We're using TFS for source control and are trialling using the TFS work item tracking. I am trying to find out, is it possible for people who don't have visual studio installed to access, create and edit work items via a browser based user interface?
Our technical support team need to be able to use work items. TFS work items won't be suitable for our company if the support team and project managers can't get sufficient access.
I'm not familiar with how the licensing works either. If there is a way for non visual studio users to use TFS work items, will they need a license?
The are a number of choices (most costing money):
Team System Web Access
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. Team System Web Access is available as a free download for existing Team Foundation Server users, and will be incorporated into a future release of Visual Studio Team System.
Work Item Only View
Team System Web Access provides a work item only view that restricts functionality so that you can create and view only your own work items. This view is designed to facilitate working with Team Foundation Server when you do not have a client access license (CAL). You do not need a CAL to create new work items or to view and update work items that you created. The work item only view restricts functionality so that you are in compliance with this aspect of the Team Foundation Server end user license agreement. For more information, see Visual Studio Team System 2008 Licensing White Paper.
Outlook integration (from Brian Harry's blog)
Integration of Team Foundation Server work items into the Outlook user experience continues to be a popular area for innovation. Just recently an author sent me mail about a new one called Wit-It! that enables work item forms to be easily opened from TFS work item change notifications. It's not entirely unlike configuring links to Team System Web Access from event notifications but it uses local rich client UI that some will like better.
There are several other Outlook extension offerings out there with varying levels of completeness. If it's an area that iterests you, you can also check out:
TeamExpand
TeamLook
TeamCompanion
And I appologize if I left any out. As I say, clearly there is a lot of interest here and some creative people.
Team System Web Access is a good web-based option for non-visual studio users.
There should be a web interface, both a website and a SharePoint portal that gets installed with TFS. The portal will let you get to the documents and view some reports. The website will let you work with the documents, the source control, work items, and bug reporting.
As far as licensing goes, a full-blown TFS user requires a TFS CAL (in addition to the normal Windows Server CAL).
However, for particular types of 'light' users a TFS CAL might not be required (I'm not sure, but I'd think that a Windows Server CAL would still be required). See http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2007/11/23/tfs-licensing-change-for-tfs-2008.aspx for some details.
As always, MS server application licensing requirements are often quite complicated - you will need to do your own research (probably in consultation with MIcrosoft) to determine your actual licensing requirements.
Related
To be clear, I am not asking about about version control, or capabilities of the back end, but the front with the tie in with the interested parties. (Contributors, Viewers, Users)
Would those that work with both TFS and VSTS, would you say that TFS and VSTS have all the same "Visual" components (comparable version coalition) with the difference of placement being:
TFS is to SERVER (Designated/Local Server)
VSTS is to CLOUD (Online servers)
I have read all of the comparable but none talk to this aspect that I can find.
i.e. do you see the same portal pages and project counter parts in TFS as you do in VSTS?
Suggest you first go through the official doc from MSDN: Understand differences between VSTS and TFS
VSTS is the cloud offering that provides a scalable, reliable, and globally available hosted service. It is backed by a 99.9% SLA,
monitored by our 24-7 operations team, and available in local data
centers around the world.
Team Foundation Server is the on-premises offering built on a SQL Server backend. Organizations typically choose on-premises TFS when
they need their data to stay within your network, or they want access
to SharePoint sites and SQL Server reporting services that integrate
with TFS data and tools.
Fundamental differences between TFS and VSTS
Scope and scale data
Authentication
Users and groups
Manage user access
Security and data protection
Key feature differences between VSTS and TFS
Process customization
Reporting
You could review the details for the front with the tie in with the interested parties. (Contributors, Viewers, Users)
Back to your question, *do they have the same Project pages to display to users? * It's basically the same, most new features are released to Visual Studio Team Services first and are integrated into Team Foundation Server with a bit of a delay. Some features are available in VSTS which depend on cloud resources, so they're not likely to move to TFS anytime soon.
Also take a look at this similar question: Future of TFS vs VSTS
We are going to work together with another company which using TFS/Octopus Deploy.
The item is currently in phase one, which includes building the platform and ensuring that all components work together cohesively.
I'm confused with the license required with TFS. It's easy to understand the license for TFS server. However, there seems to be a client license for each client, why we need two license for a product? And what's the association with TFS client license / VS or MSDN subscription?
TFS is licensed on a Server/CAL model. Thus, you need 1 Server license for the TFS server and 1 TFS CAL (client access license) for each user that will use TFS features.
That TFS CAL covers the usage no matter how the user accesses TFS (i.e. Visual Studio, Eclipse, Web Access client, Excel, MSProject, 3rd party tool, ect, etc).
The two ways to acquire TFS CALs are:
Purchase a TFS User CAL
1 TFS CAL (and 1 TFS Server license) is included in each Visual
Studio/MSDN subscription. Thus, anyone who has an active MSDN
subscription assigned to them is covered with a TFS CAL.
Client access licenses (CALs) aren’t required for people who just
access work items – assign them “Stakeholder” access, which is
free.
Extensions to TFS such as Test Manager, Package Management,
and Private Pipelines require an additional purchase. Some TFS
Extensions are included with Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions
and many others are free. Paid extensions can also be purchased
monthly, no Visual Studio subscription is required.
More details please refer below two blogs:
Understand TFS Licensing
Team Foundation Server 2017 Licensing
As you have already stated you need a license for TFS itself, but if you have a single Visual Studio subscription this is included.
Clients connecting to TFS might need a license depending on the access level needed. A lot of the planning features are free (stakeholder level) whereas source code and more advanced features will require either a Basic (most features except Test) or Enterprise (all features) level access.
Basic level can be obtained by either buying it directly through VSTS or by buying a product that includes a CAL license e.g. Visual Studio subscription.
For smaller teams, you can use TFS/VSTS for free but with a maximum of 5 users.
You can read more on the Team Foundation Server pricing page.
My organization serves the application development needs a number of different companies. When we develop an application for a company, we typically have users from that company perform the testing.
If we were to use TFS Web Access for testing, are we able to transfer the CAL license from one company's tester to another once a project has been completed? I couldn't find anything about it in their licensing whitepaper.
From the TFS licensing whitepaper:
if the contractor is using the client’s Team Foundation Server then
the client must supply a Team Foundation Server CAL for the
contractor’s use. This could be a CAL purchased separately or a CAL
that is included with the MSDN subscription that the client assigns to
the contractor temporarily.
So yes, it appears you can transfer CALS to different users as long as only one user is using the CAL (accessing the server) over any given period. (I think a "user" is not locked down to a specific individual)
However, this:
Team Foundation Server CALs are only valid for accessing a Team
Foundation Server acquired by the same organization
...implies that your customers cannot use your CALs, so would have to purchase their own.
It may be possible (from my reading of the white paper) for you to get a Device CAL, assign it to a laptop, and lend the laptop to your customer. But it'd be best to ask Microsoft to confirm that.
However, if your customers are only using the web interface for test feedback (limited to basic work item operations such as reporting bugs, responding to feedback requests, and viewing reports) they will not require a CAL. Clearly Microsoft recognises that your customers will need to be able to interact with your server to report bugs and feedback.
But ultimately if you're not sure, ask Microsoft to give you a clear (and legally watertight) answer. You can read the licensing documents until you lose the will to live (or even more than 3.2 minutes if you must), or ask a thousand of us to post our interpretations, but you won't know for sure unless you get MS to provide the actual answer.
We currently have an existing issue tracker, which the service management team utilise for logging user reported issues.
What I would like to do is create a server based (probably web-ui) system that can query the issue tracker for bugs assigned to the dev team.
Then someone from the Dev team will come along and review these issues via a UI, assign and prioritise and file them as one or more work items per issue.
All the Dev team has suitable licences VIA MSDN to TFS, what I am not sure about is if the service management team needs access licences ?
See The VS 2010 / TFS 2010 Licensing White Paper. The key bit is this section:
Client Access Licenses
A CAL entitles one user or device to
access any number of licensed
instances of Team Foundation Server
running within an organization.
A CAL is required for users (or
devices) who:
Directly write data to Team Foundation Server.
Indirectly write data to Team Foundation Server through another
software application or device (see
Multiplexing below).
A CAL is not required for users who:
Access Team Foundation Server only for purposes of entering new work
items (see New Work Items below).
Receive Team Foundation Server reports through e-mail and do not
directly or indirectly access the
server to refresh, create, or update
data.
View static data that has been manually distributed outside of Team
Foundation Server.
In addition, a Team Foundation Server
CAL is not required for:
Any device running a licensed copy of Team Foundation Server or an agent
included with Team Foundation Server.
Up to two devices or users that only access Team Foundation Server for
purposes of system administration.
Up to five designated users when Team Foundation Server is purchased
through a retail channel (as described
above under Obtaining Visual Studio
Team Foundation Server 2010.)
Interacting with a server running Team Foundation Server, but not
interacting with Team Foundation Server itself or its data.
So, my interpretation (and I'm not a lawyer, nor a person qualified to speak about Microsoft licensing - just a guy on StackOverflow...) is:
If you are creating the web page over the data in your existing issue tracking system, and just enabling an easy way for developers (who are already licensed for access to TFS) to create work items from that data then I think you are fine. If you wanted the people in the service management team to be able to create/edit work items belonging to others then interact with that work item data later then I think you would need CAL's.
Hope that makes sense. For the official word on licensing, always best to reach out to your local Microsoft representative. If you need help getting in contact with that person then let me know.
Is there a good application that ties into TFS to allow users of your application to submit bug reports or software change requests?
Are there any good 3rd party applications that tie into TFS using the provided API? I would like to good application to submit bugs to and then assign them to people in TFS.
Work Item Web Access (archived here) allows users without a TFS CAL to submit and view their own work items (bug reports or change requests).
Or if your users have a CAL, they can use Team System Web Access (archived here) and will be able to view work items from other users too.
If this doesn't answer your question, can you clarify what you mean by an application that ties in with TFS.