Titles, IDs, Description, and History (CMMI)

You use the Title and ID fields to uniquely identify work items in a list. You use the Description and History fields to provide additional information that team members need to implement the work item and to track changes to the work item. Additional fields support tracking information that is specific to requirements, tasks, and revision tracking.

After a work item is created, you can modify each of these fields except for ID. When you create and save a work item, Team Foundation assigns the ID, and it cannot be changed.

You use the fields that this topic describes to track information and changes for types of work items that the process template for Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for CMMI Process Improvement v5.0 provides.

In this topic

• Fields that Appear on All Work Item Forms

• Fields that Are Specific to Requirements

• Fields that Are Specific to Tasks

• Fields that Support Revision Tracking

• Additional Fields that Support Query and Reporting

Fields that Appear on All Work Item Forms

The following table describes the fields that you can use to track detailed information and historical revisions made for a work item. For more 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
ID	Specifies an identifier that is assigned to a work item. Work item IDs are unique across all team projects that are defined in a team project collection.	System.Id	Integer	Dimension	True
Title	Summarizes what the work item is and helps team members distinguish it from other work items in a list.	System.Title	String	Dimension	True
Description	Provides more details about a work item than its title does.	System.Description	PlainText	None	False
History	Lists all changes to the work item since it was created. Every time that any field of the work item is updated, information is added to the history. This information includes on which date the change was made, who made the change, and which fields were changed. You can also add formatted text to the history field.	System.History	History	None	False

Fields that Are Specific to Requirements

The following table describes fields that you can use to track the type of Requirement to be developed and its importance to the overall product.

Field name	Description	Reference name	Data type	Default value of the reportable type attribute	Default value of the index attribute
Requirement Type	Specifies the kind of requirement to implement. You can specify one of the following values: Business Objective Feature (default) Functional Interface Operational Quality of Service Safety Scenario Security	Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.RequirementType	String	Dimension	False
Impact Assessment	Describes the customer impact of not implementing this requirement. You might include details from the Kano model about whether this requirement is in the surprise, required, or obvious categories.	Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.ImpactAssessmentHtml	HTML	None	False
User Acceptance Test	Specifies the status of the user acceptance test for a requirement. You can specify one of the following values: Pass (default) Fail Not Ready Ready Skipped Info Received You specify Not Ready when the requirement is in the Active state, and you specify Ready when the requirement is in the Resolved state.	Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.UserAcceptanceTest	String	None	False
Subject matter experts	Specifies up to three team members who are familiar with the customer area that this requirement represents. You can specify the names of valid team members only.	Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.SubjectMatterExpert1 … Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.SubjectMatterExpert3	String	None	False

Fields that Are Specific to Tasks

The following table describes fields that you can use to track the type of task on which the team is working.

Field name	Description	Reference name	Data type	Default value of the reportable type attribute	Default value of the index attribute
Discipline	Specifies the discipline of the team member who will complete the task. You can specify one of the following values: Analysis User Experience User Education Development Test	Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Discipline	String	Dimension	None
Task Type	Specifies the kind of task to implement. You can specify one of the following values: Corrective Action Mitigation Action Planned	Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.TaskType	String	Dimension	None

Fields that Support Revision Tracking

The following table describes fields that you can use to filter queries and create reports based on who changed a work item and when it was changed. These fields are updated with information every time that a team member changes a work item. These fields appear in the History field and are tracked for all types of work items.

Field name	Description	Reference name	Data type	Default value of the reportable type attribute	Default value of the index attribute
Changed By	Specifies the name of the team member who modified the work item most recently.	System.ChangedBy	String	Dimension	True
Changed Date	Specifies the date and time when the work item was modified most recently.	System.RevisedDate	DateTime	None	False
Rev	Provides the number that is assigned to the historical revision of a work item.	System.Rev	Integer	Dimension	False

Additional Fields that Support Query and Reporting

The following table describes fields that you can use to filter queries and create reports that are based on the type of work item, the product area, or the team project. The following fields do not appear on work item forms, but they are tracked for all types of work items.

Field name	Description	Reference name	Data type	Default value of the reportable type attribute	Default value of the index attribute
Node Name	Specifies the name of the parent node to which this work item belongs. The value of this field matches the name of the product area that is assigned to the work item by the Area (path) field. For more information, see Areas and Iterations.	System.NodeName	String	None	False
Team Project	Specifies the name of the team project to which this work item belongs.	System.TeamProject	String	Dimension	False
Work Item Type	Specifies the name of the work item type.	System.WorkItemType	String	Dimension	True

See Also

Concepts

Using System Fields and Fields Defined by the MSF Process Templates

Other Resources

Work Items and Workflow (CMMI)

Work Item Fields (CMMI)