Define the project portal plug-in for a process template

By using the portal plug-in, you can define the initial document libraries, library structure, and documents of a team project's portal. You can also include the tasks that create dashboards and Excel reports that are designed to work with the Team Foundation Server (TFS) process templates.

The tasks that you specify in the plug-in for SharePoint Products are run only when you create a SharePoint site when you create a team project. For more information about site requirements and administration, see SharePoint Products requirements for Team Foundation Server.

Portal plug-in name and location

The following table summarizes the names of the portal plug-in file, the folder, and the plug-in for the TFS process templates.

Portal creation tasks and dependencies

In the portal plug-in file, specify one or more tasks and their dependencies. You specify the following key tasks:

• Create the site by using a specified site template

• Create document libraries

• Create folders, and upload files to the document libraries

• Activate dashboard features

For an example of a task that specifies a simple project portal, see the WssTasks.xml file in one of the TFS process templates. You can download the latest process templates from TFS.

Create the site and specify the site template

You must specify a site template on which the project portal is based. The site template also must be available on the Team Foundation Server SharePoint portal. Site templates are not included in the process template.

Specify the site template using the site element.

<site template="" language=""/>

The following table describes the attributes for the site element.

The following example shows how to reference the English version of the current version of the MSF Agile process template, which supports dashboards.

<tasks>
  <task id="SharePointPortal" name="Create Sharepoint Portal" plugin="Microsoft.ProjectCreationWizard.Portal" completionMessage="Project portal site created.">
    <dependencies />
    <taskXml>
        <Portal>
           <site template="Team Foundation Server Project Portal" language="1033" />  
       . . . 
        </Portal>

Process template performance

The files that you specify in WssTasks.xml are included as part of the process template when it is uploaded. The size of the process template affects how long it takes to create a new team project. Larger process templates take longer to create new team projects. Therefore you should consider alternate strategies to provide files when process template performance degrades.

Use the site template

You can include files as part of the SharePoint site template. This moves files out of the process template and into the site template and improves performance when creating new team projects.

However, there is a benefit to listing files in WssTasks.xml. You can bind Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel files to a query using the queryid attribute described previously. This assists team members when they open the files because they will already be connected to the correct Team Foundation Server and query.

Use an alternate website

If you have a large collection of files that are shared amongst multiple team projects, you can use an alternate Web site to host the files and link to the files from the project portal or Web pages. This strategy also increases performance when creating team projects since the files do not need to be copied to the project portal. For more information, see Configure or add a project portal.

Create document libraries

After the project portal is created, you can specify that additional document libraries be created. Use the documentLibrary element to specify a document library.

<documentLibraries>
   <documentLibrary name="" description="" isProcessGuidance="true | false" />
</documentLibraries>

The following table describes the attributes for the documentLibrary element.

The following example shows how to create a document library named Development that the development team can use to store documents.

<documentLibraries>
. . .
   <documentLibrary name="Process Guidance" description="How to make best use of the Team Foundation Server tools and process" isProcessGuidance="true" />
. . .
</documentLibraries>

Create the folder structure of a document library

After the project portal is created, you can specify additional folders to create. You can also specify files to copy such as template files.

Use the folder element to create a new folder.

<folders>
   <folder documentLibrary="" name=""/>
</folders>

The following table describes the attributes for the folder element.

The following example shows how to create a folder named Trip Reports in the Development document library where developers can store trip reports from conferences or customer visits.

<folders>
   <folder documentLibrary="Development"
           name="Trip Reports"/>
</folders>

Specify files to upload to document libraries

You must also copy files into document libraries and folders. The source files are located under the Windows SharePoint Services folder. You must specify a target on the project portal.

<files>
   <file source="" documentLibrary="" target="" queryId="" /> 
</files>

The following table describes the attributes for the file element.

The following example shows how to copy a template file named Project Checklist into the Project Management folder. This example also specifies that when the file is first open, it should be populated with the results of the Project Checklist work item query.

<files>
   <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Templates\Project Checklist.xls" 
      documentLibrary="Project Management" 
      target="Project Checklist.xls" 
      queryId="Project Checklist" />
</files>

Process guidance content and support files

Process guidance is content that documents the processes to be followed by team members who work on a software project. Work items, reports, and queries can all change during the lifecycle of a team project, and they can be different between team projects. Process guidance content provides details about a team project, such as information about how to complete work item fields, examples of healthy and unhealthy reports, and descriptions of the queries. Process guidance also provides details about the process to follow on a team project, such as roles to assume and activities to complete.

From the MSDN library, you can access the process guidance content for most artifacts defined by each of the default TFS process templates. You can browse the content available on MSDN from one of the following topics: Visual Studio Scrum, MSF for Agile, and MSF for CMMI.

To support access to process guidance from the work item forms in Team Explorer, a set of .htm files are uploaded to the Process Guidance folder within the Documents SharePoint library. These files specify URLs to the MSDN content that is opened when a team member chooses the process guidance icon within a work item form. These files are uploaded based on the file tasks defined within the portal plug-in. For example, the Agile process template defines the following file tasks:

<!-- Process Guidance -->
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\ProcessGuidance.html" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="ProcessGuidance.html" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\ProcessGuidance.html" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="ProcessGuidance.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\AboutWorkItems.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/AboutWorkItems.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\AboutWorkItems.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/AboutWorkItems.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Bug.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Bug.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Bug.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Bug.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Issue.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Issue.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Issue.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Issue.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\ProcessGuidance.html" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/ProcessGuidance.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\ProcessGuidance.html" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/ProcessGuidance.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\SharedSteps.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Shared Steps.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\SharedSteps.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Shared Steps.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Task.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Task.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\Task.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Task.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\TestCase.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Test Case.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\TestCase.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/Test Case.aspx" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\UserStory.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/User Story.htm" />
          <file source="Windows SharePoint Services\Process Guidance\Supporting Files\UserStory.htm" documentLibrary="Process Guidance" target="Supporting Files/User Story.aspx" />

You can customize these files to point to other resources for process guidance. You can also add files to support access to other process guidance that you have created for your team. For more information, see Configure or add a project portal.

Activating dashboard features

Dashboards show project data, support investigation, and help teams quickly perform common tasks. Dashboards display several Excel reports and Team Web Access Web parts.

You use the activateFeatures element to cause the creation of the dashboards and Excel reports. You must include the following code in the portal plug-in file, within the Portal element, to activate the creation of the dashboards and Excel reports for a team project.

To activate dashboard features that are designed for use with the process template for Visual Studio Scrum:

      <Portal>
    . . . 
<activateFeatures>
         <!-- TfsDashboardScrumWss -->
          <feature featureId="71EC0D67-21AB-4560-A825-9D976DA09D04" />
          <!-- TfsDashboardAgileQuickLaunch -->
          <feature featureId="1D363A6D-D9BA-4498-AD1A-9874ACA5F827" />
        </activateFeatures>
    . . . 
      </Portal>

To activate dashboard features that are designed for use with the process template for MSF Agile software development:

      <Portal>
    . . . 
        <activateFeatures>
          <!-- TfsDashboardAgileMoss -->
          <feature featureId="0D953EE4-B77D-485b-A43C-F5FBB9367207" />
          <!-- TfsDashboardAgileQuickLaunch -->
          <feature featureId="1D363A6D-D9BA-4498-AD1A-9874ACA5F827" />
        </activateFeatures>
    . . . 
      </Portal>

To activate dashboard features that are designed for use with the process template for MSF CMMI process improvement:

      <Portal>
    . . . 
<activateFeatures>
          <!-- TfsDashboardCmmiMoss -->
          <feature featureId="3D0BA288-BF8E-47F0-9680-7556EDEF6318" />
          <!-- TfsDashboardCmmiProcessDocLibraries -->
          <feature featureId="8610B95B-063F-4FB5-837C-BCF2FE9423C6" />
        </activateFeatures>
    . . . 
      </Portal>

See Also

Concepts

Customize a process template

Overview of process template files