Get started using work items

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To plan and track a software development project, you create work items in Visual Studio Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Work items are added to the data store in Team Foundation Server (TFS). With work items, you can assign work, track status, and coordinate efforts within the team. You can link work items to one another, as well as to changesets and source code files.

Work items correspond to the basic elements to be tracked in a project, such as a new feature, a user experience, a code defect, a task, or an issue. The account name of the person responsible for creating, managing, resolving, or doing the work represented in the work item is set in the Assigned To field. Status of the work is tracked through the State field.

You can create work items from Visual Studio Online, Team Web Access (TWA), and Team Explorer. Also, you can bulk add work items from Excel or Project.

Create a work item from a web browser (Visual Studio Online or TWA)

From a team project or team home page, you can create a work item of any type. To work from Team Explorer, jump to this section.

1. If you or your team hasn’t created a team project, do that now.

2. If you haven’t been added as a team member, get added now.

3. From a web browser, connect to the team project that you want to work in. For example, the Fabrikam, Inc. team navigates to http://fabrikamprime:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/Fabrikam%20Fiber%20Website/.

   From the TWA home page, you can choose the type of work item you want to create.

   Visual Studio Online or TFS 2013.1 or TFS 2013.2 on-premises

   

   Team Web Access –TFS 2013 on-premises

   

4. Enter a title and then save the work item. Before you change the default State, you must save it.

   

   To learn more about each field, see the following topics based on the process template used to create your team project: Scrum work item types (Product Backlog Item plus others), Agile work item types (User Story plus others), and CMMI work item types (Requirement plus others).

Create a work item from Team Explorer

1. If you or your team hasn’t created a team project, do that now.

2. If you haven’t been added as a team member, get added now.

3. Open Team Explorer and connect to the team project that you want to work in.

   

   If you’re working from Visual Studio and Team Explorer is not visible, on the menu bar, choose View, Team Explorer. If it’s your first time connecting to the team project, go here.

   If you’re working from Eclipse, go here to learn how to connect.

4. Open the Work Items page.

5. Choose the type of work item to create, for example, Product Backlog Item.

   

   The types of work items available depend on the process template used to create the team project.

6. Enter a title and then save the work item. Before you change the default State, you must save it.

   

   Required fields show up as yellow.

   To learn more about each field, see the following topics, based on the process template used to create your team project: Scrum work item types (Product Backlog Item plus others), Agile work item types (User Story plus others), and CMMI work item types (Requirement plus others).

Find work items by using the search box

Type an ID in the Search work items box and then choose the search icon.

Or, using the context menu, add filters to find items based on assignment, status, a keyword, or a work item type.

For example, enter A=@Me T=Task to list all tasks assigned to you. Use the =, :, and – operators to specify the operations: Equals, Contains, and Not, respectively.

Once you have a results list, choose Editor to modify the filter criteria and refine your search results.

For more information, see Example search box queries and Query for work items.

Update status, reassign, or modify a work item

Each team member can update the status of a work item or change the value of any writeable field in the work item form, except History. Modifications made to a work item are recorded in the History field. You can’t change the ID.

Typical workflow progression: Create a product backlog item in the default state, New. Change the state from New to Approved. Change the state from Approved to Committed. Change the state from Committed to Done. Atypical transitions: Change the state from New to Removed. Change the state from Removed to New. Change the state from Approved to Removed. Change the state from Committed to Approved. Change the state from Done to Committed.

Review the change history

Each work item contains an audit trail of changes made to it. You can view these changes through the History tab.

To view only the comments added to the log, choose the Discussion Only tab.

To view all changes made to the item, choose the All Changes tab, and then choose the show all changes link for a specific date and time or field.

Tip

From TWA, choose the expand icon for a specific date and time as the following illustration shows.

To find work items based on its history, see Query for work items using the History field.

Link work items to support traceability and dependencies

Each work item contains one or more tabs with link controls. These controls support linking the work item to one or more objects defined in TFS.

Link control tab from web browser

You can create links between work items by using one of the link control tabs within a work item form. Some work item types have three or more link control tabs. Each tab is designed to support specific types of links and restricts the types of link relationships made. See Link controls, restrictions, and field reference.

Link control tab from Team Explorer plug-in for Visual Studio

The link control tab provided with the Team Explorer plug-in for Eclipse provides a subset of these features.

Link code check-ins to work items

By linking your code changes to your work items, your team can understand what work was done or how a bug was fixed.

Team Foundation version control (TFVC) lets you link work items to version control changesets or versioned source code files by using the Changeset and Versioned Item link types. When you check in pending changes or use My Work to check in changes, work items are automatically linked to your changes.

Git lets you link work items to commits by using the Commit link type. To learn how, see Manage and commit your changes.

Q & A

Q: What’s the best way to track dependencies?

A: By linking work items using Related or Dependent link types, you can track work that is dependent on other work. To learn more, see Link work items to support traceability.

Q: How do I add a linked work item?

A: You can add a work item that is automatically linked to an existing work item from the link control tabs. For example, you can add a task that is linked to a backlog item from the Tasks tab.

Also, you can use the context menu from a work item query.

Link a work item to an existing work item (Team Explorer plug-in for Visual Studio)

For more information on linking, see Link work items to support traceability.

Q: How do I get the URL for a work item?

A: In Visual Studio, right-click the work item tab to copy the URL. The URL opens the work item in TWA. In TWA, simply copy the URL from the web browser address.

Q: How do I get started planning my software development project?

A: The quickest way is to start by creating your backlog. If you have a number of PBIs, user stories, requirements, or tasks that you want to bulk add, you can use Excel or Project.

If you are planning a product suite and managing progress across several teams, you’ll want to read Work with portfolio backlogs and how to setup a hierarchy of teams.

Q: How do I filter a list of work items?

A: Open an existing query or create a query to filter work items based on your search criteria. Common ways that are used to filter work items are by area path, iteration path, and by adding tags.

Q: How do I add another field to a work item type?

A: To track additional data for a work item, you can Modify or add a field to support queries, reports, and workflow.

Q: What clients does TFS support?

A: You can connect to TFS through a web browser or from several clients. See Choose the Team Foundation client to support your tasks.