Understanding the TFS cube

Ameya — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:00:00 GMT

Jimmy's first blog post (http://blogs.msdn.com/teams_wit_tools/archive/2007/04/30/understanding-the-tfs-cube.aspx) on the Team blog explains the structure of the TFS cube! He covers four perspectives* in great detail.

*"Perspectives" is a great feature in SQL Server 2005 (Enterprise Edition) that groups the subset of related cube entities, such as measure groups and dimensions, into views; it makes it easier to navigate the cube. You can learn more about perspectives here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175338.aspx.

Project Server 2003 and Visual Studio Team System 2005 connector available!

Ameya — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 23:56:00 GMT

A year ago I posted a sample application on GotDotNet to illustrate how Project Server and Visual Studio Team System can share data. The solution source code was accompanied by a detailed white paper that documented the architecture, design and the implementation.

The goal for the solution was two fold. One, to illustrate how these two products could be "connected" to enable application development lifecycle management from conception to conclusion and two, to provide developers who were planning on developing a connector for the two systems with a "springboard".

The posted solution works with the Beta 2 version of VSTS and the upgrade was left as a user exercise. Unfortunately, I did not have the cycles to update the solution myself. So the GotDotNet solution, while interesting, was not very useful for those who wanted to use it without redeveloping parts of it - especially after VSTS was released.

I am pleased to announce that Avanade has released an upgraded version of the connector. The upgraded connector is available at here. The connector is also available as a part of the Avanade Software Lifecycle Platform™. You can learn more about it here.

The connector synchronizes Project, Resource and Task data between the two systems. Project Managers, Resource Managers continue to work in the EPM environment while the development team works in the development environment, i.e. VSTS, and data seamlessly flows between the two systems. Updates to work items in VSTS are automatically applied to the corresponding assignments and tasks in Project Server and vice versa. Project Managers have complete control over the inflow of the actuals into the project plan. In addition, resource management functions for all development projects, like managing time and utilization for resources working across multiple projects, team staffing etc. can be performed in Project Server. Lastly, portfolio and program level reports can easily be generated for projects being executed in VSTS and managed in Project Server.

Ameyab's Blog : Visual Studio Team System 2005

Understanding the TFS cube

Project Server 2003 and Visual Studio Team System 2005 connector available!