Review: Visual Studio ALM

In software development, one way to enable greater transparency is to use Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools which let both developers and non-developers collaborate and track progress. Microsoft’s solution is based on Team Foundation Server (TFS), a collaboration server designed to support the Visual Studio development environment. TFS 2010 is the third major release, following Visual Studio 2005 Team System and its update in Visual Studio 2008.

Team Foundation Server runs on Windows Server 2003 or higher. It is based on Microsoft .NET with SharePoint, SQL Server and SQL Server Reporting Services, making for a somewhat complex installation. Once installed, it handles key ALM features including version control, bug and task tracking, build automation, test case management, and generic work item tracking.