Best tool to add, update, and link work items in Azure Boards

TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | TFS 2013

Azure Boards provides you several tools—many designed to support a single task and others that support several tasks. This article provides a guide to the best tool for specific tasks that will help you work most efficiently.

Work item form

If you want to make a single update to one work item, you can make an update from within the work item form. When you want to add or update several work items at a time, then you'll want to use a backlog or query.

Work item form controls | Work item field index

Best tool for:

Additional supported tasks:

Boards

The two types of Kanban boards, product backlog and portfolio backlogs, provide the quickest means for adding user stories and portfolio work item types. You can also quickly add and update the status of child items within a hierarchy. As shown in the following image for the Agile process, when you add tasks to user stories, users stories to features, or features to epics, you automatically create parent-child links between the work items.

Agile process, hierarchy of work items types

Product backlog board | Features or Epics board | Customize cards

Best tool for:

Additional supported tasks:

Note

To understand the differences between backlogs, boards, taskboards, and Delivery plans, see Backlogs, boards, and plans. If your backlog or board doesn't show the work items that you expect or want, see Set up your backlogs and boards.

Backlogs

You can quickly add and prioritize your product and portfolio backlogs, which list work items either as a flat or hierarchical list. You can also quickly add and reparent child items within a hierarchy.

Product backlog | Portfolio backlogs

Best tool for:

Additional supported tasks:

Sprint tools

Sprint tools provide teams a focused view of work items they've assigned to a specific sprint. You can add tasks to work items and prioritize your sprint backlog.

Sprint backlog | Taskboard | Capacity

Best set of tools for:

Additional supported tasks:

Queries

Queries enable you to filter work items within or across projects for the purposes of listing, updating, or sharing work items.

Best tool for:

Additional supported tasks:

  • Create a chart and add it to a dashboard
  • Create a chart to get a count of items or sum a field
  • Create a chart that shows a burndown or burnup over time

Plans

When you want to review the schedule of stories or features your teams plan to deliver, use Delivery Plans. Plans show scheduled work items that are assigned to sprints of selected teams against a calendar view.

Best tool for:

Additional supported tasks:

Office integration tools

Note

Starting with Azure DevOps Server 2019 and Visual Studio 2019, the Team Foundation plug-in for Office is deprecating support for Office Project and Storyboarding with PowerPoint.

Use Excel to complete the following tasks:

  • Add or update many work items and their fields
  • Add or change hierarchical links between work items.

Test tools, test artifacts, and bugs

Testing tools used several work item types—such as test plans, test suites, test cases, and more. You create and manage them from Test Plans/Test or using one or more test tools. Several of these tools also support creating bugs.

Test tool

Best tool for:

Other tools

Tool

Best tool for:

  • Find a specific work item using its ID or a keyword
  • Find one or more work items across all projects in a fast, flexible manner
  • Run full text search across all work item fields
  • Review work items assigned to a specific team member
  • Search against specific work item fields to quickly narrow down a list of work items
  • Determine what key words will support a managed search.
  • Capture templates
  • Apply templates to update work items
  • Use templates to create work items
  • Manage work item templates.

Request and capture feedback

Notifications

Favorites

Marketplace extensions

Other tools become available when you install one of the Extensions for Azure DevOps, Boards category.

See also Azure Boards extensions developed by Microsoft.