Azure DevOps or Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) as it was previously known, is a tool that is by DevOps teams to manage their projects, collaborate on code development, and build and deploy applications.
DevOps is a technique which merges software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops).
The DevOps practice is a subset of the agile methodology and it is used to reduce the development life cycle and provide continuous support after the product is implemented.
The AzureDevOps application has numerous standard functionalities that can be used for Agile project management and these include the following
- Requirements management
- Project management
- Code storage
- Seamless integration
- Test cases management
- Reports and dashboards.
- Retrospective.
Azure DevOps also comes with 3 standard process templates and they are:
- Scrum
- Agile
- CMMI
These process templates are customizable to suit the user’s requirements and all the process templates can be used to track product backlog items, manage user stories and bugs using the Kanban board.
Let’s look at each of these templates
- Scrum: the development team should choose the Scrum template if that is the Agile methodology that they practice.
- Agile: the development team should choose Agile if that is the Agile methodology that they practice.
- CMMI: The Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement model that supports productive, efficient behaviors that reduces risks in software, product and service development. The development team should choose CMMI if they use formal project methods that require a method for process improvement and an auditable record of decisions.
Azure DevOps also comes with access to Visual Studio Team System (VSTS).
Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft which is used to support software creation, development and management.
VSTS is made up of four products and they are :
- The Visual Studio development environment
- The Visual Studio Test Professional which is used for test data management and test case execution
- The Team Foundation Server, which has a centralized database and is used in source code files collaboration.
- The Visual Studio Lab Management, which is used to create virtual environments that can be used for software testing.
With these features and many more, AzureDevOps application is a complete tool which can be used throughout the product lifecycle.
