CODEWITHSUNDEEP
securityvisual-studio-2015tfstfs-2015
Dillon P
Dillon P

Reputation: 91

TFS Express 2015 User Access Levels / Additional Users

My apologies if there is an easy answer to this (I think I'm probably missing something simple), but I've searched and searched and couldn't find the answer.

I would like some clarification on user access levels in TFS Express 2015. Does the user access work the same way as the full version? Is it even possible to specify user access?

I'm referencing this MSDN page when referring to access levels. The TFS Express 2015 download page does not specify what sort of access the five allotted users are granted. Our hope was that they would be granted full ("Advanced") access, and we'd have the ability to add additional users ("Stakeholders") without licenses required.

I tried to check our access levels, but I can't. I am an administrator all across the board, and I can view and change all security features in the portal, EXCEPT access levels. The tab simply isn't visible on the control panel.

This made me wonder if "limited to five (5) users" is quite literal, and that Express excludes access to certain features (such as creating charts), which in the full version, requires "basic" access.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1084

Answers (2)

Dillon P
Dillon P

Reputation: 91

After speaking with several different reps from Microsoft, we confirmed there are no user access levels in TFS Express. All users are granted the same level of access. Administrative rights can still be set (or denied if not set), but the concept of Stakeholder, Basic, and Advanced levels doesn't exist. Also, TFS Express is indeed limited to five named users, according to Microsoft.

Even if it weren't limited to five, we would upgrade anyway, due to the fact that TFS Express doesn't allow charts on dashboards, and offers no built-in reporting. Microsoft recommended that, for the size of our business, we should go with MSDN subscriptions instead of purchasing Visual Studio / TFS licenses outright. I think that's the route we're going. TFS Express (and any Express level product, really) is meant more for hobbyists to gain experience with the Microsoft suite.

Upvotes: 1

PatrickLu-MSFT
PatrickLu-MSFT

Reputation: 51093

Have you noted this paragraph from the MSDN page

If you don’t see the Access levels tab, you aren't a TFS administrator and don’t have permission. Here’s how to get permissions.

If you have been a TFS administrator, then this feature of 'change access level' must be unsupported by TFS Express.

For the users of TFS Express, it's limited to no more than 5 named users. So you can use it with up to 5 users for free. If you want more than that, you need to purchase CALs for each user beyond the 5th. More detail description from Brian's Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2012/02/23/coming-soon-tfs-express.aspx

Upvotes: 1

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