Team Foundation Server User Management Tool
One of the exciting things about working in the aftermarket solutions space is having the opportunity to make some tools that really help customers with common frustrations that they find in our products. Today I had the opportunity to see a "proof of concept" of one of these great tools--a tool that might be able to help quite a few of our customers that are going to adopt our brand-new Team Foundation Server (TFS) product when it launches in a few months. In case you haven't heard of it yet, Team Foundation Server, part of Visual Studio Team System, is the backend server component that helps enable collaborative development features integrated right into Visual Studio. If you'd like to hear more about Team System, I'd highly encourage you to read https://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/default.aspx Rob Caron's excellent VSTS blog.
One shortcoming of TFS is that when you add a new user to the system, the user is only created in the Team Foundation Server...not in the other two areas where the account needs to be created (in SQL Server and in Sharepoint). This creates extra work for the administrator of the TFS...they need to go into Sharepoint and SQL and add the user, with the correct permissions, manually. The Aftermarket Solutions team here has decided that we could build a tool that overcomes this obstacle...now we need to figure out whether or not customers really want this tool.
We've found one such customer--he's already opened a suggestion in the MSDN Product Feedback center:
If you think that this would be a valuable tool to have as well, leave a comment on this post, and vote on the suggestion in the Product Feedback Center.
Hope to be reading those comments soon!
Update 1/27/2006: We have been developing this tool actively, and will post the binaries for the CTP (Community Technology Preview) of the tool on the following GotDotNet CodeGallery site:
https://gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=cea30722-cd0a-4ef4-9c75-a5a5e4932b05
Joe Morel
Program Manager
Developer Aftermarket Solutions Community Team
Comments
- Anonymous
November 09, 2005
This would definitely be a valuable tool that we would use. We are in the early stages of rolling out a 100+ Team System implementation and this would make our lives easier. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Please build this tool. I will be administering a ~50 developer install as a side responsibility, and I don't want to spend my time on user management.
++Alan - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Absolutely... This would make management of users much better. I currently manage a 30+ member team on TS with people constantly rolling on/off. This tool would be a tremendous help! - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Yes please! I have a number of clients I am working with that would definitely benefit from this tool. I have been asked if such a facility would be included in the final release but I've had not answer to give them. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Yes, please, by all means create it. It's not only that it is bothersome, it is indeed painful if you have a lot of projects and have people moving between projects too often. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Please build the tool. I am constantly responding to various requests regarding the user administration and such a tool would save a LOT of time. Actually, since I have lived under the impression that this functionality will appear in v1, when I read the John Lawrence’s blog entry for the moment I was pretty unhappy.
Yes, please build the tool - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Definitely this would be a very helpful tool! This will fix so many bug reports where people "created a new user but still don't have access to reports or the sharepoint site".
Definitely needed! - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Yes, please! Do create such a tool! It would be very valuable indeed. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
No... please don't create a tool that cuts part of my workload by 2/3rd. :)
I was really baffled that MS didn't provide this natively. It is definitely a usability issue that it acts as it does now. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Yes please! This should have been built into the product. It will be a nightmare to maintain 50+ users as it is at the moment. - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
The answer is obvious: Yes please! - Anonymous
November 09, 2005
Definitely needed! - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
Um Yes Anything that will make Setup Simpler is most welcomed! OK how much you talking about for price? Need any Beta Testers? - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
Are you done yet? :) - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
Duh! Reduce workload by 2/3, why not? We've recently brought up VSTS and were baffled why reporting and documentation was not working. I thought you guys worked for the same company? - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
Of course yes. It will be a valuable tool. - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
This would be a huge benefit to us. I really do hope it is developed. - Anonymous
November 10, 2005
Thank you to everyone who responded to this post...so far the response has been overwhelming!
Our team is working on getting resource approval for this tool, and I'll keep everyone posted on its status. Thanks again! - Anonymous
November 13, 2005
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
November 14, 2005
This should be included in the product itself. - Anonymous
November 16, 2005
I think this tool is absolutely required. - Anonymous
January 20, 2006
Yes, please build the tool! - Anonymous
February 10, 2006
Outside of just the MSDN Forums, I also have had the opportunity to work as the Program Manager on the... - Anonymous
June 01, 2006
There will be a lull in MSBee development while I'm away for Christmas. For the curious, I've been...