Managing volatile changes with TFS

Question

I work in a shop where we maintain numerous .Net projects that require many small changes. We typically get a Service Request from our customer asking for a new feature. We need to ensure that the work we do is checked into TFS and can be related back to the SR in our help desk database, and that the changes to our code can be reviewed in isolation.

There have been a few strategies that we have discussed, but I hope this question isn't considered subjective as I feel there must be a single practice here that we should be employing. TFS has been used primarily as a source control repo for us, but we are looking to leverage more of it.

1) Currently, a developer creates a Task in TFS, and gives it the name of the SR work number. Then, all changes to the codebase are checked-in against that task. I personally am hesitant about this approach as we are co-opting the Task artifact to be used in a way it hasn't been intended for.

2) There has been discussion about branching for each new feature request we receive, and tag the branch with the SR work number. Should we be concerned about the overhead here? My understanding is that branching and merging can lead to complexity.

3) Simply add a comment to the changeset that is prefixed with the SR work item number. This is a simple approach, but when I View History, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to search through the changeset comments for the SR work number.

4) We're not terribly familiar with labelling, but would it be an option? It sounds like we could tag our Team Project with our SR work number once the work has been completed, and that would provide us with the snapshot we would need if we ever needed to refer back to the changes made.

Obviously, if I've missed the boat entirely, I'd be grateful for guidance.

Answer 1

I assume you have a separate system for entering Service request and you want to continue using that. I'm also assuming that you are using Agile process template in TFS (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997897.aspx) but this should also work if you are using Scrum process template.

I would not suggest creating a custom work-item for Service request but just adding a new field to your user story/bug and name the field "SR work number". Creating custom work items and even adding new fields (adding new field is less painful) is not recommended unless you really need it as it becomes painful when you want to upgrade/migrate your project. You can find out how to customize work-items by going to below link:

http://tedgustaf.com/blog/2011/1/how-to-customize-tfs-2010-work-items-and-workflows/

Based on the info you provided I can suggest following workflow. This might be too much for your needs and if that's the case you can ignore creating user story and bug and directly create tasks.

Workflow: 1) Your helpdesk team creates a Service Request (in a different system) which generates a Service Request number. 2) Helpdek/Product/Dev team decides whether its a new feature or a bug in existing code. Based on that they create a User story(for new feature) or Bug work item in TFS. 3) Tasks are child elements of User story so if you want to break down your user story (feature) into multiple tasks then you can create tasks as child elements to the user story.
4) You enter the Service Request number in the new field you created for it. You can also later use the field for reporting purposes.
5) When developers check-in the code they link it to the appropriate user story/bug/task.

I wouldn't suggest #2, #3 and #4 for the same reasons you mentioned.

Answer 2

I don't know if you're aware that you can customize TFS work items? You can create a Service Request work item. Make it a kind of Requirement. Make the tasks needed to create the new feature be children of the Service Request work item.

You can then use Branches, but only as a method for isolating the work of one feature request from another. As you check in work to the branch, be certain to associate each check-in with a task. You will be able to track the tasks across changesets and across branches.

As you perform builds, they will be associated to the changesets, and therefore, to the service requests. In the same way, test cases, bugs, and the tasks needed to remediate the bugs will also be associated to the service request. You will be able to track everything that happened with respect to that service request.