other solutions, but as they were already heavy Jira and Confluence users, they wanted a partner well-versed in AWS, GitLab, and Atlassian. We were the only high-tier partner across all three, and that breadth of expertise was the key reason they chose us.
Jason Spriggs
DevOps Consulting Team Lead at Adaptavist
The results
The transformation delivered measurable improvements across the board. By modernising the development pipeline and embedding DevOps best practices, our client achieved a more secure, efficient, and scalable software delivery process. The impact extended beyond technical metrics. With streamlined workflows and automated pipelines in place, developers could focus on building features rather than wrestling with deployment processes. The shift from locally stored code to a centralised, version-controlled system eliminated knowledge silos and significantly reduced operational risk. Most importantly, the client gained the agility and confidence needed to accelerate its roadmap and compete effectively in a fast-moving market.
Key outcomes:
Complete test automation — no more guesswork
Manual deployment replaced with full CI/CD automation
Build time reduced from hours of manual command running to 15–20 minutes of hands-off background processes
Faster delivery cycles leading to increased developer velocity
Internal teams now have full control of the DevOps pipeline
Developers trained on CI/CD, Git strategy, and security best practices
Fully compliant and up-to-date tooling
CI security scans embedded at every step
End-to-end visibility leading to increased confidence in every release
At the end of our engagement, our client was fully operational with CI/CD, with developers pushing code regularly instead of keeping it on local machines. This saved significant time and greatly reduced production risks and increased stability.
Zain Mohammad
Senior DevOps Consultant at Adaptavist
The future
Now, with the right tooling in place and a strong DevOps foundation to support it, our client is well-positioned to scale confidently and focus on the future. No longer held back by legacy systems or burdened by manual, error-prone processes, it can now iterate quickly to meet changing market needs while maintaining visibility and control at all times.
Ready to transform your DevOps pipeline?
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