Our team is currently using TFS 2008 for bug tracking and test case management. Everything works fine for us right now. However, management decided we need to start using Jira for issue tracking and Zephyr for testing workflows. These are hosted externally.
I’m wondering if there are any plugins or third-party tools that can help us keep data synchronized between our local TFS setup and these external platforms. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? What options are available for this kind of integration?
Any advice would be helpful since we need to maintain our current workflow while adapting to the new requirements.
hey, we faced similar probs with TFS integration too. we ended up using Tasktop Sync. yeah, it’s pricey but does a great job syncing work items. if ur into coding, you could also try writing custom scripts with the TFS APIs but it’z a bit more tedious.
Been through this exact scenario four years ago when we were stuck on TFS 2008. That version’s API support is pretty limited compared to newer releases. We looked at commercial solutions first but most weren’t compatible with 2008’s architecture. What worked for us was building a C# middleware app that talked to TFS’s client object model on one end and hit Jira’s REST endpoints on the other. The trick was creating a mapping table for work item types and custom fields - the schemas between these systems never align perfectly. For Zephyr, we used their ZAPI which handled test case sync pretty well. Main issue was conflicts when the same item got updated in both systems at once. We fixed this by making TFS the master for certain fields. Took three weeks to get stable but saved us months of manual work.
We did this exact migration two years ago. TFS 2008 is ancient - you don’t have many options. Most integration tools only work with newer TFS versions or Azure DevOps. We tried custom web service calls first, but maintaining them was a nightmare. What actually worked: a scheduled PowerShell script that pulled data from TFS using the object model and pushed it to Jira via REST API. For Zephyr, we used their API to create test cases from TFS test plans. The biggest pain was mapping field types and handling different workflow states. I’d suggest doing a phased migration instead of trying to keep everything in sync - it’s probably cheaper long-term.