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FEATURED ARTICLE
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Top Ten 2008 Team System Memories
As 2008 draws to a close, it is cause for reflection on the accomplishments from the past year. Here are my Top Ten Team System favorite memories… 
10. Work Item Web Access (WIWA) – Finally!
WIWA allows people without Client Access Licenses to file and track bugs. In its release form, WIWA was included as a Power Tool, and ships with Team System Web Access (TSWA). Download it as part of the Visual Studio Team System Web Access 2008 SP1 Power Tool.
9. Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008
Hyper-V allows complete virtualization of the entire TFS installation, from the application tier to the data tier. But more importantly, you can virtualize your test environments, spinning them up whenever necessary. As an added bonus, 2008 is the year Microsoft announced they would fully support virtualized Team System implementations.
8. Visual Studio 2010 (Rosario) CTP – One word: Hierarchal Work Items. (Uh, 3 words…)
Testing, architecture and huge improvements in Team Foundation Server features, what’s not to like! Download the VS 2010 CTP VPC and go through the included walkthroughs!
[FULL STORY]
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SPOT LIGHT
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Spotlight on Teamprise 3.0 and Remote Accelerator
 Teamprise recently released Teamprise 3.0, the newest edition of their excellent Team System integration platform for Eclipse, Unix/Linux and Mac developers. Teamprise allows developers working in other IDEs and operating systems clean, efficient access to Team Foundation Server. The 3.0 release continues to provide additional value to their users. As in earlier versions they still provide excellent access to the work item, version control and project reporting capabilities of Team System.
New to this version is Team Build integration for Java applications. Now Java application builds can provide the same powerful metrics as .NET builds, even including code coverage for JUnit unit tests. Also new is the support for Check-in Policies. Non-VS developers now have access to check-in policies which provide a “quality gate” that must be passed prior to checking code into TFS.
Teamprise has also recently released a brand new, and very valuable, product for accelerating remote TFS work. The Teamprise Remote Accelerator provides a client install that speeds version control operations dramatically, often resulting in up to 400% improvement over direct to TFS access. Although not necessary for people working on a fast network (such as a LAN) with onsite access to TFS, the Remote Accelerator becomes a must have for remote developers working over limited bandwidth.
As many of you know, Northwest Cadence is a big fan of the Teamprise toolset. I encourage any of you with non-Visual Studio platforms to check out the new version of the Teamprise Client Suite, and for those folks with remote developers or remote teams to take a look at the trial of the Remote Accelerator. Steve Borg
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VSTS: TIPS
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VSTS Tips: Time Tracking in TFS
Does your development team track time on each and every deliverable or maybe even at the high level? Do you need hourly information for evidenced based scheduling or to update a Microsoft Project schedule without having to send hours to the project manager? 
If so, then TFS Working On may be for you. This Shared Source gadget, available from Codeplex (http://www.codeplex.com/TFSWorkingOn) gives you that capability right on your task bar. The specific fields that are updated by the time entry are completely configurable and provide a quick and easy way to keep track of your work.
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EXPANDING YOUR KNOWLEDGE
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Expanding Knowledge around TFS Power Tools
In early November, Microsoft released the latest version of the Team Foundation Server 2008 Power Tools. The new tools include features that teams have been asking for. One of the most asked for is the Windows Explorer shell integration, now you can check files into and out of TFS directly...
[FULL STORY]
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ASK SME (Subject Matter Expert)
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Ask SME
Dear SME, 
We have recently implemented TFS and customized our process template,including adding states to work items, but now some of the built in reports appear to be broken. How can we continue using our customized process template and still get benefit out of the built in reports?
Signed,
Broken Hearted about Built-in Reports
Dear Broken Hearted:
No worries...One of the great customization features of TFS is the ability to change a process template to conform to the existing process in your organization. Many of the built in reports that utilize work items, and specifically work item states, are hard coded around the default states of Proposed, Active, Resolved, and Closed. Even then, some reports such as the Remaining Work report do not show the Proposed state within the cumulative flow diagram which for many users is a vital piece of missing information.
Some reports are easier to fix than others and to get started, check out the TFS Reporting Help blog post which has some helpful links for fixing reports as well as some tips and tricks for working with reporting services.
Signed,
Ask SME
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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Winter Events
 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=132802
January 13: Coffee Talk – Effective Unit Testing (webcast)
Unit Testing is one of the most powerful ways to improve code quality. But it’s one of the most difficult changes to effectively bring into a development team. In this Coffee Talk, we’ll demonstrate some of the powerful Unit Test features of VSTS 2008, and, more importantly, we’ll discuss some good strategies for getting teams to adopt unit testing. These tips and tricks can help you get your team started down the unit testing path in no time!
To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=133941
January 14: Visual Studio Team System 2008: A Powerful Solution for Lifecycle Management (webcast)
Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) 2008 is a very powerful tool for improving your overall application lifecycle. It improves on the existing capabilities of Visual Studio Team System 2005, by adding new features for developers, testers, project managers and software configuration management teams.
Are you...
• Using VSTS 2005? Come see the Visual Studio Team System 2008 features that make it compelling to upgrade, including the new possibilities for service configurations that can give you more flexibility and power and some pitfalls you’ll want to be sure and avoid!
• Already Using VSTS 2008? We’ll cover practices that you might not be using that can help your team be more productive, write higher quality code, and meet their delivery dates more often.
• Currently using another tool? We’ll discuss why Team System might be a good solution and cover ways to effectively implement Team System in your organization.
To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=133835
January 27: Coffee Talk – Metrics that Matter (webcast)
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.
To register, go to: http://www.clicktoattend.com/?id=133942
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