Project Server 2003 – Team Foundation connector released

Buck Hodges

October 25th, 20060 0

This was released today. Here’s the announcement from the GotDotNet workspace.

ANNOUNCING THE VISUAL STUDIO TEAM SYSTEM – PROJECT SERVER CONNECTOR!

We are pleased to announce general availability of the Project Server 2003 – Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2005 Connector application. The Connector can be downloaded here: http://www.avanadeadvisor.com/TFS-ProjectServerConnector.zip. The Connector is largely based on the sample Project Server 2003 – Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Beta 2 Connector available on GotDotNet. The Connector is also available as a part of the Avanade Software Lifecycle Platform™. You can learn more about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/why/avanade/default.aspx.

About the connector:
Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 Team System (VSTS) are two powerful applications that are each used in different ways for management of software development projects. Up-to-date project information requires a seamless integration between the development environment and the project management tool.

Managing projects, resources, and related information for an entire enterprise requires a holistic view and integration of project management data with the software development lifecycle. The Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution with Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 can help organizations effectively manage and coordinate people, projects, and processes. The Microsoft EPM solution provides tools for strong coordination and standardization between projects and project managers, centralized resource management, and high-level reporting on projects and resources. Through familiar tools and ease of integration with a broad range of programs in the Microsoft Office System, the EPM solution promotes broad participation for greater accuracy, accountability, and acceptance.

Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) provides a solution for software development teams that integrates designing, developing, testing, and managing a project. VSTS integrates with Microsoft Office Project Standard 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 for desktop use and allows project managers to plan and manage projects on a local computer. However, because there is no integration with Project Server, the project data for each team is available only in a stand-alone plan. There is no simple way to aggregate project data across multiple projects.

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.

More about the Avanade Software Lifecycle Platform (SLP)
Avanade Connected Architectures® for Lifecycle or ACA® Lifecycle 2006 is an asset that implements the Avanade SLP vision. It provides a software development lifecycle environment for project teams doing custom .NET development. This includes tools, processes, and best practices to support the various roles on the team, including Test, Dev, Architect, and Project Manager.

For more information on how Avanade can help you with the Avanade Software Lifecycle Platform, visit our website at www.avanade.com or contact us at to slp@avanade.com.

About Avanade

Avanade is the only global IT solutions consultancy 100 percent dedicated to using the Microsoft platform to help enterprises achieve profitable growth. Through proven solutions that extend Microsoft technologies, Avanade helps enterprises increase revenue, reduce costs, and reinvest in innovation to gain competitive advantage.

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Microsoft name and logo are registered trademarks in the US and other countries. The Avanade name and logo are registered trademarks in the US and other countries.