Integration with Other Microsoft Products

Integration with Other Microsoft Products

Team System is composed of many pieces and parts. In the client-only editions, Team System is simply Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition with the appropriate add-ins. Team Foundation Server, which you will learn more about in Chapter 2, is an entire architecture of services.

Here are some other Microsoft products and how they integrate:

• Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005

  Repository for all work items, source code, and build data, including all team artifacts. Analysis Services (OLAP cubes) and Reporting Services support the portal and various team reports.

• Microsoft Windows® SharePoint® Portal Services (but not SharePoint Portal Server)

  The software behind the team project portal.

• Visual Studio 2005

  Primary environment for all roles.

• Microsoft Project 2003 (but not Project Server)

  An alternate tool for project managers.

• Microsoft Excel 2003

  An alternate tool for project managers.

• Microsoft Internet Explorer

  Used to interact with the team project portal and view reports.

NOTE
Microsoft is planning to release a Microsoft Source Code Control Interface (MSSCCI) plug-in as a download sometime after Visual Studio 2005 launches. This will enable basic source control integration between Team Foundation Version Control and previous versions of Visual Studio. Until then, and for all other software packages or platforms, you can use the various command-line utilities or APIs as a way to extend or integrate with other development environments.

In addition to these tools, Microsoft and its partners have announced many Team System integrated tools and services. Microsoft is planning to include migration utilities for Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, and other partners have promised additional modeling tool support, requirements gathering support, and testing tools.