Get started as a Stakeholder

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server 2022 - Azure DevOps Server 2019

Stakeholders are users with free but limited access to Azure DevOps features and functions. With Stakeholder access, you can add and modify work items, manage build and release pipelines, and view dashboards. You can check project status and provide direction, feedback, feature ideas, and business alignment to a team. For more information, see Create your first pipeline and Supported source repositories.

For more information, see the Stakeholder access quick reference and the feature matrix.

Prerequisites

Private project:

• You must have Stakeholder access and be a member of the Contributors or Project Administrators group. You can view boards, open and modify work items, and add child tasks to a checklist. You can't reorder or reparent a backlog item by using the drag-and-drop method. You can't update a field on a card.

Public project:

• You must have Stakeholder access and be a member of the Contributors or Project Administrators group to have full access to all Azure Boards features. For more information, see Default permissions quick reference.

To get access as a Stakeholder, ask your organization owner or Project Collection Administrator to add you to a project with Stakeholder access. For more information, see Add organization users and manage access.

Sign in to a project

1. Select the link provided in your email invitation or open a browser window and enter the URL for the web portal.

   https://dev.azure.com/OrganizationName/ProjectName

2. Enter your credentials. If you can't sign in, ask the organization owner or Project Administrator to add you as a member of the project with Stakeholder access.

Understand work items and types

Work items support planning and tracking work. Each work item is based on a work item type. Each work item is assigned an identifier, which is unique in an organization or project collection.

Different work items track different types of work. The work item types available are based on the process that was used when your project was created. The options are Agile, Basic, Scrum, or Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), as illustrated in the following images. For more information, see About work items and work item types.

Agile process

The following image shows the hierarchy for the Agile process backlog work item:

• User Stories and tasks are used to track work.
• Bugs track code defects.
• Epics and features are used to group work under larger scenarios.

Each team can configure how they manage Bug work items at the same level as User Story or Task work items. Use the Working with bugs setting. For more information about using these work item types, see Agile process.

Basic process

The following image shows the hierarchy for the Basic process backlog work item:

• Issues and tasks are used to track work.
• Epics are used to group work under larger scenarios.

The Basic process is available with Azure DevOps Server 2019 Update 1 and later versions.

For more information about using these work item types, see Plan and track work.

Scrum process

The following image shows the hierarchy for the Scrum process backlog work item:

• Product backlog items and Tasks are used to track work.
• Bugs track code defects.
• Epics and features are used to group work under larger scenarios.

Each team can configure how they manage bugs at the same level as product backlog items or Tasks. Use the Working with bugs setting. For more information about using these work item types, see Scrum process.

CMMI process

The following image shows the hierarchy for the CMMI process backlog work item:

• Requirements and Tasks are used to track work.
• Bugs track code defects.
• Epics and features are used to group work under larger scenarios.

Each team can configure how they manage bugs at the same level as requirements or tasks. Use the Working with bugs setting. For more information about using these work item types, see CMMI process.

Open your board

After you connect to a project, you can view work items.

1. In your project, select Boards > Boards. From the dropdown menu, select a team board.

   

   You can also enter a keyword in the search box or select View Board directory to see a list of available team boards.

   

   Tip

   Select the star icon to make a team board a favorite. Favorite artifacts ( favorite icon) appear at the top of the team selector list.

2. Ensure that for the backlog level, you select:

   • Stories for Agile.
   • Issues for Basic.
   • Backlog items for Scrum.
   • Requirements for CMMI.

   

Add work items

From your board, select the plus sign, enter a title, and then select Enter.

For more information, see View and add work items.

Update work items

Your work item forms might differ from the following images, but the functionality is the same.

Change status

Drag a work item downstream as you finish work.

Add details

To open a work item, double-click the title or highlight it, and then select Enter. This example shows how to assign work. You can only assign work to a user who was added to the project.

Agile process

This example assigns the story to Raisa Pokrovskaya and at-mentions Raisa in a discussion note. When you're finished, select Save & Close.

Basic process

This example assigns the issue to Raisa Pokrovskaya and at-mentions Raisa in a discussion note. When you're finished, select Save & Close.

Scrum process

This example assigns the Product backlog item to Jamal Hartnett and adds a description and tags. When you're finished, select Save & Close.

CMMI process

This example assigns the Requirement work item to Jamal Hartnett. When you're finished, select Save & Close.

CMMI-specific field descriptions

---

Field

Definition

---

Impact Assessment

The effect on the customer of not implementing this requirement. You might include details from the Kano model about whether this requirement is in the surprise, required, or obvious categories. You capture this information in the rich-text HTML field that corresponds to Impact Assessment.

---

Requirement Type (Required)

The kind of requirement to implement. You can specify one of the following values:

• Business Objective
• Feature
• Functional
• Interface
• Operational
• Quality of Service
• Safety
• Scenario
• Security

---

Start Date/Finish Date

The target dates for when the work is expected to start or finish. These fields are filled in by Microsoft Project when you use it for scheduling.
You can specify work in hours or in days. No inherent time units are associated with this field.

---

Triage (Required)

Indicates the type of triage decision that's pending for the work item. Use this field when the work item is in the Proposed state and specify one of the following values: Pending (default), More Info, Info Received, or Triaged.

---

Blocked

Indicates whether a team member is prevented from making progress toward implementing a requirement or task or resolving a bug, change request, or risk. If an issue was opened to track a blocking problem, you can create a link to the issue. You can specify Yes or No (default).

---

Committed (Required)

Indicates whether the requirement is committed in the project or not. You can specify Yes or No (default).

---

Integrated In

Product build number that incorporates the requirement or change request, or fixes a bug.

---

User Acceptance Test (Required)

The status of the user acceptance test for a requirement. You can specify one of the following values:

• Pass
• Fail
• Not Ready
• Ready
• Skipped
• Info Received

Specify Not Ready when the requirement is in the Active state. Specify Ready when the requirement is in the Resolved state.

---

Subject Matter Experts

The names of team members who are familiar with the customer area that this requirement represents.

---

To add more details, change field values, add a description or tags, and add comments. For more information, see:

• Plan and track work in Azure Boards.
• Add tags to work items. As a Stakeholder, you can add existing tags to a work item, but you can't add new tags.
• Capture comments in the Discussion section.

View as backlog

Check the product backlog to see how the team prioritized their work. Backlog items appear in priority order. Work item types might include bugs, depending on the process used when your project was created. For more information, see About default processes and process templates.

From the board, select View as backlog.

The list of backlog items appears in priority order. You can add a backlog item, which goes to the bottom of the list. With Stakeholder access, you can't reprioritize work.

Find work items

Select Boards > Work Items. Then select an option from the dropdown menu. For example, select Assigned to me.

For more information, see:

• View, run, or email a work item query
• View and add work items

Next steps

Create your product backlog

Related articles

• Add work items
• Get started with Kanban boards
• Learn about access levels
• Change access levels