Quick Start Guide to Launching a Team Project

You create a team project to provide a central location that organizes your team's source code, builds, tests, plans, and work items to be tracked. This quick-start guide is designed to help you get your team project running quickly by describing the steps that are required to create and structure your project and to enroll team members in it.

In this topic

1. Choose a process template.

2. Connect to a team project collection.

3. Create a team project.

4. (Optional) Define the structure for your team project.

5. Add team members to your team project.

6. (Optional) Grant additional permissions to specific team members.

7. (Optional) Enable and configure process guidance for your team project.

8. Notify team members of team project resources and enrollment activities.

9. Plan your product.

   Note

   You can perform those steps that are marked as optional after you launch your team project and throughout the product lifecycle.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the following security groups:

• On the application-tier for Team Foundation: Team Foundation Administrators group or Project Administrators group, or your Create new projects permission must be set to Allow.

• On the server that will host SharePoint Products for your team project: the appropriate groups in SharePoint Central Administration.

  These groups vary depending on your version of SharePoint Products. For more information, see Set Administrator Permissions for Team Project Collections.

• On the server that will host SQL Server Reporting Services for your team project: SQL Server Reporting Services Team Foundation Content Managers group.

• (Optional) On the server that will host SQL Server Analysis Services for your team project: Administer permission for that database so that you can grant team members access to the data warehouse.

• (Optional) On the server that will host SQL Server for your team project: the securityadmin or sysadmin server role in SQL Server Database Engine. 

For more information about permissions, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

In addition to these permissions, you might be required to address the following requirements on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista:

• To follow a procedure that requires Internet Explorer, you might need to start it as an administrator by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, right-clicking Internet Explorer, and then clicking Run as administrator.

• To access Report Manager, reports, or Web sites for Reporting Services, you might need to add these sites to the list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer or to start Internet Explorer as an administrator.

For more information, see this topic on the Microsoft Web site: User Account Control.

Choose a Process Template

A process template defines the types of work item objects that are available for tracking and the default rules, policies, security groups, and queries for use by team members. Make your selection based on the following considerations:

• If your team uses Scrum, choose Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 1.0.

• If your team uses other agile processes, choose Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for Agile Software Development v5.0.

• If your team requires an audit trail and is committed to continuous improvement, choose MSF for CMMI Process Improvement v5.0.

Otherwise, you can download additional process templates from the Internet or customize a process template to meet your needs.

For more information about the MSF process templates, see the following topics:

• Choose a Process Template

• Artifacts (Agile)

• Artifacts (CMMI)

• Visual Studio Scrum 1.0

Connect to a Team Project Collection

Before you create a team project, you must determine which team project collection will host it. You should determine this in collaboration with the system administrator for Visual Studio Team Foundation Server or your project collection administrator.

If you work in a small to medium-sized company, you may be able to connect to only one team project collection. If you work in a larger organization in which team projects are organized into project collections, you must determine the collection in which you will create your team project. You should connect to the team project collection that contains other team projects with which your team interfaces or collaborates. Team members can use Team Foundation to track dependencies across team projects only when those team projects are stored in the same project collection. 

Also, your choice of a project collection will determine which additional resources are available for your team project. For more information, see Launching a New Team Project.

To connect to a team project collection

1. In Visual Studio, on the Tools menu, click Connect to Team Foundation Server.

   Note

   If you do not see this option, you have not installed Team Explorer. You must install Team Explorer before you will have the option to connect to Team Foundation Server.

2. In the Connect to Team Project dialog box, in the Team Foundation Server list, click the server that contains the team project collection to which you want to add your team project.

   Note

   If the drop-down list is empty, click the Servers button to manually enter the server connection settings. Contact your Team Foundation administrator or team project administrator to obtain the connection settings.

3. In the Directory list, click the name of the project collection to which you want to add your team project.

4. Click Connect.

Create a Team Project

Note

The process template that you choose when you run the wizard determines which pages the wizard displays. The following procedure uses the MSF for Agile Software Development process. You might see different pages if you choose a different process template.

To create a team project

1. In Team Explorer, right-click the project collection, and then click New Team Project.

   Note

   If you are not using the Project Management environment settings, open the File menu, point to New, and then click Team Project.

   The New Team Project wizard appears.

   Note

   If you have not connected to a server that is running Team Foundation Server, you will be prompted to connect to one now. Review the previous procedure. 

2. On the Specify the Team Project Settings page, in the What is the name of the team project? box, type a name for the team project that you want to create.

   You must specify a unique name that has no more than 64 characters. Your team members will use this name to connect to the team project.

3. (Optional) In the What is the description of the team project? text box, type a description.

   The description is stored in Team Foundation Server and provides the site description for the optional team project portal SharePoint site.

4. Click Next.

5. On the Select a Process Template page, in the Which process template should be used to create the team project? list, click a process template.

   Note

   If you want to use a process template that is not listed, you must first upload it to the server that is running Team Foundation Server.

6. To accept the default settings on the remaining wizard pages, click Finish and jump to step 9. Otherwise, click Next.

   Note

   We recommend that you click Finish and accept the defaults.

   If you click Finish, the following tasks are performed automatically:

   • A SharePoint site for your team project is created.

   • An empty version-control folder for your team project is created.

7. Complete the Team Site Settings page:

   1. Click Create a new SharePoint site if you want to create a SharePoint site for your project.

   2. Click Configure to verify or modify the SharePoint site settings.

      In the Select Location to Create SharePoint Site dialog box, verify or click the URL for the Web application and the Relative site path to which you want to connect.

      Note

      You can click a Web application only if it has been added to the team project collection to which you are connected. For more information, see Add a SharePoint Web Application to Your Deployment.

      If you want a project portal name that differs from the team project name, you can type a name that is easily identified by your team members.

      The relative site path is part of the home page of the project portal.

8. Complete the Specify Source Control Settings page by clicking one of the following options:

   • Click Create an empty source control folder to use the name of the team project for the folder.

   • Click Create a source control branch, and specify the folder from which you want to branch.

9. On the Confirm Team Project Settings page, review the choices and values that you specified. If the information is correct, click Finish. Otherwise, click Previous to make changes.

   The New Team Project wizard creates your team project.

   Note

   It may take several minutes for the wizard to finish.

10. On the Team Project Creation Status page, view the status messages and status bar for information about the components that are being created.

11. On the Team Project Created page, if you want to read more details about the work items, roles, activities, and other aspects of the team process, select the Launch the process guidance for more information about how to run the team project check box.

    Note

    Process guidance is available only if you chose to create or configure a SharePoint site in step 7.

12. Click Close.

    The new team project appears in Team Explorer. If the wizard encounters a problem when it creates the team project, an error message appears that states the problem and suggests corrective action. If this message appears, click View the team project creation log, and review the log for specific errors and exceptions. Also, you can review the troubleshooting information in Create a Team Project.

Define the Structure for your Team Project

To add or modify area paths or iteration cycles

1. In Team Explorer, right-click the team project node, point to Team Project Settings, and then click Areas and Iterations.

2. In the Areas and Iterations dialog box, perform one of the following steps:

   • To modify team project areas, click the Area tab.

   • To modify iterations, click the Iteration tab.

3. To add a new node, follow these steps:

   1. Click the parent node.

   2. Click the Add a child node toolbar button.

   3. Type a name for the new node.

   4. Press ENTER.

4. To rename a node, follow these steps:

   1. Right-click the node.

   2. Click Rename.

   3. Type a new name for the node.

   4. Press ENTER.

5. To delete a node, follow these steps:

   1. Click the node that you want to delete.

   2. On the toolbar, click Delete node.

   3. In the Delete Nodes dialog box, in the Select the new path for the items to reference list, click the name of a node that you do not plan to delete.

      Work items that reference the node that you are about to delete will instead reference the node that you specify.

   4. Click OK.

6. To promote a node, demote a node, or move a node up or down in the list, click the node, and then click the appropriate toolbar button.

7. Click Close.

Add Team Members to Your Team Project

By default, the following groups or roles are defined for your team project:

Team Project

Reporting Services

Readers   Members of this group can view the project but cannot modify it. Contributors   Members of this group can contribute to the project in multiple ways, such as adding, modifying, and deleting code, and creating and modifying work items. Builders   Members of this group have build permissions for the project. Members can manage test environments, create test runs, and manage builds. Project Administrators   Members of this group can administer all aspects of the team project, although they cannot create projects.

Browser   Members of this group can view but cannot modify reports. TFS Content Manager   Members of this group can administer all aspects of the team project, but they cannot create projects.

Note

No default groups are defined for SharePoint Products. You can create your own groups and then add members to them. You can create groups whose members have View Only, Read, Contribute, Design, and Full Control permissions. For more information, see Add Users to Team Projects.

To access the following team project artifacts, you must add team members to one or more of the corresponding default groups:

Team members in these groups or with the assigned permissions	Can access these team project artifacts
Team Foundation Server: Readers, Contributors, or Project Administrators	Work items, work item queries, and source code
Team Foundation Server: Builders	Test environments, test runs, and builds
SharePoint Products: View Only, Read, Contribute, Design, and Full Control	Project portal, dashboards, Office Excel reports, and workbooks
SQL Server Reporting Services: Browser or TFS Content Manager	Reports from SQL Server Report Designer

To add users to groups in Team Foundation Server

1. In Team Explorer, right-click the team project node for which you want to add users, point to Team Project Settings, and then click Group Membership.

2. Click the name of the group to which you want to add users.

   For example, you might need to add users to a project that is named Application1.

   • To add users who require minimal access to the project, click Application1\Readers.

   • To add users who will contribute fully to this project, click Application1\Contributors.

   • To add users who will act as project leads, click Application1\Project Administrators.

3. Click Properties.

4. Under Add Member, click Windows User or Group, and then click Add.

5. Type the account name of the person or group for whom you want to set permissions.

   You can add more than one user or group at a time by separating the names with a semicolon (;).

6. When you have finished adding names, click OK twice.

7. Click Close to close the Project Groups window.

To add users to groups in SharePoint Products

1. In Team Explorer, right-click the team project node, and then click Show Project Portal.

2. Perform one of the following sets of steps:

   If you are using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0:

   1. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

   2. In Site Settings, click People and Groups.

   3. In People and Groups, click New, and then click Add Users.

      Note

      If you can add groups but not users, the administrator of this SharePoint site might not have configured groups for use with this team project. As an alternative, you might have to add users at the parent site. For more information, see this topic on the Microsoft Web site: Manage SharePoint Groups.

   4. In Users/Groups, type the account name for the user or group that you want to add.

   5. In Give Permission, you can add users to a SharePoint group if groups have been configured, or you can give users permissions as individuals. If your SharePoint site has been configured to use groups, click Add users to a SharePoint group, click the group to which you want to add the user, and then click OK. Otherwise, click Give users permission directly, specify the level of permission, and then click OK.

      For a user who needs only to view the team project portal, click Visitors if you are using groups, or select the Read check box.

      For a user who will fully contribute to the team project, click Members if you are using groups, or select the Contribute check box.

      For a user who will act as a project lead, click Owners if you are using groups, or select the Full Control check box.

      Note

      You can create custom groups in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and then add users to those groups. For more information, see the following topic on the Microsoft Web site: About Managing SharePoint groups and users.

   If you are using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007:

   1. In Site Actions, point to Site Settings, and then click People and Groups.

   2. On the People and Groups page, in the Quick Launch area, click Groups.

   3. To add a group, click New, and then click Add Group. Complete the New Group form, and then click Create. For example, you can create the following groups:

      Visitors   Assign Read permissions so that members of this group can view but cannot modify content and documents that are stored on the project portal.

      Members   Assign Contribute permissions so that members of this group can contribute to the site by adding or removing items or documents but cannot change the structure of the site or change site settings or appearance.

      Owners   Assign Full Control permissions so that members of this group can administer all aspects of the project portal.

   4. To add a user or a distribution group to a SharePoint group, click the name of thegroup to which you want to add a user, and then type the name of the account that you want to add to this group.

      For a reader, click Visitors.

      For a contributor, click Members.

      For a project lead, click Owners.

   5. Verify that the Add users to a SharePoint group check box is selected and that the group is Members, and then click OK.

      Note

      You can create custom groups in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and then add users to those groups. For more information, see this topic on the Microsoft Web site: Give Users Access to a SharePoint Site.

To add users to groups in Reporting Services

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Type the following into the address bar, where ReportServer represents the name of the server that is running SQL Server Reporting Services:

   http://ReportServer/Reports/Pages/Folder.aspx

   You can find the name of the report server by opening Team Explorer, expanding the Reports node, and viewing the properties of a report.

   Important

   If you are using a named instance, you must include its name in the path of the reports. You use the following syntax, where ReportServer is the name of the report server for Team Foundation, and InstanceName is the name of the instance of SQL Server: http://ReportServer/Reports_InstanceName/Pages/Folder.aspx

3. Click the Properties tab, and then click New Role Assignment.

4. In Group or User Name, type the account name for the user or group whom you want to add to this group.

5. In Role, click the appropriate option, and then click OK.

   • For a reader, click Browser.

   • For a contributor, click Browser.

   • For a project lead, click TFS Content Manager.

Grant Additional Permissions to Specific Team Members

You or another administrator may need to provide additional permissions to team members who will be responsible for managing the source code under Team Foundation version control, managing builds, managing tests and the lab environment for testing, and other project-level activities. Specific permissions can be assigned to individual team members or groups.

For more information, see the following sections in Team Foundation Server Permissions:

• Build-level permissions

• Project-level permissions

• Area and iteration-level permissions for work item tracking

• Version control permissions

• Lab management permissions

Grant Access to the Databases of the Data Warehouse for Your Project

To create or modify reports that access data that is stored in the data warehouse, team members must have read access to the databases that make up the data warehouse. You can grant access to the Analysis Services database, the relational database, or both, depending on what types of reports will be created. Reports from both Office Excel and Reporting Services access the data warehouse.

Note

To grant access to the Analysis Services database, you must have the Administer permission in that database. To grant access to the relational database, you must be a member of the securityadmin or sysadmin server role in SQL Server Database Engine.

For more information, see Grant Access to the Databases of the Data Warehouse for Visual Studio ALM.

Enable and Configure Process Guidance for Your Team Project

If you have configured a SharePoint site for your team project, you have configured process guidance for your team project, and you can skip this procedure. However, if your team project does not have a SharePoint site, you can still enable and configure process guidance for your team project.

Process guidance provides information about how to coordinate work on a team project and how to use each type of work item in the overall project lifecycle. Process guidance can provide details about a team project, such as how to complete work item fields, examples of healthy and unhealthy reports, query descriptions, roles to assume, activities to complete, and other information.

Some process guidance links will work only if process guidance has been enabled for your team project.

To enable and configure process guidance

1. In Team Explorer, right-click the team project node, point to Team Project Settings, and then click Portal Settings.

   The Project Portal Settings dialog box opens.

2. Click the Process Guidance tab.

   

   If the Enable the link to process guidance check box is selected, process guidance is enabled.

   If the check box is not selected and you want to enable process guidance, see Share Process Guidance for a Team Project.

Notify Team Members of Team Project Resources

After you grant team members access to your team project, you will want to notify them about the resources that are available to them and the first set of tasks they should address.

To notify team members of team project resources

1. Send an e-mail to team members that contains the following information:

   • Uniform resource identifier (URI) to the team project collection.

   • Name of the team project.

   • URL to Team Web Access for your team project.

   • (Optional) URL to the team project portal.

   • (Optional) URL to process guidance for team project.

   • Permissions that have been granted to them for the team project, project portal, Reporting Services, and Analysis Services.

   You can view the URI of the team project collection if you open the administration console for Team Foundation and then click the General tab. For more information, see Modify a Team Project Collection.

   You can find information about your team project and its portal settings through the Project Portal Settings dialog box. For more information, see Access a Team Project Portal and Process Guidance.

2. Request team members to perform one or more of the following tasks:

   • Have team members connect to the team project from their client computers. For more information, see Connect to and Access Team Projects in Team Foundation Server and Working with Team Foundation Clients.

   • Have developers put their source code under version control. For more information, see Placing Files under Version Control.

   • If you are using Team Foundation Build, have your build manager create build definitions for your team project. For more information, seeBuilding the Application.

3. (Optional) To support team members in using the artifacts for your team project, suggest that they review process guidance for your team project. If you are using one of the MSF process templates, you can provide the links that are listed in the following table that is based on the process template that your project uses:

   MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0	MSF for CMMI Process Improvement v5.0
   Work Items and Workflow (Agile) Team Queries (Agile) Dashboards (Agile) Sharing Work Items and Queries with Team Members	Work Items and Workflow (CMMI) Team Queries (CMMI) Dashboards (CMMI) Sharing Work Items and Queries with Team Members

Plan Your Product

As a project manager, you will want to start to plan your product by defining the work to be tracked and scheduled.

If your team project is based on the process template for MSF for Agile Software Development v5.0, you can create your product backlog by using the Product Planning workbook. You can use the Product Planning workbook to manage the backlog of user stories and balance the workload across several iterations, also known as sprints. To plan your product, you review, rank, prioritize, and assign points to the stories that will be implemented for a project. To balance workload, you assign each story to a specific iteration and adjust these assignments until the number of story points that are assigned across all iterations are roughly equal. For more information, see Product Planning Workbook.

If your team project is based on the process template for MSF for CMMI Process Improvement v5.0, you can use the Product Requirements team query to start to plan your product. You can open this query in Office Excel, add requirements, and then publish them to Team Foundation. You can also use Office Project to plan and schedule your project. For more information, see the following topics:

• Requirement (CMMI)

• Managing Work Items Using Microsoft Excel Bound to Team Foundation Server

• Performing Top-Down Planning Using a Tree List of Work Items (In Excel)

• Scheduling Tasks and Assigning Resources Using Microsoft Project

See Also

Other Resources

Launching a New Team Project