Use the Dependency Tracker extension

Azure DevOps Services

The Dependency Tracker extension helps you manage dependencies across teams, projects, and organizations. It provides filterable views to show all dependencies your team is consuming and producing. These views allow you to track the state and schedule of dependencies so you can assess the risk of dependencies to product deliverables.

Use the Dependency Tracker to plan dependencies at the beginning of an iteration or release, and to track the status during development. For any given dependency, the following parties are involved:

• Consumer: Feature team that has a need and starts a request for work.
• Producer: Feature team that makes a commitment to deliver work.

Each work request and work deliverable is defined as a work item. The work items get linked by the Successor-Predecessor link type or other directional link type. For more information, see Link type reference Producing for/Consuming from link.

From the Dependency Tracker, you can choose different views and filters, and drill down to obtain specific details. The following sections describe these views and options:

• Filter options
• Drill-down
• Consuming Dependencies
• Producing Dependencies
• Timeline
• Risk Graph

Recommended use and key terms

Use Dependency Tracker to visualize and track the following work items:

• Dependencies on deliverables for work that your team is delivering.
• Dependencies your team has on other teams for work your team is delivering.
• Dependencies other teams have on work your team is delivering.

All teams across organizations can participate in tracking dependencies.

Key terms

• Dependency: Work that Team A requires from Team B to do the work Team A is trying to do.
• Consumer: The team that asks to have work done.
  • The consumer owns the engagement and tracking of that work – since it's the work their scenario requires, the burden is on the consumer to file, monitor, and track the status of the work.
  • The consumer owns entering the work into Azure Boards and submitting that work request to the producer.
  • The consumer is in charge of managing the work they requested so that they're aware of any material changes and adjustments.
• Producer: The team that's doing the work.
  • Once the work gets submitted to the producer, the producer owns the work item.
    • The producer is responsible for maintaining the work item in Azure Boards.
    • The producer owns the state of the work item and iteration.
    • The consumer shouldn't change these values once the work item gets handed off.
• Sequencing: A producing team's work is needed before the consuming team can start their work.

Prerequisites

Open the Dependency Tracker extension

1. Open the web portal for the project where your team is defined.

2. Select Boards > Dependency Tracker.

   

3. Choose the Area that corresponds to the team you want to view dependencies for from the dropdown menu.

   

   You can only filter on those Area paths defined for the project.

Filter options

Filter each supported view by entering a keyword or using one or more of the fields. Provided fields include State, Work item type, and Iteration Path. Based on the keyword that you enter, the filter function lists work items based on any displayed column field.

To show the filter toolbar, select the filter icon.

Toggle filters on and off by selecting the filter icon. To see more filters, use the arrows at the end of the list of filters.

Select one or more values from the drop-down menu for each field. These fields populate with the following values:

• Work item type: Select one or more check boxes for the work item types you want to view. Work item types configured to participate in dependency tracking. The default work item types are: Epic, Feature, User Story, and Bug. To modify the configuration, see Configuration of Dependency Tracker.
• State: Select one or more check boxes for the work item states you want to view. The drop-down list includes all workflow states defined for all work item types shown in the selected view.
• Iteration: Select one or more check boxes for the Iteration Paths you want to view. The drop-down list includes all Iteration Paths configured for the project and for which there are work items listed in the current view.
• Priority: Select one or more check boxes for the priorities you want to view. The priority values assigned to work items.
• Partner: The partner organization for which the work item is defined.

Your filtering options depend on the configuration defined for the Dependency Tracker and correspond to work items shown in the selected view that meet the filter criteria. For example, if you don't have any work items assigned to Sprint 4, then the Sprint 4 option doesn't appear in the filter options for the Iteration Path.

You can drop dependencies within the selected area, which excludes dependencies inside your team.

View drill-down options

Several views provide interactive visualizations through drill-downs. The tabbed views descriptions later in this article address these features.

Create a dependency

A dependency represents work where one team depends on another team. Both teams should track their own work in their own area path. By linking the work that depends on the other team's work, you can visualize and track the dependencies.

1. Select New Dependency.

   

   If the partner team is in a different organization, select Partner Account. You can enable or disable the Partner Account option by configuring the Dependency Tracker.

   

2. Search for work items by ID or enter a keyword contained within the work item title. In the following example, you link a user story and a bug.

   

   • The Producer is the team that commits to delivering the work.
   • The Consumer is the team that needs or is dependent on the work.
   • The fastest way to create a dependency link is to type the Producer and Consumer work item IDs in the search boxes and then select Save.

   Optionally, you can select Create New to add work items that you then link as dependent upon each other. In the following example, you create two new features and link them.

   

   If no work items exist for one half of the dependency, you can create a new work item as needed.

3. Select Save. The Save button is available only after you choose two work items to link.

4. From the success confirmation dialog, select View dependency.

   

   The work items that you linked are highlighted.

   In the following example, the Fabrikam Fiber/Service Delivery/Voice team depends on the MyFirstProject team to deliver their User Story 706: Cancel order form to complete Bug 390: Cancel order form.

   

Create links manually

You can also link work items by using the Links tab to create Successor and Predecessor links. A Predecessor is the producer of the work item, or the item that must come first. A Successor is the consumer of the work item, or the item that's dependent on the first item.

Remove dependency links

You can remove a dependency by choosing the actions icon from the linked work item and choose Remove Dependency Link option from the menu.

Optionally, you can remove the link from the work item's Links tab.

Create a query of dependencies

To open a set of dependent work items, select them in the same way you would via a bulk edit. Select the actions icon from one of the selected linked work items and choose Open in Query from the menu.

A new tab opens to the Query Results page.

You can also create a custom query by selecting the Work items and direct links query type and choosing any work item type.

Select Copy to HTML to copy the selected work items to the clipboard as a formatted table.

Consuming dependencies view

The Consuming Dependencies view shows work that a team depends on by other teams or area paths.

Each column on the bar chart represents another area path that produces dependencies by workflow state for the selected Area View. The table shows the number of unique dependencies. It also lists all work items participating in the filtered view of tracked dependencies.

Within the table, you can complete the following actions.

• Filter the list of work items by choosing one of the area path bars and progress states in the bar chart graph.
• Expand or collapse the list of work items to show the full list of dependent work items by using the expand and collapse icons.
• Add or remove column fields by opening Column Options.
• Switch the sequence of work items by choosing the Display: Consumer on top or Producer on top.

Producing dependencies view

The Producing Dependencies view shows work that other teams or area paths depend on for the selected area.

Each column on the bar chart represents another area path that consumes dependencies by workflow state for the selected Area View. The table shows the number of unique dependencies and lists all work items included in the filtered view of tracked dependencies.

Within the table, you can complete the same actions as in the Consuming Dependencies view.

Timeline tab

The Timeline tab provides a calendar view of dependencies. The Timeline view is in beta.

There are two versions of the Timeline view: Correct Flow and Incorrect Flow. Each version shows the color-coded workflow state. You can customize color codes within the Dependency Tracker configuration.

Correct Flow view

The Correct Flow view shows those dependencies that are in the correct sequence. Successor work items get completed after their predecessor work item.

Incorrect Flow view

The Incorrect Flow view shows those dependencies that are out of order. At least one predecessor work item gets completed after its successor work item.

Risk graph

The Risk Graph provides a visualization of how dependencies flow from consumer team to producer team, or from producer to consumer. The graph lets a team understand the number of dependencies and level of risks associated at a glance. Also, the risk graph view demonstrates the value of linking dependencies and laddering them up to Stories.

There are two views: Consuming From and Producing For. You can configure the workflow state color coding. The width of the lines indicates how many dependencies exist in that area. The thicker the link, the more dependencies, as indicated in the legend.

Consuming From

Producing For

Filtered on a specific dependency

You can drill down into specifics by choosing one of the dependencies.

Configure the Dependency Tracker

To modify the configuration, be a member of the Project Collection Administrator Group. All changes to the configuration apply to all projects defined in the organization.

To change the configuration, select the gear icon and modify the syntax listed. Select Save when you're done.

The main properties you can modify are summarized as follows:

• The link types to use to create dependency links. Defaults are the Successor/Predecessor link types. Only customize when you use the Hosted XML process model to customize work tracking.
• Work items and work item types
  • Work item types to participate in dependency tracking
  • Mapping of work item category states to colors
  • Mapping of work item workflow states and colors
• Default field columns in dependency list tables
• Default filter selections:
  • Selected dependency work item types
  • Selected Iteration Paths
• Enabled options:
  • Timeline
  • New Dependency link
  • Cross account (organization) dependencies
  • Cross account dependency toggle default state
• Risk graph configuration:
  • Work item states associated with at risk (Red color) work items
  • Work item states associated with neutral (Gray color) work items
  • Work item states associates with on track (Green color) work items

For a full list and description, see the Property descriptions provided later in this section.

Enable or disable the New Dependency option

The newDependencyButtonEnabled property enables or disables the New Dependency link option. When enabled, the link appears on the Dependency Tracker page. When disabled, users can't create dependencies from the tracker, and they can only review the dependencies created through other means. The default value is true (enabled).

Enable or disable cross-organization linking

The crossAccountConfigs property enables or disables cross-organization dependency linking from the New dependency dialog. The default value is true (enabled).

To disable it, set the following syntax in the JSON configuration to false.

{
"crossAccountConfigs": {
  "crossAccountDependencyEnabled": false,
  "crossAccountDependencyToggleDefaultState": false, //default state for cross account toggle
  "crossAccountDependencyToggleOnText": "Cross-account dependencies on",
  "crossAccountDependencyToggleOffText": "Cross-account dependencies off"}
}

Cross account linking requires the use of a special link type and you should only use it in coordination with the New Dependency option.

Property descriptions

The following table describes each of the property items specified in the configuration file.

{
title: "Custom.Title",
assignedTo: "Custom.AssignedTo" 
}

[  
"Epic",  
"Feature",  
"User Story",  
"Bug"  
]

[  
"Epic",  
"Feature",  
"Product Backlog Item",  
"Bug"  
]

Any

[  
"Epic",  
"Feature"  
]

[]

[  
"Fabrikam/Release 1",  
"Fabrikam/Release 2",  
]

{
"Proposed": {
"displayName": "Proposed",
"color": "#a6a6a6"
},
"InProgress": {
"displayName": "In Progress",
"color": "#00bcf2"
},
"Completed": {
"displayName": "Completed",
"color": "#9ac70b"
},
"Removed": {
"displayName": "Removed",
"color": "#d9242c"
},
"Resolved": {
"displayName": "Resolved",
"color": "#ff9d00"
}
}

{  
"New": {  
"textColor": "rgb(112, 112, 112)",  
"chartColor": "rgb(112, 112, 112)",  
"states": [  
"New"  
]  
},  
"Active": {  
"textColor": "rgb(0, 122, 204)",  
"chartColor": "rgb(0, 122, 204)",  
"states": [  
"Active",  
"Resolved"  
]  
},  
"Closed": {  
"textColor": "rgb(16, 124, 16)",  
"chartColor": "rgb(16, 124, 16)",  
"states": [  
"Closed"  
]  
},  
"Removed": {  
"textColor": "rgb(204, 41, 61)",  
"chartColor": "rgb(204, 41, 61)",  
"states": [  
"Removed"  
]  
},  
"Other": {  
"textColor": "rgb(178, 178, 178)",  
"chartColor": "rgb(178, 178, 178)",  
"states": []  
}  
}  

["1-High", "2-Medium", "3-Low"]

[]

["account-1", "account-2"]

true

true

{
"crossAccountDependencyEnabled": true,  
"crossAccountDependencyToggleDefaultState": false
}

{  
"crossAccountDependencyEnabled": false,  
"crossAccountDependencyToggleDefaultState": false
}

["0","1","2","3","4","(blank)"]

[
"Id",
"Area Path",
"Dependency Title",
"State",
"Consumers",
"Producers"
]

False

[]

{  
"atRisk": [  
"Removed"  
],  
"neutral": [  
"New"  
],  
"onTrack": [  
"Active",  
"Resolved",  
"Closed",  
"Other"  
]
}

Default configuration syntax

{
    "consumesLinkName": "System.LinkTypes.Dependency-Reverse",
    "producesLinkName": "System.LinkTypes.Dependency-Forward",
    "queryFields": {},
    "dependencyWorkItemTypes": [
        "Epic",
        "Feature",
        "User Story",
        "Bug"
    ],
    "selectedDependencyWorkItemTypes": "Any",
    "selectedReleases": "",
    "workItemCategoriesAndColors": {
        "Proposed": {
            "displayName": "Proposed",
            "color": "#a6a6a6"
        },
        "InProgress": {
            "displayName": "In Progress",
            "color": "#00bcf2"
        },
        "Completed": {
            "displayName": "Completed",
            "color": "#9ac70b"
        },
        "Removed": {
            "displayName": "Removed",
            "color": "#d9242c"
        },
        "Resolved": {
            "displayName": "Resolved",
            "color": "#ff9d00"
        }
    },
    "workItemDislayStatesAndDisplayColors": {
        "New": {
            "textColor": "rgb(112, 112, 112)",
            "chartColor": "rgb(112, 112, 112)",
            "states": [
                "New"
            ]
        },
        "Active": {
            "textColor": "rgb(0, 122, 204)",
            "chartColor": "rgb(0, 122, 204)",
            "states": [
                "Active",
                "Resolved"
            ]
        },
        "Closed": {
            "textColor": "rgb(16, 124, 16)",
            "chartColor": "rgb(16, 124, 16)",
            "states": [
                "Closed"
            ]
        },
        "Removed": {
            "textColor": "rgb(204, 41, 61)",
            "chartColor": "rgb(204, 41, 61)",
            "states": [
                "Removed"
            ]
        },
        "Other": {
            "textColor": "rgb(178, 178, 178)",
            "chartColor": "rgb(178, 178, 178)",
            "states": []
        }
    },
    "riskAssessmentValues": [],
    "releases": [],
    "partnerAccounts": [],
    "timelineEnabled": true,
    "newDependencyButtonEnabled": true,
    "crossAccountConfigs": {
        "crossAccountDependencyEnabled": true,
        "crossAccountDependencyToggleDefaultState": false
    },
    "priorityValues": [
        "0",
        "1",
        "2",
        "3",
        "4",
        "(blank)"
    ],
    "defaultColumns": [
        "Id",
        "Area Path",
        "Dependency Title",
        "State",
        "Consumers",
        "Producers"
    ],
    "riskGraphConfig": {
        "atRisk": [
            "Removed"
        ],
        "neutral": [
            "New"
        ],
        "onTrack": [
            "Active",
            "Resolved",
            "Closed",
            "Other"
        ]
    },
    "iterationDepth": 8
}

Related content

• Manage work item fields
• Review team delivery plans
• Use the inheritance process model
• Use the hosted XML process model
• Understand workflow states and state categories in Backlogs and Boards

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