TFS Reviews

We use Microsoft Team Foundation Server as part of our development framework. Most of our development technology is from Microsoft and our primary language is C#, although we do have a number of Java programmers as well.

We primarily use TFS for managing our resources and scheduling. We can also use it to check to see whether tasks have been completed by the team, or not.

The most valuable features are the dashboard and task-selection capability.

The option to save favorites is helpful for managing pages.

I would like to see TFS integrated with a project management solution, such as Microsoft EPM. Right now, it is isolated from EPM but if we could somehow connect it, then that would help a lot. As it is now, the results are not easy to report to project managers, which makes it difficult to estimate both cost and the time to completion.

The interface can be improved and made more user-friendly.

We have been using TFS for about five years.

This solution is stable and we have not had any crashes to this point. We use it on a daily basis. All of our new projects start on TFS.

This is a scalable solution. Our company has 1,300 employees, although there are only between 50 and 100 who use TFS.

Because we are in Iran and there are sanctions, we do not have a Microsoft agent and we have never been in contact with them. We instead rely on various forums and searching for solutions using Google. Using Google is the fastest way to get results.

We did not use a similar solution prior to implementing TFS. However, we did use Microsoft Project for scheduling. It was not specifically for the purpose of software development, but we used it for putting together the steps of a project. For example, first, the UI would be developed, and then the backend. These steps were listed in the project management software.

I did not personally perform the installation, although my colleagues had no problem and I got the impression that it was easy.

Our in-house technical people installed and deployed this solution. There were two of them involved in the process where one took care of the servers, VMs, and infrastructure, whereas the second person installed the solution and gave us the link to use it.

We have lots of servers and virtual machines, with two people in charge of maintaining our infrastructure. One person is generally in charge of installing and maintaining software as was with TFS, and this person is also responsible for the maintenance.

There is a gap between project management, agile methodology, and TFS resource management. If they can fill this gap then it would be a great improvement for us and many other companies.

My advice for anybody who is implementing this solution is to keep in mind that using the tool, alone, will not change the way they develop their software. First, they should become familiar with agile methodology, and then they will be able to properly use TFS.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

• Source code management
• Branch/merge tools
• Build capabilities
• Work item tracking
• Scrum board management

We've reduced production deployment rollbacks 100%.

Build definition management - there needs to be change control for build definitions

I've used it for 10 years.

It's a long upgrade process, but works fine.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

8/10

8/10

No previous solution was used.

It was straightforward. It's mostly wizard-driven, with plenty of built-in validation for most steps.

Virtually immeasurable. The low cost of the product is nothing compared to the productivity improvements it brings.

Size accordingly. Not every shop needs every feature.

Size accordingly. Not every shop needs every feature.

Recognize the fact that TFS isn't just a source code management tool. It's an application lifecycle management tool that covers all facets of software project management as well as development, deployment, and production support.

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.

Better team collaboration and Issue tracking.

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.

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.

This solution is stable.

This solution has some scalability.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

We have used TFS as part of our SAFe Agile Implementation.  Major uses of it were:

• Project management
• Backlog management
• Issue tracking
• Source code management.

TFS was the first system of its type to be implemented in the organization, which helped in managing requirements and multiple teams effectively under a SAFe Agile environment.

• Requirements
• Backlog management
• Project management

Each tool has the option to prioritize requirements in a backlog pool, assigning them to particular teams and particular iterations. The system has also helped in managing requirements with options to attach supporting documents. 

From the project management perspective, the tool is efficiently managing teams by giving management information, such as reports, graphs, velocity, capacity, etc.

More options could be provided from the perspective of requirements management, which would help product owners to use the tool effectively.

Valuable features include total traceability, test management, source control, and extensibility.

The solution gives us support for Agile processes, including usage of board and burndown charts. It provides us with an estimation process to move to formal and test coverage for more visibility and accountability.

• Test automation: There is only integration with the MS framework which requires us to use only a certain configured infrastructure. Even MS is changing this approach as integration should be done on your own (publishing test execution results into TFS).
• Process customization: This is evolving but it is still far behind the competitors such as JIRA WI management, HPE ALM with events model and ability to manage all aspects of integration including VersionOne integration with multiple APIs.
• Scaling for large organizations: There is no predefined approach for handling different types of projects. You need to build out your own way using community suggestions and your implementation resources. There are limited scaling strategies for large organizations with more than 300 users.

We have been using the solution for more than five years.

There were some minor stability issues under a large load or during migration between versions.

For large organizations with more than 200+ concurrent users, there can be some scalability issues.

The technical support has been getting better since 2015, when MS started making more frequent releases, including a user voice application.

Previously, we were using HPE ALM, QA Manager, Atlassian Stack, and small, customized ALM products. The change was made at the corporate level.

It depends on the project/organization size. For a small organization/team, it is very easy. For a large one, the process definition takes more time and then the setup can happen.

If you have an MSDN license for using TFS, it is a good tool to start from. Later on, you may prefer to select another suite. However, you need to be sure about change. TFS, as from 2015, is evolving very quickly including the CI server, GIT server, and code review process with pull requests support inside.

We evaluated HPE ALM, JIRA, and VersionOne.

Look for the cloud version. It will give you an understanding of further development of the product.

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. 

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.

I have been using TFS for over a decade.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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

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.

The primary use case of this solution is version control.

We use it for ticketing protecting particular items, we use the dashboard, and we use the Kanban board where you can put work items.

The deployment model that we are using is on-premises.

I really like the dashboards in this solution. They are good for the team, where you can provide announcements and you can organize it the way you want.

I like the Kanban board. It is very useful in terms of seeing who is working on what and what the current status of work is.

I know that they want to discontinue the version control feature, but I like it because for simple applications, it works.

In the next release, I would like them to include integration for various projects, similar to what JIRA has, and they could create this feature on the dashboard. 

If they could create a feature to allow us to see the dashboards with all of the products, it would be useful.

This solution is pretty stable. I have not experienced any issues.

This solution is scalable and it is simple. 

From my experience, we have loaded a lot of work and we have several branches.

We have perhaps one hundred users, but in my team specifically, we have eight users who are engineers, testers, and a few managers.

We have not contacted technical support because issues are handled by the team internally.

We have not used any other solutions previously. This has been the first one with version control.

We have an internal team that handled the implementation of this solution.

I am currently evaluating JIRA. The management is considering moving everything to JIRA.

This solution is simple to learn. It's straightforward and you don't need a lot of time to learn the functionalities.

I would recommend this solution.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

TFS itself is a platform for collaborative development. All the features in it are essential for successful development projects, especially version control, defects tracking, SCRUM tools etc.

TFS SCRUM adoption in our organization was very smooth.

Scrum Board implementation and Backlog viewer require some improvements in order to make its usage simpler and interactive.

I've used TFS since 2007, and the 2013 version since it was released.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

No issues encountered.

Back in 2007 we used Source Safe Control. When we realized that we needed a generic platform which would combine task and defects tracking with version controlling, we moved to TFS.

I was not involved in the original setup, but the version change was quick and very smooth.

Our in-house IT department deployed it who are very experienced.