Using Team Foundation Server for Impact Analysis

David Lemphers blogged about a brainstorm he had recently to use Team Foundation Server to create what he calls an "impact model." 

I had an idea last night while I was trying to convince my active brain that Big Brother was actually a new episode of Family Guy. It had to do with software change models and simulations, and it all kinda wrapped up as a set of TFS tools…wouldn’t you know!

From: Team Foundation Server and Impact Modelling!

Perhaps I misunderstood his intent, but after reviewing his idea, it got me thinking about Excel's decision support features (aka "what-if analysis"). With the functionality available today using the Office Excel Add-in for SQL Analysis Services, perhaps some of this capability to perform impact analysis already exists. Then consider the functionality coming in Office Excel 2007 for SQL Server Analysis Services support.

Another useful capability would be to use the impact analysis to determine what features you could jettison to achieve the new functionality without impacting delivery date or cost.

Maybe Eric Lee will look into this next. See his two most recent posts, which are close to this subject:

Update: See Eric's post, Thoughts on David Lempher's brainstorm about Impact Analysis. Thanks, Eric!

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Tags: tfs | team foundation server | vsts | team system