How to add Change Requests to the Product Backlog in TFS2012?

Question

 Hi!

In our organisation a Change Request is the same as a Requirement when it comes to planning, tracking and execution. Therefore we want to have the Change Requests included in the Product Backlog and board pages in TFS. (Yes, we're using the CMMI 6.0 template).

I saw on a TechEd demo that this could easily be done by adding a WorkItem type to the Requirement Category, like:

  <CATEGORY refname="Microsoft.RequirementCategory" name="Requirement Category">
    <DEFAULTWORKITEMTYPE name="Requirement" />
    <WORKITEMTYPE name="Change Request" />
  </CATEGORY>

However, when I import this to the TFS project, I get the following error when updating the web pages:

"TF400917: The current configuration is not valid for this feature. This feature cannot be used until you correct the configuration."

So, can anyone tell me how to add Change Requests as a valid Backlog item?

br,
Staffan

Answer 1

Hi Staffan,

You will also need to create/ import a WIT for a Change Request work item.  The part you added will put the Change Request as part of the Requirements Category, but you still need the base WIT.  You are getting the error because you don't have a Work Item Type of Change Request defined in the template yet.

Since you are considering them to be requirements, I would download the WIT for Requirement, rename it to Change Request and then add it to your template.  You cna then evolve those two work item types independently.

Alternatively, you might add a field to Requirement to capture Requirement Type and simply make one of the types Change Request.  (This does mean that they would be grouped together for reporting purposes though.)

Hope this helps.

---

Ryan Hanisco, PMP, PMI-ACP, CISSP
MCSE, MCTS:TFS 2010, SQL 2005
RyanHanisco.com

Answer 2

Hi,

Actually, since this is the CMMI template, a Change Request is natively part of the set of available WIT's. Also, it doesn't matter if I add a Bug in the Requirement Category. The same error is displayed.

There must surely be a way to have other WIT's in the Product Backlog of the CMMI template.

/Staffan

Answer 3

Hi Steffan,

That helps to clarify, I missed the CMMI part.  I'll see if I can duplicate the issue on mine.

---

Ryan Hanisco, PMP, PMI-ACP, CISSP
MCSE, MCTS:TFS 2010, SQL 2005
RyanHanisco.com

Answer 4

Hi Staffan,

Thank you for your post.

I test the case with some scenarios, seems you use command line import changed category.xml file to current team proejct, then in web access, when you click view backlog and view board, you will see error TF400917: The current configuration is not valid for this feature. This feature cannot be used until you correct the configuration."

I do following steps to get rid of the error, at last i can see change request and requirement work item type both show in Backlog and Board page.

1. Use commang line witadmin exportcategories /collection:CollectionURL /p:Project [/f:FileName] [/e:Encoding] to import the changed category file.
What i change is like:
<CATEGORY name="Requirement Category" refname="Microsoft.RequirementCategory">
    <DEFAULTWORKITEMTYPE name="Requirement" />
    <WORKITEMTYPE name="Change Request" />
  </CATEGORY>
2.  Add Microsoft.VSTS.Scheduling.Size and Microsoft.VSTS.Common.StackRank field to Change Request work item type of the team project, then refresh the page, all thing goes well.

Regards,

---

Lily Wu [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 5

Thanks, this worked!

I suspected it would be something like that, but it's hard to guess which fields that need to be added to a WI. This should be something that should be documented somewhere.

br,
Staffan

Answer 6

Hi Staffan,

I’m glad to hear that is working for you.

Thank you for sharing your suggestion here.

Welcome you back whenever you need help.

Best Regards,

---

Lily Wu [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us