TFS - customize Features backlog and board

By default Features board shows only work item type Feature. Lets say we have another work item type - Business Request, and we want it to be tretaed same way as Features.

So we need to make changes i categories definition of the process template and include Business Request in Features category.

First, download existing:
witadmin exportcategories /collection:{CollectionAddress} /p:{TeamProjectName} /f:C:\Temp\categories.xml

Now lets edit it:
 

And upload back to server:
witadmin importcategories /collection:{CollectionAddress} /p:{TeamProjectName} /f:C:\Temp\categories.xml

Ok, we can see new work item type available on our Feature backlog:


Next - configure Feature board.
By default it has only 3 columns, and only 2 states to choose from: Active and New. Which was very confusing to me, since our Business Request definitely has more states available.

To make it appear in the list of available States - we need to do changes in process config file. First,
download existing:
witadmin exportprocessconfig /collection:{CollectionAddress} /p:{TeamProjectName} /f:C:\Temp\processConfig.xml

Edit it, so it contains states we want to use:
 
Upload:
witadmin importprocessconfig /collection:{CollectionAddress} /p:{TeamProjectName} /f:C:\Temp\processConfig.xml



Now we can see more States available to map to columns in Features Board:
 

Congratulations!

TFS 2013 Preview and TF400917: The current configuration is not valid for this feature.

After upgrading to TFS 2013 Preview some of our team projects started to get this error when trying to access backlog:

Some of our projects were successfully upgraded though. So what is to be done in order to fix the error:

1. You need to install Visual Studio 2013. witadmin tool from Visual Studio 2012 can export process config files, but can not import. Make sure you run witadmin from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE

2. Run
witadmin exportprocessconfig /collection:http://yourTFSserver:8080/tfs/YourCollection /p:YourTeamProject /f:c:\temp\processconfig.xml 

3. Correct processconfig.xml file so for nodes :

• FeedbackRequestWorkItems, 
• FeedbackResponseWorkItems
• RequirementBacklog 
• TaskBacklog 

there exists attributes pluralName and singularName. Like this, for example:
<RequirementBacklog category="Microsoft.RequirementCategory" pluralName="Backlog items" singularName="User Story">
...
</RequirementBacklog>

4. For RequirementBacklog and TaskBacklog there should exist not empty AddPanel sub-node; like this:
<TaskBacklog category="Microsoft.TaskCategory" pluralName="Tasks" singularName="Task">
    <AddPanel>
      <Fields>
        <Field refname="System.Title" />
      </Fields>
    </AddPanel>
...
</TaskBacklog>

5. Run
witadmin importprocessconfig /collection:http://yourTFSserver:8080/tfs/YourCollection /p:YourTeamProject /f:c:\temp\processconfig.xml

6. It might complain about multiple states with the type Complete. Yes, it should be only one. Make sure that this part of processconfig.xml defines only one state as Complete:
<States>
      <State type="Proposed" value="Analysis" />
      <State type="Proposed" value="Proposed" />
      <State type="Proposed" value="Not Started" />
      <State type="InProgress" value="Active" />
      <State type="InProgress" value="Resolved" />
      <State type="Complete" value="Closed" />
</States>

7. Run witadmin importprocessconfig.... again. That should be it.

Backlog board TF400898: An Internal Error Occurred.

After upgrading to TFS 2012 Update2 our customer start getting "TF400898: An Internal Error Occurred" when trying to view a product backlog board.

Event log at tfs application tier said:
Exception Message: The given key was not present in the dictionary. (type KeyNotFoundException)
Exception Stack Trace:    at System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary`2.get_Item(TKey key)
   at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Server.WebAccess.Agile.Models.WorkItemSource.<>c__DisplayClassa.<GetCompleteWorkItemData>b__6(IDataRecord dataRecord)
   at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Server.WebAccess.Agile.Utility.WorkItemServiceUtils.<GetWorkItems>d__c.MoveNext()...
...etc ..etc

As this is a known issue, solution is described here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/archive/2013/03/19/how-to-fix-tf400898-an-internal-error-occurred-on-your-kanban-board-in-tfs-2012-update-2.aspx

But... it didn't help. Yes, there was inconsistency and 2 possible work items states mapped to Complete board state, but after fixing CommonProcessConfig.xml and leaving only User Story work item in Requirements categories - error still kept coming.

It looks like if there are work items which have the "invalid" state, the board is not getting rebuilt. So, in this unlucky case the fastest fix is to create a new area, and make it the only and default area for backlog.Which practically makes the backlog (and the board) empty.

So, this time the board gets rebuilt successfully. Go to the board page and verify it. After that, just set default area(s) for the backlog the way it was before. Most likely you will need to correct columns for the board, but the annoying TF400898 will be gone.

Just click on Correct this now, and assign relevant states for the board columns.

Neat!

Some features of Team Web Access are not visible to you

Installing TFS, going to Team Web Access and observing something lilke this?

And there is no Backlog and Sprint Planning Tools and neither can you see Request Feedback feature.

You need to enable all features. Somehow by default they are set to "Standard" level, not "Full".
Enter administration page and go to Control Panel:

 

Select Full and make it default.

That will do!

TFS 2012 Velocity chart

Here I will explain what is it the velocity chart in TFS 2012 shows. Generally - velocity shows how much a team can do during a sprint.

So it comes to - how do you estimate effort. IN TFS 2012 we use User Stories, and for estimates - Story Points. This is essential to remember. Look here, an example of velocity chart:

First of all, on X-axis - iteration ordered by time. This means you have to set timeframe for your iterations. For this go to admin page and Iterations tab.

Y-axis. See numbers? Those are story points. If your work items do not have story points - they will not appear on this chart.

Now about colours. Green shows work items in Resolved\Completed\Done state. Blue - Active. Other states are not shown.

Hope that clarifies some things.

TFS Work Item Query - multiselect hint

Lets say I have a WI query like this:



and I want to find not only Issues but also Tasks and Activities. I can of course add OR statement and group, but I find it much more easy to use IN statement. The problem is only that the value dropdown doesn't seem to support multiselect. Not in Visual Studio, neither in Team Web Access.

Forget dropdown! Just write staight into value field with ; as a separator. Like this: