Azure

DevOps
Boards
Project Managers / Analyst

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Contents
What is Azure DevOps? ................................................................................................................................. 4
Getting Started .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Preview the latest features ....................................................................................................................... 6
How to Add Team members? ........................................................................................................................ 7
Manage Team member permissions ............................................................................................................. 8
Create a new Team........................................................................................................................................ 9
Scrum Lifecycle ............................................................................................................................................ 10
How to configure Release and Sprint cycles................................................................................................ 11
Setting up Iteration paths – Project Configuration.................................................................................. 11
Setting up Area paths – Project Configuration ........................................................................................ 12
Team Configuration ................................................................................................................................. 13
Epics, Features, User Stories, Tasks............................................................................................................. 14
Creating Work Items.................................................................................................................................... 15
Create an Epic.......................................................................................................................................... 15
How to Create a Feature? ........................................................................................................................... 16
How to Create a User Story? ....................................................................................................................... 17
Follow a User Story.................................................................................................................................. 17
Attach a document .................................................................................................................................. 18
History of User Story ............................................................................................................................... 18
Mass update to user stories .................................................................................................................... 19
How to create a Task? ................................................................................................................................. 20
Customize column options .......................................................................................................................... 22
Tracking work using Task board .................................................................................................................. 23
Customize Board columns and swim lanes ................................................................................................. 23
Tracking Bugs............................................................................................................................................... 24
Query Work Items ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Tree Query .............................................................................................................................................. 26
Run Queries and Email the results .............................................................................................................. 27
Create charts out of queries ........................................................................................................................ 28
Customize Dashboard.................................................................................................................................. 30
Manage your notifications .......................................................................................................................... 31

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 Using Filters ............................................................................................................................................. 33
Create a Wiki for your project ..................................................................................................................... 34
Integrating with Excel Trouble shooting...................................................................................................... 35
Integrating with Excel .............................................................................................................................. 35
Opening from Excel ................................................................................................................................. 35
Custom Process ........................................................................................................................................... 37

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What is Azure DevOps?

Azure DevOps Services is a cloud service for collaborating on code development. It

provides an integrated set of features that you access through your web browser or IDE
client, including the following:

• Git repositories for source control of your code

• Build and release services to support continuous integration and delivery of your
apps
• Agile tools to support planning and tracking your work, code defects, and issues
using Kanban and Scrum methods
• A variety of tools to test your apps, including manual/exploratory testing, load
testing, and continuous testing
• Highly customizable dashboards for sharing progress and trends
• Built-in wiki for sharing information with your team

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Getting Started

Azure DevOps (VSTS / TFS) access via the Web browser.

A project provides a repository for source code and a place for a group of people to plan, track
progress, and collaborate on building software solutions.

** Always use the Create project button to create a project, so that we can select the scrum
process.

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Preview the latest features

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How to Add Team members?

When you create your project, a team of the same name is automatically created. For small
teams, this is sufficient. However, for enterprise-level organizations, it may be necessary to scale
up, to create additional teams and/or projects.

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Manage Team member permissions

Open the web portal and choose the project where you want to add users or groups.

Choose Project Settings and then Permissions.

Additional details

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/security/add-users-team-
project?view=vsts&tabs=new-nav

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Create a new Team

Additional details

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/user-guide/project-admin-tutorial?view=vsts

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Scrum Lifecycle

With Scrum, teams plan and track work at regular time intervals, referred to as a sprint
cadence. You define sprints to correspond to the cadence your team uses.

Many teams choose a two or three week cadence. However, you can specify shorter or
longer sprint cycles. Also, you can create a release schedule which encompasses several
sprints.

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How to configure Release and Sprint cycles

To create or modify areas or iterations, you must be a member of the Project

Administrators group

Setting up Iteration paths – Project Configuration

Iteration paths allow you to group work into sprints, milestones, or other event-specific or time-
related period.

Additional details

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/settings/set-iteration-paths-
sprints?view=vsts&tabs=new-nav

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Setting up Area paths – Project Configuration

**Creating a team, creates an area path with that name.

Most teams are using area paths to group work by team and grouping by product/feature area through
use of epics or features.

Area paths allow you to group work items by team, product, or feature area.

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Team Configuration

**Once you create Iterations and Areas under project configuration, you need to add it under
Team configuration, else it will not show up while creating user stories.

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Epics, Features, User Stories, Tasks

The first step in planning your sprint is to assign work from your backlog to a sprint. Your team
builds the sprint backlog during the sprint planning meeting, typically held on the first day of
the sprint. Each sprint corresponds to a time-boxed interval which supports your team's ability
to work using Agile processes and tools. During the planning meeting, your product owner
works with your team to identify those stories or backlog items to complete in the sprint.

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Creating Work Items

Let’s create Epic – Feature – User Story – Tasks

Create an Epic

Using an abbreviation makes it easy for you to search.

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How to Create a Feature?

Show the Epics in backlog and click the plus sign next to the Epic.

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How to Create a User Story?

Click on the + sign next to the feature to create user stories.

**Tags are discussed and created by the Team. Tags help in search.

Follow a User Story

You can choose to follow a User Story is you are interested in updates to the story.

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Attach a document

History of User Story

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Mass update to user stories

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How to create a Task?

You add tasks to backlog items when you want to track the work required to implement them
and to estimate the work assigned to individual team members and the team. The capacity tool
tells you how much work your team can commit to. However, to compare capacity with actually
planned work, you need to define and estimate tasks for each backlog item.

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You can create a Copy of the work item & Email the work item.

When you create copy of work item, select include existing links if you want the work item to have the
same parent.

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Customize column options

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Tracking work using Task board

Your task board provides a visualization of flow and status of each sprint task. With it, you can
focus on the status of backlog items as well as work assigned to each team member.

Customize Board columns and swim lanes

Additional details

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/sprints/task-board?view=vsts&tabs=new-nav

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Tracking Bugs

Bugs can be tracked on the Kanban board by enabling the below setting.

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Query Work Items

A query lists a filtered set of work items. You can initiate a query using the query editor.
Optionally, you can perform an adhoc search using the search box.

To find work items assigned to you or your team, run a query. A number of work item queries
are predefined with your process. Also, members of your team may have created shared queries
that you can view and run. Oftentimes, it's easier to define a new query by building on the query
definition that's already available to you.

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Tree Query

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Run Queries and Email the results

Queries:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/queries/?view=vsts

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Create charts out of queries

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**Shared query charts can be added to the Team dashboard

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Customize Dashboard

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Manage your notifications

As changes occur to your code base, builds, work items, and other operations, you can receive
email notifications. For example, you can set an alert to be notified whenever a bug that you
opened is resolved or a work item is assigned to you.

Turn on or off notifications and create custom notifications.

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Using Filters

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Create a Wiki for your project

Each team project can be provisioned with a wiki. Use it to share information with your team to
understand, use, and contribute to your project.

Additional details:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/project/wiki/wiki-create-repo?view=vsts&tabs=new-
nav

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Integrating with Excel Trouble shooting

If you are unable to see the Team menu or open in excel please see below link.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/boards/backlogs/office/tfs-office-integration-
issues?view=vsts

Integrating with Excel

**In Excel Team menu you can connect to VSTS and run a query.

Opening from Excel

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Custom Process

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Additional details:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/organizations/settings/work/customize-process-
wit?view=azure-devops

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