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Learn more about new features

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By installing the latest version of Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS), you can access new features. Some features appear in Team Web Access (TWA) automatically, and others require you to update your team project. Some updates are most easily made using the Configure Features wizard, while others require you to manually update either your team project or process template.

Note

If you receive error message TF400917, an invalid configuration has occurred in TWA. Re-import the common configuration file to your team project using witadmin importcommonprocessconfig to get the messages you need to resolve it. See Manage Process Configuration [witadmin].

The following table summarizes the features added with each release. You can access the latest TFS update here.

Upgrade from

Upgrade to

Added features

TFS 2012 Update 1 (2012.1)

TFS 2012 Update 2 (2012.2)

For a complete list of features added with Update 2, go here.

You can access the following new features from TWA after installing TFS Update 2.

In addition to the above features, TFS process templates were updated. You can update your team project to reflect the latest updates made to the process templates, however, this step is not necessary in order to use the new features provided in TWA. To apply these optional updates to your team project, see Upgrade your 2012 team project from RTM to Update 2.

TFS 2012 (RTM)

TFS 2012 Update 1 (2012.1)

For a complete list of features added with Update 1, go here.

You can access the following new features from TWA after installing TFS Update 1.

  • Kanban board: You can manage your backlog with the Kanban board.

  • Backlog query: You can view the filter criteria used to select work items that appear on a backlog page by choosing the Create Backlog Query link.

  • Usability improvements: TWA contains the following enhancements:

    • On the task board in the backlog items view, move a task to another backlog item.

    • On the task board in the team members view, assign ownership of work items by dragging them to a team member.

    • On the work items page, organize queries and query folders through drag operations.

    • Work item forms now display a count of linked items and attachments for each tab control.

    • You can expand and collapse the left navigation pane.

    • You can use the Next work item (Next) and Previous work item (Previous) buttons to move through a list of work items.

    • TWA displays updated styling, remembers the state of the splitters, and supports next/previous work item navigation.

  • Updated process templates: Each of the TFS process templates have been updated to support additional regressive transitions. These transitions, shown in red in the following illustration, support moving items back to the backlog when they were incorrectly set to done or resolved. Now when you inadvertently drag a work item on the Kanban board or the task board to a resolved or closed state, you can drag it back to an earlier workflow state.

    State Diagram for Product Backlog Item (Scrum 2.1)


    State diagram for Product Backlog Item

To apply the process template updates to your team project, see Upgrade your 2012 team project from RTM to Update 2.

TFS 2010

TFS 2012 (RTM)

To access the following new features from an upgraded team project, you must configure them using the Configure Features wizard. See Configure features after a TFS upgrade.

Note

To access some of these tools you must have either Visual Studio Premium, Visual Studio Ultimate, or Visual Studio Test Professional installed. Also, you might need to be added to the Full group for Access Levels. See Change access levels.

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