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it_user491649 - PeerSpot reviewer
SVP Development Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor
Great product with capabilities for SCM, ALM and issue tracking

What is most valuable?

Source Code Management: TFS has both Git repository management as well as a TSVS Repository. It is the only source code management tool which supports both repository types and also supports on-premise installation. TFS also has ALM capabilities where business users can enter user stories, and the QA team can track test scripts and issues, where stakeholders can view project statuses effectively.

It is great product with capabilities for SCM, ALM and issue tracking.

How has it helped my organization?

Allowed project teams to communicate, collaborate and track tasks, stories, test cases, issues, and defects at a single location (using one tool).

What needs improvement?

Adding more canned reports to allow querying and reporting data export to Excel etc., which would help management with their reports.

For how long have I used the solution?

Two years.

Buyer's Guide
TFS
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about TFS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues have been noticed in stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues have been noticed in scalability.

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft has good expertise in this product. Sometimes, it takes longer to get the correct resource.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Not applicable.

How was the initial setup?

The TFS installation was easy. We had issues moving TFS from the development domain to the production domain. The domain has challenges as users from development domain have different signatures in production. Microsoft helped in resolving these issues.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Very straightforward pricing. We have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft, where the majority of the product is covered. One good thing is the stakeholder license, which is free for business users. Hence, the cost of the license for only the QA and Development team is around $5.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There is no single product that has both SCM and ALM integrated which can enable us to quickly onboard projects. We use JIRA for certain areas in our business, with GitHub. Great product as well, however we have had some difficulties in configuring workflows.

What other advice do I have?

I suggest giving the product a try first. Reading too much on paper does not tell you the entire story of the product. It is really good to use it if you want to combine both SCM and ALM.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user607749 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user607749Manager, Live Production at a computer software company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User

Yup! Agreed!

it_user712050 - PeerSpot reviewer
TFS Admin, Configuration Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
if you intend to use the tool as a complete ALM tool, it will reduce your costs in the long run.
Pros and Cons
  • "Work item management integration with source control."
  • "Microsoft should discontinue the use of SharePoint as I don’t really see any value add to TFS, document management features can be included in TFS web portal itself, if required!"

What is most valuable?

Work item management integration with source control. I value it as the most valuable feature since it provides seamless integration with your TFS source control which makes it easy to drill down the requirements from the source control, and vice versa.

How has it helped my organization?

It has improved a lot over the years with newer versions, Build is one such area which has been significantly simplified, making it very easy for the users to use than the previous XAML and pre TFS 2010 build infrastructure.

Also, the introduction of Release Management has made TFS a complete ALM tool.

What needs improvement?

I think the integration with SharePoint. Microsoft should discontinue the use of SharePoint as I don’t really see any value add to TFS, document management features can be included in TFS web portal itself, if required!

For how long have I used the solution?

11+ years, using TFS right from the first version (TFS 2005).

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have rarely faced any stability issues, except for some minor notification/alerts issues, etc., which can be easily ignored, as Microsoft is quick to provide fixes for them as well as there are quarterly updates for TFS.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support has always been up to the mark in my case. Also, there are multiple posts online which help you in difficult times.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes, I previously used VSS, but since it was just a source control solution, I moved to TFS, which offered much more features in one package.

How was the initial setup?

The previous version of TFS (TFS 2005) were a bit messy during setup due to the different installers required for different components, but with newer versions the installation and setup has been simplified to a great extent.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Yes, the pricing and licensing for TFS is on the higher side, but if you intend to use the tool as a complete ALM tool, it will reduce your costs in the long run.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

As of now, there are no products in market which you can compare with TFS which provides you complete integration with different components required in ALM hemisphere, I have tried various Open Source tools, but none of them can match the functionality TFS provides. They are GIT, JIRA, Octopus Deploy, etc.

What other advice do I have?

If you need a complete ALM tool for Microsoft applications and have the budget, please go ahead with TFS.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
TFS
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about TFS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Thuong Huynh Hoai - PeerSpot reviewer
General manager at VIAGS
Real User
Top 20
Has a supportive technical team but manageability and performance need improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft's technical team is supportive."
  • "The manageability and performance of the product are areas of concern where improvements are required."

What is our primary use case?

My company uses the product for some of our developers who develop software on a server, after which they need to import it before collaborating with their teams. In general, the development team in our company uses the product.

What needs improvement?

The manageability and performance of the product are areas of concern where improvements are required.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have experience with TFS, which is now called Azure DevOps Server. I have experience with the product for four or five years. My company is a customer of Microsoft.

How are customer service and support?

Microsoft's support team is big, and we get help from the technical team while being able to use Office 365 and Azure Cloud, considering the licenses my company has purchased. Microsoft's technical team is supportive. Microsoft's technical team is supportive. With the licenses that my company has purchased from Microsoft, our organization gets the technical support to fix our problems directly from Microsoft.

How was the initial setup?

The product's initial setup phase was difficult. It was difficult to control the software version we were using in our company. The tool doesn't offer a program or software to manage it.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall tool a six out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Muhammad  Ishfaq - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps specialist at Saudi Credit Information Co. J.S.C.
Real User
An easy initial setup with good stability and very good scalability
Pros and Cons
  • "The initial setup is fairly easy."
  • "There should be management of the project built-in."

What is our primary use case?

We are using the core repository for the complete development life cycle. 

What is most valuable?

The solution helps with pretty much all aspects of the development cycle. This includes using it for QA, testing, development, and the release. It's useful for every aspect of the development cycle.

The initial setup is fairly easy.

What needs improvement?

The continuous integration and continuous delivery should begin with DSS. It doesn't right now. That needs to be changed.

The phased release process could be better. Instead of shelving the call and unshelving the call, it should be done in phases. In an updated version, this should be something they adjust. It needs a more effective release process. 

There should be management of the project built-in.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of the solution is good. There aren't bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze on us. It works. It's good. We haven't had any issues when it comes to stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of the solution is very good. If a company needs to expand outwards and grow they should be able to fairly easily. We've had not trouble with that aspect of the solution.

How are customer service and technical support?

We don't have technical support for this solution, therefore I can't speak to how knowledgeable or responsive they are.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are still using TFS, however, we're considering switching to Microsoft Azure DevOps.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. It is very much straightforward. It shouldn't give an organization too many problems.

I didn't deploy this solution, so I can't speak to how long it actually took to do so.

What about the implementation team?

We had the help of consultants from Microsoft. The implementation was five years ago, so I can't recall too many details, however, I believe we were pleased with their work.

What other advice do I have?

Overall the solution is good. It's scalable and stable and has been working well for us. Of course, the phased release could be smoother, and it's something they need to improve upon.

I'd recommend this solution, even though we do plan to move to Microsoft Azure DevOps.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior IT Professional at Novabase
Real User
Facilitates team collaboration and integrates well with other tools
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the build management features and the integration with Jenkins and many other tools."
  • "One of the areas that could be improved is to have an effective full lifecycle management."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for corporate internal SW development of small business applications manly in .NET.

I am the administrator and configurator of TFS Servers and other DevOps related tools (Jenkins, Ansible, Nexus, SonarQube). I create the projects and configure the full life-cycle, with a deployment model mainly on-premises for now.

How has it helped my organization?

Better team collaboration and Issue tracking.

What is most valuable?

I like the build management features, the integration with Jenkins and many other tools.

The team rooms for team collaboration, and issuing the backtracking are very valuable features.

What needs improvement?

One of the areas that could be improved is to have an effective full life-cycle management.

For example, when the developing team has an issue with a bug, they can relate and tag sources and builds to that bug, but after that, it's not easy to track if those builds where in fact deployed.

In the next release, I would l like to see a modern solution with a full integration of the real life-cycle.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution has some scalability.

How are customer service and technical support?

We have contacted technical support (local Microsoft) a couple of times I would rate them a four out of five or a nine out of ten. They are good and I am satisfied with the help that I have received from them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously we used manily another solution (Serena Dimensions CM). But specially Java developers hated it, so we start to migrate to GIT and Jenkins for them, while .NET developers prefer to use TFS.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. We did have some issues, speacilly in the use of the databases but due to our customer internal policies, who were old fashioned and gave us some problems, but we can't blame the software for that.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

TFS licencing can be confusing, we have to read it well and have a good user management strategy and control.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated modern versions of Microfocus and SVN, we still have Dimensions CM but will be discontinuing it.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: I'm a Outsourcing professional managing a customer IT infrastructures.
PeerSpot user
Cristiano Cunha - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect & Test Advocate at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 20
Integrates well and good support, but interface could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of TFS is its compatibility with Microsoft Windows systems. We have predominantly Microsoft solutions and TFS work well."
  • "The user interface could improve and test management was not useful in TFS."

What is our primary use case?

We are using TFS for source control.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of TFS is its compatibility with Microsoft Windows systems. We have predominantly Microsoft solutions and TFS work well.

What needs improvement?

The user interface could improve and test management was not useful in TFS.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using TFS for approximately three years.

How are customer service and support?

The support from the vendor was good.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We switched from TFS and now we use Jira.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of TFS was complex.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution in-house using our own knowledge and we did some training courses in TFS.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated GitLab and Github for source control and Jira for ticketing handling. The newer versions of TFS are better but at the time we found Jira to be more user-friendly and TFS was more technical which is why we switched to Jira.

What other advice do I have?

The effectiveness of TFS depends on the specific use case. It's a suitable solution if the user primarily operates with Microsoft tools, such as Azure DevOps and others.

I rate TFS seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Head of IT Business Analysis at Kemin Industries, Inc.
Real User
Allows me to manage backlog items and collaborate with developers
Pros and Cons
  • "It's user friendly. We haven't had any issues so far. It's flexible. If we need something, we can always contact the owner in our headquarters to make a configuration."
  • "I only use 1% of the functionality, so I am not familiar enough to know what needs to be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use this solution in my organization as a product owner who manages backlogs in DevOps. I manage the backlogs items and use it to collaborate with my developers.

There are less than 100 people using this solution in my company.

The solution is deployed on-cloud.

What is most valuable?

It's user friendly. We haven't had any issues so far. It's flexible. If we need something, we can always contact the owner in our headquarters to make a configuration.

What needs improvement?

I only use 1% of the functionality, so I am not familiar enough to know what needs to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for a couple of years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's scalable.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution five out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Technical Delivery manager at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Scalable at the project-level but hard to manage entirely
Pros and Cons
  • "It's is a very stable solution."
  • "The usability of TFS is not that great."

What is our primary use case?

We mainly use it for source control.

In the past, I've used it throughout the whole CI/CD. I've worked with Scrum and Agile methodologies. From the user story, from the product backlog to the CI/CD and deployment. I've used it for everything — the whole nine yards.

At my previous company, there were a lot of employees using this solution; it was the only system that was being used. 

What needs improvement?

Currently, there are a lot of products for managing the product backlog. The usability of TFS is not that great.

Integration from an agile perspective could be improved. Jira is far better in this regard.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using TFS for over a decade.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's is a very stable solution but when compared with Jira, Jira has taken over. The question should be: how agile is TFS? From this perspective, TFS is lacking — the ease of usability is less.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

TFS is not that scalable compared to Jira. It's scalable at the story level and at the project level but in the grand scheme of things, it's hard to manage it from an entire product perspective. 

How are customer service and technical support?

It depends on what kind of program your company has. Personally, we didn't have to deal with Microsoft tech support very often relating to TFS. 

How was the initial setup?

It depends on which point you start. From my experience, problems occur when you already have a development and then you adopt the agile method and try to work it into your source code.

What about the implementation team?

Our IT team handles deployment and all maintenance-related issues.

What other advice do I have?

It depends on what methodology. You can use it for the entire software development process, from the user story to the code and the integration and deployment — the whole nine yards. That's something to be taken care of and set up diligently.

On a scale from one to ten, I would give TFS a rating of seven.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free TFS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: October 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free TFS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.