Configure pipelines to support work tracking

Article
08/13/2021

TFS 2017

To support integration and traceability across Azure DevOps Services with pipelines, you can configure several options. You can report pipeline status, copy the syntax for status badges, and set up automatic linking of work items to builds and releases.

Supported pipeline and work tracking integration features

Several features provide support for end-to-end traceability as user stories and features move through the development cycle. As with Azure Repos, you can link work items to pipeline objects with the following link types: Build, Integrated in build, and Integrated in release. Note, that the Integrated in release environment link can only be created by enabling the Report release status to Boards option in Classic release pipelines.

Conceptual image of link types that link work items to Azure Pipelines objects.

The following table summarizes the integration points between Azure Boards and Azure Pipelines. Options and configuration steps differ depending on whether you are configuring a YAML or Classic pipeline, and your Azure DevOps version. Most options are supported for pipelines run against an Azure Repos Git repository unless otherwise noted.

Feature

Description

Supported versions

Manually link work items to builds

You can link from a work item to builds within the same project or other projects within the organization. For details, see Link to work items from other objects.

All versions

View builds linked to from a work item

You can view all builds linked to from a work item, whether manual or automatically linked, from the Links tab. For details, see Link to work items from other objects, View list of linked objects.

All versions

Automatically link work items to builds

Required to populate the Development control with Integrated in build links. The work items or commits that are part of a release are computed from the versions of artifacts. For example, each build in Azure Pipelines is associated with a set of work items and commits. For details, see Automatically link work items later in this article.

YAML, Azure DevOps Server 2020 and later
Classic, TFS 2017.2 and later

View list of work items linked to a build or release

Review and open the work items included in a build or release.

YAML, Azure DevOps Server 2020 and later
Classic, TFS 2017.2 and later

Create work item on failure (Classic)

Automatically create a work item when a build fails, and optionally set values for work item fields. For details, see Create work item on failure later in this article.

TFS 2018 and later versions

Prerequisites

To configure the integration options for a Classic release pipeline, you must have permissions to edit the release.
To link work items to commits and pull requests, you must have your Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow for the Area Path assigned to the work item. By default, the Contributors group has this permission set.
To view work items, you must have your View work items in this node permissions set to Allow for the Area Path assigned to the work item.

Open pipeline settings, build options, or integration options

This feature isn't supported for YAML pipelines in Azure DevOps Server 2019 and earlier versions.

Automatically link work items to builds

By enabling automatic linking, you can track the builds that have incorporated work without having to manually search through a large set of builds. Each successful build associated with the work item automatically appears in the Development control of the work item form.

This feature isn't supported for YAML pipelines in Azure DevOps Server 2019 and earlier versions.

What work items are included in automatic linking?

When developing your software, you can link work items when you create a branch, commit, or pull request. Or, you can initiate a branch, commit, or pull request from a work item, automatically linking these objects as described in Drive Git development from a work item. For example, here we create a new branch from the Cancel order form user story.

Create branch dialog from work item form.

When automatically linking work items to builds, the following computations are made:

For a first-time build:
- Identify all work items linked to the branch, commits, and pull requests associated with the build.
For subsequent builds:
- Identify all work items associated with the current commit (C1) being built.
- Identify all work items associated with the commit (C2) of the last successful build of the same source branch.
- Identify all work items associated with the commits between C1 and C2 in the commit tree.

Create work item on build failure (Classic)

If a build pipeline fails, you can automatically create a work item to track getting the problem fixed. You can specify the work item type and set options to automatically assign it to the requestor or other fields. The requestor corresponds to the person that triggered the build.

Tip

The option to Create work item on failure is only supported for Classic pipelines. To accomplish this with a YAML pipeline, see the Create Bug on Release failure marketplace extension.

Open pipeline build options as describe in Build properties.
Enable Create work item on failure and choose the type of work item to create. Optionally check the Assign to requestor checkbox to set the Assign To field and add fields to set within the work item to create.

For example, here we choose the Bug work item type and specify the Priority and Tags fields and their values.
Save your pipeline.

To learn the reference name for a field, look it up from the Work item field index. For custom fields you add through an inherited process, Azure DevOps assigns a reference name based on friendly field name prefixed with Custom.. For example, you add a field named DevOps Triage, the reference name is Custom.DevOpsTriage. No spaces are allowed within the reference name.

Get or enable a status badge

Open pipeline More Actions and choose Status badge.
Choose the branch and scope of interest, and then choose Copy to clipboard to copy the image or Markdown syntax.