Since releasing the initial TFS11-compatible TeamCompanion version on February 29th alongside Visual Studio 11 Beta, we’ve been very busy polishing out the new features, as well as making the TFS11 integration even better. Here’s a quick overview of what’s new in TeamCompanion v4.5 R2 release that we have published just a couple of days ago:

• Enhanced work item edit form
• Create or delete teams
• Add or remove team members
• Manage team administrators
• Open test cases for edit in Microsoft Test Manager

Enhanced work item edit form

One of the more obvious new features in Team Explorer 11 is the redesign of the work item edit form. To make the user experience consistent when switching between Team Explorer 11 and TeamCompanion, we have also switched over to the new form, both when previewing results in the work item grid control and when editing work items in a standalone window:

Create or delete teams

One of the most important features that were missing in the original v4.5 release was the ability to create new teams, as well as delete existing ones. Being determined to set things straight, creating a brand new TFS11 team directly from TeamCompanion is as simple as one-two-three:

After you’ve created your team, simply configure the scopes, members and iteration settings and you’re ready to go! Deleting an existing team is as simple as selecting the team using the teams dropdown and pressing the Delete button!

Add or remove team members

To be honest, this is not a completely new feature, since you could add or remove members to your TFS11 teams using TeamCompanion v4.5 from the start. However, this initially only worked for on-premise servers and not for the TFS preview service (i.e. TFS in the cloud). We have since then solved all of the security and authorization challenges that the service presented and now you can completely manage your team members directly from TeamCompanion! Simply switch to the Team Members tab on the Manage Teams dialog and click the Edit Members button:

Manage team administrators

The ability to easily manage the team administrators is also a brand new feature that came with the latest version. To make this task as simple as possible, you have two ways of setting the team administrators. You can either do it directly from the Team overview page on the Manage Teams dialog, or using the Team Members page:

Open test cases for edit in Microsoft Test Manager

This is a really nice and simple one. When viewing test case work items, you now have an option to edit the test case in Microsoft Test Manager:

In case that we’ve missed a feature you’d like to see in a future version of TeamCompanion, feel free to leave a suggestion on the TeamCompanion UserVoice site. We are always looking forward to hearing from you! Also, we encourage you to try out the latest version, which you can obtain from our download page.

What’s your favorite new TFS11 feature? Does TeamCompanion support it already?

On February 29^th, when Microsoft released the Visual Studio 11 Beta, TeamCompanion was one of the first partner products that provided full support for the new Beta. If you use TFSPreview (which is the TFS 11 in the Cloud) or TFS 11 Beta, TeamCompanion v4.5 offers smooth integration, offline support, exciting agile project management support and arguably the best TFS 11 client for non-developers.

Enough about the past – let’s look into the future. Microsoft is moving forward towards the final release and TeamCompanion is moving together. Today we proudly announce that TeamCompanion will sim-ship together with the final release of Visual Studio 11. As soon as you get the final Visual Studio RTM bits there will be a RTM version of TeamCompanion that works best with it!

In the meantime we invite you to visit TeamCompanion’s UserVoice site and propose new features that you would like to see in our future releases. Looking forward to hearing from you.

The Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner (VSIP) Program has launched a new section on the ComponentSource website alongside the launch of the VS 11 Beta. Team Companion v4.5 is one of the selected highlighted VS 11 compatible products. Check it out!

As announced today by Jason Zander, the “go live” beta release of Visual Studio 11 and .NET Framework 4.5 finally came out of the Microsoft Developer Division. We are proud to announce that our newest version TeamCompanion v4.5 rides alongside!

Once you install your TFS 11 instance and install TeamCompanion v4.5, you are ready to explore the new environment. Simply add a connection to your new TFS 11 team project to TeamCompanion v4.5 and continue working in the way you are used to.

You will benefit from TeamCompanion especially if your team project is based on the new Microsoft Scrum 2.0 process template. Use TeamCompanion’s agile tools and TFS 11 Beta agile tools interchangeably according to your needs. Our agile project management toolset now syncs following settings with the TFS 11 Beta:

• Team settings: team membership, backlog and sprint iterations
• Sprint settings: sprint start and end dates
• Team member’s capacity settings
• Team and individual interruptions

All standard features that allow you to access other TFS artifacts (work items, work item queries, reports, documents, etc.) are available as in previous product versions.

Note: Due to major changes in the technology background, you need to de-install any previous TeamCompanion versions and manually install the newest version from our download link. This version is not considered an upgrade of the previous version and will not be available through automatic updates.

Check out our article about “TeamCompanion: Team Foundation Server and Outlook Together” in Code Magazine!

TeamCompanion v.4.4 extends its existing full-text search logic by highlighting terms found in search results. Highlighting is visible both in the work item query search result list and in the HTML work item preview. In this way, you can quickly and easily determine why a particular work item appears in search result. This is an enhancement our customers longed for quite a while, and we are thrilled that we have finally built it in.

While previewing the results of a work item query, start typing the desired search condition in the Search box located in the header of the query grid. Search results are displayed and highlighted as you type, meaning that the result list is automatically adjusted according to the way you change your search condition.

While searching, TeamCompanion automatically switches the preview in the embedded work item form to HMTL mode. In this way, as you browse through work items returned by the search, you can easily notice all work item fields where the search term appears. Our full-text search implementation searches the content of all work item fields (not only Title and Description), meaning that your search condition will return any work item that contains the search term in any of its fields.

Additionally, we added the possibility to quickly switch between the HTML work item preview with highlighted search terms and the editable embedded work item form.

We persist your search conditions when you manually refresh your query, as well as when a scheduled refresh automatically triggers. Search conditions and results are not persisted if you switch context (open another work item query, report or switch to any of your mail folders).

After you have performed a search and located your item in the results list, you can clear the condition in the Search box. TeamCompanion keeps you on the last item you clicked in the result list.

Search highlighting is available in product and iteration backlog lists in the agile project management tool Plan and Prioritize as well. It searches backlog lists using the same rules as in query lists.

Full-text search with search results highlighting in TeamCompanion v4.4 greatly improves your user experience and allows you to manage your work items in the most efficient way.

We have released our first public version in 2012 - TeamCompanion v4.4. As promised, we added new features to our Agile Project Management module and kept on working on the native support for the approaching TFS vNext release. Additionally, we improved some of our basic features and implemented various fixes.

The list of new features is as follows:

1. Search results highlighting
   • Quick search results (available in each query folder) are now highlighted
   • Highlighting is visible in both result grid and HTML work item preview
   • Added ability to switch between HTML preview and work item edit form
2. Enhanced support for creation of work items in the Agile Project Management tool
   • Implemented support for quickly adding new child work items in iteration backlog
   • Added support to undo newly created PBI item(s) or child task(s)
3. Improved support for MS Scrum 1.0 and 2.0 Templates
   • Implemented support for mapping sprint work item types to team iterations when using MS Scrum 1.0
   • Added native support for Scrum 2.0 process template in tfspreview
4. Various fixes and improvements

TeamCompanion's full-text search now highlights found search terms, both in the search result grid and in the HTML work item preview. In this way, you can quickly and easily determine why a particular work item appears in the search result.

As part of the implementation of this feature we offer you the possibility to quickly switch between the editable embedded work item form and HTML work item preview with highlighting.

Search highlighting is available in the product and iteration backlog lists in the agile project management tool Plan and Prioritize as well.

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In the previous version, we added the possibility for quickly adding new top level work items (PBIs) to the product backlog.  In this version, we added the equivalent ability to quickly add new child level work items (tasks) related to product backlog items (PBIs) directly in the iteration backlog view. This feature supports efficient sprint planning meetings.

The header of the iteration backlog list now contains a set of controls for adding new child level items to PBIs assigned to that iteration. Click on a PBI in the list to which you want to add the child task. Then type the child item’s Title and Remaining Work and press enter or click on the Add button. The new task appears in the iteration backlog list and has a negative value in the ID field. It is placed as first child of the initially selected PBI and is currently selected.

This item is not automatically saved to TFS and is therefore shown in italics. After you add all your new child tasks in the described way, you can save them all at once using the ribbon controls. If you want to discard all your changes, simply undo your additions.

In this version we also added the possibility to undo the addition of a single new item in product and iteration backlog lists, that has still not been saved to TFS. This means that you can remove a newly added PBI item from the product backlog list and that you can remove a newly added child item in the iteration backlog list. Simply right click on the item you want to remove from the list and select Undo Work Item from it’s context menu.

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TeamCompanion v4.4 now fully supports the MS Scrum 1.0 template for TFS 2010.This means that for team projects using this template you can map the appropriate Sprint work item type to team iterations. TeamCompanion recognizes if you are using the default version of this template and sets the right mappings for you. If you have customized your process template, please check your settings for related mappings in the configuration settings of the agile project management tool Plan and Prioritize.

After these settings have been configured, all changes to capacity settings of your iterations are synchronized with the corresponding Sprint work item types.

TeamCompanion’s agile project management tool Plan and Prioritize in v4.4 natively supports the MS Scrum 2.0 template in Team Foundation Service Preview (tfspreview, Microsoft's TFS in the cloud). We are able to recognize that your project is using this template, and adjust by default all required configuration settings.

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4) Various fixes and improvements

We are constantly solving issues and problems reported through feedback from our customers. Thank you one again for your effort to improve TeamCompanion.

Don’t wait, get the new TeamCompanion v4.4 right away! Grab your copy at www.teamcompanion.com\Download.

For more information visit www.teamcompanion.com, take a quick tour or go into feature details.

For all of you TeamCompanion supporters who intend to take part in the StarEast Conference in Orlando, FL, USA, April 15-20 2012. we offer this valuable discount for up to $400 off the cost of the conference registration for the Early Bird Special and up to $200 off after the conclusion of the Early Bird Special, which ends March 16.

To obtain the savings, please contact us (sales@teamcompanion.com) to get the promo code. At the time you register for the conference, type the code into the field listed as: Promo/Mail Code.
The link to the Registration Form is:
https://www.sqe.com/StarEast/Register/SelectConference.aspx
Also, below is the link to the conference brochure now available for download:
http://www.sqe.com/StarEast/Brochure/Default.aspx

Looking forward to seeing you at our booth!

Let me share our thoughts on what you can expect from the TeamCompanion team in 2012. As we approached the end of 2011, it was clear that this is going to be the most successful year for the TeamCompanion in any respect. We released four versions, introduced the agile project management module, more than doubled the number of customers and got continuously good feedback on quality and price/performance. TeamCompanion is gaining momentum as a must have tool for all software development teams using TFS and Outlook, trying to improve team collaboration, transparency and productivity in daily tasks. We intend to support this further on in 2012 with a series of development and marketing activities. Here is the list of key activities:

• TeamCompanion key value is in enabling all software development project stakeholders to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on collaboration and focusing on business tasks. We will continuously add new features that support this message.
• We got lots of valuable feedback for the Agile Project Management module and are committed to add new features to it. We see many benefits in having Project Management module within Outlook, enabling users to manage projects and collaborate within a single work environment.
• One of the key promises to our customers is to stay in sync with TFS and Outlook updates. TFS vNext release is approaching fast and we are already prepared to simultaneously ship the next version of TeamCompanion supporting the newest version of TFS.
• There are also some really interesting (and time & resource intensive) features that we will consider to implement like full offline work item editing or a mobile version of TeamCompanion.
• We are planning to deliver web casts on regular basis on various TeamCompanion usage scenarios.
• As Ekobit, the company behind TeamCompanion, is an ALM consultancy company, you will see a number of TFS/TeamCompanion implementation case studies in various industries.
• Expect to meet us exhibiting on conferences like ALM Summit, StarEast, ALM Days in United States and Europe. Talking to our customers face to face has always been the greatest experience and the best way to find out how good we are at what we are doing.
• We will continue to listen very carefully about what you have to say on TeamCompanion and its features. Use the opportunity on our feature request web page and shape TeamCompanion according to your needs!

Best regards
Vedran

ALM Days in Munich were absolutely great! Two days of high quality sessions, around four hundred delegates mingling within the exhibition area, visiting in big numbers our TeamCompanion booth was a guarantee for a successful week in Germany. Besides tens of TeamCompanion presentations, Ogy also delivered session on Visual Studio Test Lab Management so there was not a minute of idle time left. Here are some of the pictures (can you spot Sam Guckenheimer and Brian Harry? )

Looking forward to being a part of it next year!
Vedran