Team Foudation Server: Customizing MSF for Agile Process

Revolutionize Your Business With Generative AI

From product design and software development to virtual agents, content creation, and reporting, GenAI is transforming business. Our AI experts help you unlock GenAI’s full potential and drive growth.

Let’s Get Started

Microsoft provides a handy way to customize the methodology your team follows to cater to your needs. From requiring check-in notes to defining new groups and organizational units, customizing a process template provides a convenient approach to change how a team works across all platforms.

Team Foundation Server: Customizing MSF for the Agile process guidance to suit your needs:

1. Download the MSF for Agile Software Development Template as well as the guidance from http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/teamsystem/aa718801.aspx

   Note: Although you certainly have the option of choosing CMMI process improvement, it is really a super-set of the Agile process guidance and Agile process works just as well if your projects are medium in size and do not require vigorous documentation or very refined and detailed development methodology.

2. Set-up a TFS process guidance customization test environment. A good blog is available at http://beyondthispoint.blogspot.com/2005/11/building-virtualized-team-foundation.html

3. Now we are ready to customize. Take a look at ProcessTemplate.xml file within the MSF for Agile Software Development folder. Also, here are the different aspects of the template one can customize: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms243782(VS.80).aspx

4. In addition to editing the process XML files, if you have a standard WSS template(.stp file) that fits well across projects, we can upload the file to the WSS server by executing the command:

   stsadm -o addtemplate -filename <filename> -title <title>

   Once the file is uploaded, open the WssTasks.xml file and edit <site template=""> to the title you specified in the above command.

5. Once the XML configuration changes are done, click the Team menu in Visual Studio 2005, hover over Team Foundation Server Settings and select Process Template Manager…

6. Click on Upload and select the folder that contains ProcessTemplate.xml. Finally, close the Process Template Manager.

7. Once done, the uploaded customized template should appear in the list of available process template. One can revert back to the MSF default template by selecting it from the Process Template Manager.