However…

If you’re installing WSS 3.0 on the server during the installation process (such as for a clean install), then you really ought to to create a slipstream version of the TFS install with TFS SP1.  Reason?  Without the slipstream, you have to install WSS 3.0 with Sp2 on your own, and configure it.  And it takes less time to create the slipstream than to install WSS 3.0 with Sp2.

So, create a slipstream and install it!  You can find slipstreaming instructions all over the web, but here’s a good one from my friend (and TFS super-genius) Martin Woodward.  You can access it at: creating a TFS 2008 SP1 slipstreamed install.

A few weeks ago during the MVP summit, I had the wonderful experience of hanging out with Martin Woodward of Teamprise and RadioTFS fame.  We chatted for an hour on strategies for adopting TFS successfully, recorded the conversation, and it has just been released as this months episode of Radio TFS.

Have a listen: Adopting Team System with Steven Borg

Here is a list of useful links for getting started with TFS reporting and how to fix or get around some of the problems with customized work items.

• Ben Day has a blog post covering the modifications needed on the Remaining Work report to show an additional state.
• Our own Steven Borg has posted a video demonstrating the creation of the Remaining Work report within Excel which provides an easy mechanism for adding additional states.
• A great list of links for more videos and reference material was also compiled on the Team WIT Tools blog.

However, a problem still exists as knowing how to technically create reports only removes the knowledge barrier and leaves the more difficult barrier of knowing what metrics are important.  The metrics that each organization need to focus on can very greatly but you always need to start somewhere.  You also need to set a baseline of your current status before you start any process improvement initiative in order to measure for successful and unsuccessful changes.  A great way to start is with an ALM (Application Lifecycle Management) Assessment as it will point out where the main problem areas lie so that you can then focus your gathering of metrics on those areas.

This is really just a starting point for TFS reporting as well as the overall initiative of process improvement within your organization and in the upcoming weeks I will continue to discuss the metrics that are available out of the box with TFS and how to get to them within your reports.

In summary, here is the breakdown of minimum and recommended configuration changes for VSTS 2010 and post VSTS 2010 preparation.

Minimum Configuration Changes

The major change is of course requiring SQL Server 2008 due to the much improved version of Reporting Services.  Along with a minimum of WSS 3.0, SharePoint as a whole is becoming an optional component, which is great news for many organizations who do not use the functionality and do not want to dedicate the resources to maintaining it through upgrades.  That being said, Microsoft is also extended MOSS support as an integral part of the reporting platform so the SharePoint benefits are continually growing.  Office integration is of course an optional component as it stands today but both Excel and Project are widely used interfaces to TFS outside of Team Explorer and Team System Web Access and Office 2003 will not integrate with VSTS 2010.

Recommended Configuration Changes

Now that 64 bit will be supported on the application tier in VSTS 2010 and 32 bit support dropped in subsequent releases as well as Windows Server 2003 support unlikely in the future, the VSTS 2010 timeframe is a good time to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 64 bit.  Taking advantage of Hyper-V within Windows Server 2008, you may also want to virtualize much of your VSTS 2010 infrastructure.

Also of note is full support and integration with Project Server 2007 with VSTS 2010.  Project Server is of course optional but is another complex product that takes additional resources and planning for implementation alongside VSTS 2010.

Where to Start

There is a lot to think about when it comes to VSTS 2010 for not only these configuration changes and requirements here but the new features that will inevitably increase the size of your infrastructure.  A couple features that easily stand out as needing increased resources are lab management and historical debugging.  VSTS 2010 is a shift to a more scalable product and to take advantage of all the new features, you need to ready your environment and inevitably, your budget.

In preparation for the VSTS 2010 release, you should seriously consider upgrading to TFS 2008 SP1 and SQL Server 2008 to minimize the amount of change required at one time and manage the risk associated with upgrading.  Microsoft did a great job improving the installation and upgrade of TFS 2008 and 2010 is looking even better but known quantities of controlled change are always my preferred approach.

Windows shell extension for source control, powershell integration, team collaboration tools (messaging, workspace templates, check in history, view shelvesets and pending changes, distribution of custom components).

This power tools release is huge and for some features it has been a long wait but I am so glad it is here.  Check out Brian Harry’s blog for some screen shots and a more detailed breakdown of all the new features.

Steven Borg of Northwest Cadence (Microsoft Team System MVP) took a road trip to Portland to speak to a very interested audience about the new features of Team Build 2008, an inherent and powerful part of Visual Studio Team System 2008. 

There were a total of 68 students from 35 different companies in the Portland area.  Feedback from the attendees on what they believe was most valuable:

• “How build automation with Team Build can replace or enhance our current in-house development   system”
• “Step by step demo of MS Build and overview of ways VSTS can help my organization”
• “Using Team Build for automated deployment”
• “Learning what Build can do for us”
• “Tasks that check in to TFS can be traced in the build.  This really simplifies debugging”
• “High level oversight so as to better see the big picture”
• “References to best practices when using TFS”
• “The integration of work items and code check ins.  Setting up continuous integration”
• “Customizing the Team Build project file”
• “Implementing database scripts in build reporting”

At the end of the presentation, there were several prizes up for grabs; however, two attendees were especially lucky as the recipients of Vista Ultimate and a Microsoft Zune Digital Player.  But I think it is safe to say, all attendees were winners as they were energized by the dynamic speakers and enlightened as to the abundance of Team Build’s bells and whistles.

Metrics that Matter: Reporting with Team Foundation Server

Am I crazy to think that making informed decisions in regards to your software development process is a good idea? Of course not, and that is why the crown jewel of TFS is the data warehouse that silently gathers metrics behind the scenes. In this session, I will take you into the depths of reporting with TFS and open your eyes to the power of metrics. Using both Excel and Reporting Services, you will see how to create reports that provide traceability and transparency into your software development process.

Check out the schedule to see the updated session times.

If you would like to see anything specific in regards to reporting with TFS, comment and let me know!

Upcoming Team System Events

October 24: MVP TV: Gaze into the Crystal Ball: Reporting in Team System made Easy! (Webcast)

You’ve paid your nickel and it’s time to ask the Zoltar Fortune Teller for your future: “Is my software development project going down the toilet? Will I be able to ship on time, with high quality? Can I hit my budget?” (Wait, three questions = three nickels.) Zoltar says… Let’s face it, traditional status reporting is about as accurate as I am, and worse, it takes a whole lot longer!!! Team System can help! Its built in reporting capabilities provide a strong foundation for understanding the current status of your project. Not only does it provide a series of built in reports, it gathers the metrics to allow for excellent ad-hoc reports! Using both the built in and ad hoc report capabilities, finding the current status of your project, and predicting your project’s probability of success or failure along several axis. Come learn how to predict your future! You’ll learn how to interpret the build in reports, learn what’s required to create the reports, and how to use Excel pivot tables to connect to the TFS cube for ad hoc reporting.

To register, go to: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032391376&EventCategory=4&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

November 5: Enterprise Build Automation w/VSTS 2008 Team System & Team Build (Portland)

Steven Borg of Northwest Cadence (Microsoft Team System MVP) will be covering some of the great new features of Team Build 2008, an inherent and powerful part of Visual Studio Team System 2008. You’ll learn to use Team Build 2008 to radically improve your code!

Come see real unit and functional tests being built, real code metrics being generated, and real work being done in an automated build. You’ll learn how to build legacy code, run tests and code metrics, rebuild your database, update your documentation, and even deploy your application into various test environments; all coordinated by a single command.

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132684

November 15-16, 2008: Code Camp

Join Northwest Cadence and others at Code Camp where developers talk with – and learn from – fellow developers.  It is a community event and all are welcome to attend and speak.  Code Camps have been wildly successful, and we are excited to participate in this success in Seattle.  Check out https://seattle.codecamp.us for more details.

November 18: Coffee Talk – Welcome. Help Us Set the Stage! (Webcast)

We’ll briefly cover VSTS, ALM, and introduce you to the coffee talks.  Bring your questions, desires and needs.  We’ll have some fun, answer questions, and plan topics for future coffee talks.

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132790

December 2: Coffee Talk – Visual Studio 2010 (Webcast)

You may have seen some of the fantastic new features of Visual Studio Team System 2010 (aka Rosario).  Drastically improved automated testing, architect tools that actually work, and tons of improvements to make your lives easier and time spent more productive.  We’ll cover several of the new features, and answer questions about the things you’re looking forward to.  Bring your own questions, too!

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132791

December 4: Eagerly Awaiting VSTS 2010? (Kirkland)

Join Northwest Cadence and explore the new features of Visual Studio Team System 2010 and what it means for your business, productivity, application management, and quality. During this event, we will cover Team Foundation Server and the much-hyped hierarchical work items, new improvements to History, Merge, Work Item Queries, and the focus on Agile development.

Numerous improvements from the Architecture edition (including full support for UML 2.x) will be demonstrated, including the new Architecture Explorer which allows you to quickly and easily visualize an application from the high level down to the object dependencies. We will also highlight many Developer edition functionalities such as updated tools for performance profiling, the Historical Debugger (formerly called “Proteus”), and the ability to view affected tests based on changes to the code. Finally, we will cover the Test Edition with a focus on the “Camano” user interface, Manual Test Runner, Test Case Management, and how Team System 2010 is a strong and reliable testing platform.

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132801

December 16: Coffee Talk – Reporting (webcast)

You may have seen some of the fantastic reports TFS provides out of the box at conferences and presentations.  We will answer lots of questions in this session: Have you wondered why the reports at your company don’t look quite as nice?  Are they missing enough data to make decisions?    What reports should you pay special attention to (Project Managers), and why should you even care about the reports (developers)?   We will also cover a few of things you need to do to really get the data into the reports and talk about how to interpret some of our favorite reports.  And, if you ask, we’ll cover how to interpret your favorites, too!

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132792

December 30: Coffee Talk – Software Development Lifecycle

With the thousands of books and articles published on Software Development Life-Cycle (SDLC), do you ever feel overwhelmed sorting through what is hype vs. what is actually being adopted by .NET corporations?  During this Coffee Talk, we will answer this question plus others that you bring!  We will explore the complexity of software development, the current best practices for improving your Software Development Life Cycle, and industry best practices and the latest IT research.

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=132794

January 8: Eagerly Awaiting VSTS 2010? (Portland)

Join Northwest Cadence and explore the new features of Visual Studio Team System 2010 and what it means for your business, productivity, application management, and quality. During this event, we will cover Team Foundation Server and the much-hyped hierarchical work items, new improvements to History, Merge, Work Item Queries, and the focus on Agile development.

Numerous improvements from the Architecture edition (including full support for UML 2.x) will be demonstrated, including the new Architecture Explorer which allows you to quickly and easily visualize an application from the high level down to the object dependencies. We will also highlight many Developer edition functionalities such as updated tools for performance profiling, the Historical Debugger (formerly called “Proteus”), and the ability to view affected tests based on changes to the code. Finally, we will cover the Test Edition with a focus on the “Camano” user interface, Manual Test Runner, Test Case Management, and how Team System 2010 is a strong and reliable testing platform.

To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=1328012