Working with Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 Team System

248 Part III: Methodologies and Extensibility

other Team System tools such as Team Foundation Version Control, Work Item Tracking,

and various testing utilities available to developers and testers.

At the completion of the build process, a full report is generated with information about the

build result as well as the general health of the build. This report shows relevant information

about the state of the build, including the following items:

■ The associated number of errors and warnings for each build confi guration with log

fi le links

■ Test run and code coverage results

■ A complete list of changesets that includes the build and who checked it in

■ Work items associated with a build

The bottom line is that Team Build might very well become your new best friend because it

can give you fi nal, stable .MSI fi les that are ready to deploy.

Deploying the Application

Although deployment has minimal support in the initial release of Team System, there are

options to assist with the various deployment-related tasks. Integration with Team Build

and the creation of .MSI fi les are key for helping the development team deploy the solution.

Another is the deployment report that is generated after you test-deploy an application

against a datacenter. This report, similar to a bill of materials, allows you to inventory which

fi les are included for deployment. These tools will assist in planning and implementing your

next deployment.

Closing Down the Current Iteration

As each iteration ends, certain tasks must be accomplished. Part of the “fi t and fi nish” of

software development is to determine which work items are left and whether they can

be completed within the current iteration. If any of the remaining work items cannot be

fi nished, they must be moved into the next (or later) iteration, as determined by the project

priorities. You must also make sure that the fi les in source control are properly labeled so

that you can locate them as needed. Another consideration for future iterations is the need

to possibly branch code as an option if the next iteration forks or takes a weird turn.

Continuing to Track Bugs and Defects

Even after a successful development iteration, build, and deployment, work item tracking

might start tracking user-encountered bugs and defects. During development, primarily the

testers and developers were logging in bugs. Keep in mind that even if an iteration is closed

out for development, work items can still be logged in. Visual Studio 2005 Team System

assists the team in continuing to stabilize the application long after the initial release.

Chapter 10: Wrapping It Up: The Endgame and Deployment 249

Reporting

When Visual Studio 2005 Team System is used during your project, data is automatically

captured in the data warehouse and used in reports that provide additional insight into

trends and activity within your project. For example, when project tasks are performed, the

data warehouse automatically collects data that enables reports such as the following:

Remaining Work Report

The Remaining Work Report (in a cumulative fl ow diagram form) shows work remaining

measured as scenarios and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements being resolved and closed

in the iteration.

Figure 10-1 Remaining Work Report

The following table explains the various sections of the Remaining Work Report example in

Figure 10-1.

Data Series Line Description

Work Item States Each color band represents the number of work items that have reached

the corresponding state as of the given date.

Chart Height The total height is the total amount of work to be done in the iteration.

If the top line increases, the total work is increasing. Typically, the reason

is that unpla nned work is adding to the total required. That may be

expected if you’ve scheduled a buffer for unplanned work, such as bug

fi xing. (See “Unplanned Work Report,” later in this section.) If the top line

decreases, it means that total work is decreasing, probably because work is

being cut out of the iteration.