We’re running both TFS 2010 and 2012 in our setup. I’m trying to figure out how to get our timesheet tool to show work items from both versions at once.
Our team isn’t planning to move everything to 2012 anytime soon. So I was thinking maybe we could tweak the database query to grab info from both TFS 2010 and 2012 databases.
Has anyone done something like this before? I’m not sure if it’s even possible or if there’s a better way to handle it. Any tips or suggestions would be really helpful!
I’m worried about messing things up if I start poking around in the database stuff myself. But it seems like it would save us a lot of headaches if we could see all our work items in one place. Thanks in advance for any ideas!
I’ve actually faced a similar challenge in my organization. We ended up creating a custom integration layer that pulls data from both TFS versions into a separate database. This way, we could query a single source for our timesheet tool without directly messing with the TFS databases.
It took some effort to set up, but it’s been working well for us. We use scheduled jobs to sync the data periodically. The main hurdle was mapping the schema differences between TFS 2010 and 2012, but once that was sorted, it’s been pretty smooth.
If you’re not comfortable with database work, you might want to look into third-party tools that can aggregate data from multiple TFS versions. They can be pricey, but they’re often less risky than custom solutions.
Whatever route you choose, make sure to test thoroughly in a non-production environment first. TFS data is critical, so you want to be extra cautious when implementing any solution.
Having worked with multiple TFS versions, I can say that directly querying the databases is risky and not recommended. Instead, consider using the TFS API to retrieve work items from both systems. This approach is safer and more maintainable.
You could develop a small application that uses the TFS SDK to connect to both your 2010 and 2012 instances, fetch the relevant work items, and then combine the results. This consolidated data can then be fed into your timesheet tool.
While it requires some coding, this method avoids potential data integrity issues and will continue to work even if you upgrade TFS in the future. It’s also more aligned with Microsoft’s best practices for TFS integration.
Remember to implement proper error handling and logging in your solution to catch any discrepancies between the two systems. This approach has served me well in similar scenarios.
hey dancingbird, i’ve dealt with similar stuff before. instead of messing with databases, try using tfs’s odata service. it can grab data from both versions and you can combine it all in excel or whatever. just need to set up the right queries. saves a ton of headaches and keeps things clean. good luck!