Getting TFS support faster from Microsoft: CSS structure revealed

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Wendell brings us a post today about the way we are arranged in Microsoft TFS support in the hopes that it will help you route to the proper team and get answers faster. Enjoy!

-Trev

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I was looking through some of our support cases a couple of days ago.  It struck me that sometimes a solution can be delayed because the description of the issue was inaccurate or incomplete and the resulting support case was routed to the wrong team.  I hope the following information about our internal organization will help you, our customers, understand why an accurate description will speed up our response.

The TFS Support Organization is separated into four support areas handled by three different teams of engineers.  We refer to these teams as “Setup”, “Config”, and “Test” and “Build”.  The Test and Build support areas are handled by the same team of engineers, but are separately identified for internal purposes. 

When the description of the issue is accurately captured the case can be immediately routed to the correct assistance.  When the case description is incomplete or inaccurate, the case may be sent to the incorrect team causing unnecessary delay.

Here are the descriptions the teams provide to assist our internal call routing specialists:

Setup - “DSC Install and Setup” - Our team handles the installation and setup of Team Foundation Server (TFS).  The setup team handles moves, upgrades, restores and disaster recovery scenarios as well.

Config - “DSC TFS” - Our team handles the administration and management of Team Foundation Server (TFS) versions 2005 and 2008.  This includes performance issues, connectivity, event log errors, security, configuration, failed project creation (unless TFS has just been installed\upgraded and project creation has never worked – that goes to ‘setup’).

Build - “DSC Team System” -  The Visual Studio Team System team handles support for the Team Build portions of TFS.

Test - “DSC Team System” - -  The Visual Studio Team System team handles support for Visual Studio Team System for Software Developers and Software Testers, which includes support for Unit Testing, Web Testing, Load Testing, Generic Testing, Manual Testing, Code Analysis for C/C++, Code Analysis for Managed Code, and for Profiling Application. This team also support the Application Center Test technology (ACT) and programming against the TFS object model.

So please help us help you and add at least a few key words to help us get you the right support the first try.