Share via

Assignments and Workflow (Agile)

  • Article

You use status and assignment fields to track the progress of user stories, tasks, bugs, and other types of work items. Most work items move from the active state to the closed state, and test cases move from the design state to the closed state. As each work item moves from one state to another, the item might also be reassigned to various members of the team. For example, a tester might create a bug that is assigned to another team member during triage. When the other team member resolves the bug, it is reassigned to the tester who created it.

Status and assignment fields support many team queries and reports.

In this topic

  • Tracking Fields that Appear on Work Item Forms

  • Additional Fields that Support Query and Reporting

The Assigned To and State fields are tracked for each type of work item that is provided with the process template for Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for Agile Software Development - v5.0. The Reason field is tracked for all types of work items except for test cases and shared steps.

Tracking Fields that Appear on Work Item Forms

The following table describes the fields that track assignments and workflow progress. For information about data types and default field attributes, see Working with Work Item Fields.

Field name

Description

Reference name

Data type

Default value of the reportable type attribute

Default value of the index attribute

Assigned To

The name of the team member who currently owns the work item.

System.AssignedTo

String

Dimension

True

Reason

The reason why the work item is in the current state. Values are specific to both the state and the type of work item. The field is not tracked for Test Cases or Shared Steps.

System.Reason

String

Dimension

True

Resolved Reason

The reason why the user story or bug was resolved. For example, the user story is code complete or the bug is fixed.

This field is read-only.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ResolvedReason

String

Dimension

False

State

The current state of the work item. The valid values for state are specific to each type of work item.

For more information about workflow transitions for each type of work item, see one of the following topics:

System.State

String

Dimension

True

Additional Fields that Support Query and Reporting

Additional fields are populated with information as a work item progresses from one state to another. These fields do not appear on the work item form, but they are tracked for each type of work item as the following table indicates. You can use these fields to filter queries and create reports.

Field Name

User Story

Task

Issue

Test Case

Shared Step

Bug

Activated By

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Activated Date

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Closed By

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Closed Date

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Created By

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Created Date

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

Resolved By

 check mark Not supported Not supported Not supported Not supported check mark

Resolved Date

 check mark Not supported Not supported Not supported Not supported check mark

Resolved Reason

 check mark Not supported Not supported Not supported Not supported check mark

State Change Date

 check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark check mark

The fields that track information for each workflow state record the most recent time when a work item made the transition to an active, resolved, closed, or other state. The following table describes each of these fields.

Field name

Description

Reference name

Data type

Default value of the reportable type attribute

Default value of the index attribute

Activated By

Name of the team member who activated or reactivated the work item.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ActivatedBy

String

Dimension

False

Activated Date

Date and time when the work item was activated or reactivated.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ActivatedDate

DateTime

Dimension

False

Closed By

Name of the team member who closed the work item.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ClosedBy

String

Dimension

False

Closed Date

Date and time when a work item was closed.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ClosedDate

DateTime

Dimension

False

Created By

Name of the team member who created the work item.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.CreatedBy

String

Dimension

False

Created Date

Date and time when a work item was created.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.CreatedDate

DateTime

Dimension

False

Resolved By

Name of the team member who resolved the bug or user story.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ResolvedBy

String

Dimension

False

Resolved Date

Date and time when the bug or user story was resolved.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ResolvedDate

DateTime

Dimension

False

State Change Date

Date and time when the value of the State field changed.

Microsoft.VSTS.Common.StateChangeDate

DateTime

None

False

See Also

Concepts

Planning, Ranking, and Priorities

Using System Fields and Fields Defined by the MSF Process Templates

Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items

Other Resources

Work Items and Workflow (Agile)

Defining and Customizing Work Item Workflow

Work Item Fields (Agile)