Essentials on Azure DevOps Services

and GitHub
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Introduction and Logistics
• Your trainer
• You:
o Your role
o Your company
o Your experience in this technology area
o Your goals for this workshop

• Start and end times

• Facilities (restrooms and smoking)
• Meals
• Devices such as computers, phones, tablets, and so on
• Please set your mobile phones to vibrate
• What is on your desk?

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Module 6: Azure Boards –
Work Items

Module Overview

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Overview
• Work Item Fundamentals
• Classification and Work Item Links
• Work Item Queries
• Customizing Work Items

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Module 6: Azure Boards - Work
Items

Lesson 1: Work Item

Fundamentals

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Overview
• Work Item Types
• What is a Work Item?
• Creating Work Items
• Editing Work Items
• Work Item Workflows
• Basic Work Item Operations
• Copy or Clone Work Items
• Remove and Delete Work Items

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Work Item Types
• Features, bugs, tasks, backlog items, test cases, and so on
• Fields, rules, and states
• Customizable
• Vary by process:
o Basic
o Scrum
o Agile
o CMMI

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What is a Work Item?
• Instance of a work item type
• Can represent:
o Explicit work that needs to be completed (Example: A task)
o Details of the software you are building (Example: A requirement)
o Problems with the software or process (Example: A bug or issue)
o A method for testing a component (Example: A test case)
o Results of a code review session (Example: A code review response)

• A Work Item ID is unique within an organization

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Work item Types by Process

Basic Scrum Agile CMMI

Agile Portfolio Epic Epic, Feature Epic, Feature Epic, Feature
Management
Product Planning Issue Product Backlog User Story Requirement,
Item Change Request
Task and Iteration Task Task Task Task
Planning
Bug Backlog Bug Bug Bug
Management
Project Impediment Issue Issue, Risk,
Management Review
Test Management Test Case Test Case Test Case

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Other Work Item Types
• Hidden types:
o Code Review
▪ Code Review Request
▪ Code Review Response
o Request feedback
▪ Feedback Request
▪ Feedback Response

• Custom:
o Create your own work item types

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Creating Work Items
• Different ways to create Work Items:
o New work item (blank form)
o Copy of an existing work item
o New linked work item
o New work item from a template
o Import work items from a CSV file

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Creating Work Items (continued)
• Clients:
o Web Portal
o Team Explorer add-in to Visual Studio
o To perform bulk additions or updates, use Excel
o Team Explorer Everywhere
o Third-party tools

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New Work Item Form

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Work Item Templates
• With work item templates, you can create Work Items which have pre-populated values
• In the Web Portal, you can:
• Capture a Work Item as a template
• Add a Work Item using a template
• Apply templates to Work Items
• Manage Work Item templates

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Editing Work Items
• Work Item Form UI:
o Web Portal

• Bulk Edit:
o Excel
o Web Portal

• Other options:
o REST APIs

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Work Item Workflow
• The work item type determines
workflow states and transitions
• The workflow determines the logical
progression of tasks
• The State and Reason fields are used together
• Example: Bug - Scrum

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Work Item Workflow States
Scrum Agile CMMI
(Product Backlog Item) (User Story) (Requirement)

New New Proposed

Approved

Committed Active Active

Resolved Resolved

Done Closed Closed

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Basic Work Item Operations
• Assign a Work Item:
o Specify the current owner of the Work Item
o Can be reassigned to another person

• Update the status:

o Change the State
o Specify a Reason (Example - State: Removed; Reason: Duplicate)

• Find:
o Assigned Work Items appear under My Work
o Work Item Queries
o Search Work Items from Team Explorer and Web Portal
o Client-specific search in Excel

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Basic Work Item Operations (continued)
• Move, Change (work item type), Remove or Delete Work Items
• Follow a Work Item
• Read-only and required rules for group membership
o Work item rules let you set specific actions on work item fields to automate their behavior. You can create a rule to
set a field to read-only or required based on group membership.
• Open a work item dialog on your board, backlog, or sprint experience by appending the parameter
?workitem=[ID] to the URL

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Copy or Clone Work Items
• Clone a work item when you want to
create another instance of it. This
action opens a form with all fields
filled out.
• Copy a work item when you want to
create another instance of it and
optionally change its work item type.
o Copy work item to copy children

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Remove Work Items
• Remove Work Items by changing
the state:
o When you change the state of a
work item to Removed, it will be
removed from all backlogs and
boards

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Delete Work Items
• Delete Work Items by using the Recycle Bin
o Deleted Work Items will not appear in backlogs, boards, or queries
o After the Work Items are moved to the Recycle Bin, it is possible to restore or permanently delete the Work Items

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Demo 1: Create and Edit
Work Items

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Lesson Knowledge Check
1. Name any four work item types
2. True/False: You can create a Code Review Request work item using the New Work Item option in Team
Explorer
3. List the tools that allow you to bulk edit work items
4. What is a work item workflow?
5. True/False: It is possible to restore a work item that is moved to the Recycle Bin

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Lesson Summary
• In this lesson, you learned about:
o Work Item Types
o Creating Work Items
o Editing Work Items
o Work Item Workflows
o Basic Work Item Operations
o Copy or Clone Work Items
o Remove and Delete Work Items

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Module 6: Azure Boards - Work
Items

Lesson 2: Classification and Work

Item Links

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Overview
• Areas and Iterations
• Work Item Links
• Link Types

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Areas and Iterations
• Used to organize Work Items into hierarchical categories
• Areas: Organize Work Items into logical, physical, or functional categories
• Iterations: Group Work Items into milestones or time cycles

Example Areas Example Iterations

\Layout and Design \Sprint 5

\Application 1 \Beta 1

\Product 2 \Beta 2

\Web Services \Releases\1.0

\Database \Releases\2.0

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Areas and Iterations (continued)
• Provides granular management of Work Items within a team project
• Can be secured with discrete permissions

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Work Item Links
• Create relationships between Work Items
and resources:
o Plan projects more effectively
o Track dependencies more accurately
o View hierarchical relationships

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Link Types
• Show the relationship between Work Items
• Common link types:
o Related: Used to make non-hierarchical relationships
o Parent-Child: Used to view multitiered, hierarchical relationships
o Predecessor-Successor: Used to plan and track project tasks and their dependencies
o Affects-Affected By: Used to link Work Items that affect each other
o Dependent: Used to view and track dependent Work Items
o Tests-Tested By: Used for linking test cases and Work Items
o Shared Steps-Test Case: Used to track the Shared Steps-Test Case relationship

• Custom link types are not supported for Hosted XML or inherited process models

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Demo 2: Work Item Links

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Lesson Knowledge Check
1. What are Areas used for?
2. What kind of resources can you link to a Work Item?
3. Name four commonly used link types

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Lesson Summary
• In this lesson, you learned about:
o Areas and Iterations
o Work Item Links
o Link Types

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Module 6: Azure Boards - Work
Items

Lesson 3: Work Item Queries

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Overview
• Work Item Query Concepts
• Query Operations and Features
• Query Results
• Tagging
• Filtering Lists
• Visualize the Progress of Work
• Work Item Query Permissions
• Excel

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Query for Work Items
• Queries help you find Work Items that you want to review, triage, update, or list in a report
o Quickly find a work item by entering the ID in the work item search box (adhoc queries)

o Use the Query Editor for more complex queries that are based on the filter clauses you specify (managed
queries)

o Programmatically query for Work Items - REST APIs and SDK

▪ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/integrate/quickstarts/work-item-quickstart?view=vsts

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Search Work Item
By using work item search you can:
• Search over all your projects
• Search across all work item fields
• Search in specific fields
• Take advantage of integration with work
item tracking

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Query Editor

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Query Operations and Features
• Use built-in queries or create your own
• Display query results:
o Flat list of work items
o Tree of work items
o Work items and direct links

• Export/import queries
• Add parent field to queries
• Context variables—helpful in creating generic queries
o @Me, @CurrentIteration, @Project, @TeamAreas, @Today, @Today-x; x=1,7,31

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Query Results: Flat List of Work Items
• The default query type
• Displays a simple flat list of work items, no related work items are displayed
• Use Flat list queries to:
o Find a work item with an unknown ID
o Find work items that you want to link to other work items
o Export work items to Excel and Project for bulk updates
o Generate a report for a set of work items

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Query Results: Tree of Work Items
• Used to find and modify work items that are related
• Drag and drop to move or copy link relationships
• Use Tree of work items queries to:
o View the hierarchy that you have created
o Change the tree hierarchy by adding, copying, or moving the link relationships of the work items
o Export the tree view to Excel for either bulk updates or to augment or modify the tree hierarchy

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Query Results: Work Items and Direct Links
• Used to focus on a group of linked work items
• Drag and drop to move or copy link relationships
• Use Work items and direct links queries to:
o Review active tasks grouped by a feature area
o Assess the changes made to work items that you do not own but your work items depend on
o Export the direct links view to Excel for bulk updates

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Tagging
• Tag work items to quickly filter the product backlog or a work item query using categories that you define

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Tagging (continued)
• Query work items based on tags

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Navigation in Query Results

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Filter Lists
Types
Keyword Assigned to

Tags
States

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Visualize the Progress of Work
• View the status of the work in progress by charting the results
• Create several types of charts— such as pie, column, or trend—for the same query

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Work Item Queries: Permissions
• Share/organize queries by using folders/subfolders and team favorites
• Set permissions on:
o Folders under the Shared Queries node
o Individual work item queries under folders

• Set permissions for:

o Individual users
o Azure DevOps groups

• Permission inheritance is in effect by default

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Excel
• Excel has Team ribbon
o Installed with one of the latest editions of Visual Studio or TFS Standalone Office Integration

• There is no longer native integration for Project Server

o Partner solutions

• Use Excel to:

o Create work items
o Perform bulk edits of work items
o View and modify a work breakdown structure or a tree list
o Work offline and publish changes when connected
o View metrics or roll-ups of key performance indicators

• Use Web Portal to quickly modify one or more fields for work items that will contain the same value
• Use Excel to update multiple fields with different values

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Tree View Work Item Query List in Excel

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Demo 3: Work Item Queries

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Lesson Knowledge Check
1. How can you create generic queries which can be shared with other team members?
2. What are the tools you can use to create a new work item query?
3. What is the Tree of work items query type used for?
4. True/False: You cannot bulk edit work items

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Answers – Lesson Knowledge Check
1. How can you create generic queries which can be shared with other team members?
o Use context variables such as @Me

2. What are the tools you can use to create a new work item query?
o Team Explorer, Team Explorer Everywhere, the Web Portal, and manually by using the Work Item Query Language

3. What is the Tree of work items query type used for?

o It is used to find and modify work items that are related

4. True/False: You cannot bulk edit work items

o False. Excel, the Web Portal, and Project are the most suitable tools for bulk edits. Team Explorer (with Work Item
Templates Power Tool) and the command-line tool tfpt workitem tools can also be used to perform limited bulk
editing

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Lesson Summary
• In this lesson, you learned about:
o Work Item Queries
o Tagging
o Visualizing the progress of work
o Work Item Query Permissions
o Excel

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Module 6: Azure Boards - Work
Items

Lesson 4: Customizing Work

Items

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Overview
• Create New Work Item Types
• Customize Existing Work Item Types

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Creating and Editing Work Item Types
From the Work item types page, choose New work item type

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Customizing Work Item Fields
• Create a new field
• Customize an existing field
• Customize system picklist values
• Reasons for customization:
o Change the field label to match your team's naming conventions
o Add or modify the attributes of a field
o Specify a default value, or control the values users can use
o Restrict who can modify a field
o Add a field to capture the data that is specific to your team's process
o Define or customize a pick list

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Customizing Work Item Forms
• Reasons for customization:
o Add new or remove unused fields
o Change the labels to support your team's naming conventions
o Add informational text to support the use of a field
o Add hyperlinks to detailed process guidance
o Customize the link types and work item types that can be linked
o Display dynamic reports or dashboard information on the form

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Customize a Project Using an Inherited Process

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Add or Modify a Rule for a Work Item Type
• Changing the initial state and valid states
• Changing valid transition between states
• Setting up users and groups that have permissions to perform transitions

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Demo 4: Customizing Work
Item Types

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Lesson Knowledge Check
1. True/False: You can use Process Template Editor to customize Azure DevOps Services Projects
2. Why would you customize the workflow of a work item?

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Lesson Summary
• In this lesson, you learned about:
o Work item customization
o Creating/editing work item types
o Customizing work Item fields, forms, and workflows

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Lab: Work Items

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Module Summary
• In this module, you learned about:
o Work Item Fundamentals
o Classification and Work Item Links
o Work Item Queries
o Customizing Work Items

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