Automatic Assignment of Work Items

Description:

The client needed to automatically assign work items to groups and users based on a complex set of rules. The built-in TFS facilities were inadequate to meet their needs.

Solution:

A custom web service was written for the client using the TFS SDK. The web service was installed on an IIS web server, and configured to "listen" for work item changes by using the TFS facilities to subscribe to WorkItemChangedEvents.

A rules engine was written which allowed the client to express their auto-assignment rules using an XML configuration file. A rich set of rules and actions were developed that gave the client a highly-flexible, yet easy-to-use system for specifying assignment rules.

When the web service starts, the rules are read from the XML rules file. When a work item event notification is received from the TFS server, the web service processes the event using the configured assignment rules. If a match is found, the work item is assigned to the desired user.