Baselining Work Items
For an introduction to the concept of baselining, see the High-level baseline guide.
Work Items to be baselined
The work items to be baselined in a specific project or for a specific release are to be defined in the CM plan, baseline plan, or any other applicable project document. Generally, the baseline is to be created at specific points in time, for example at certain Gates or Milestones.
Work items in ADO are suggested to be baselined (if available) according to IEC 61508 and Safety Handbook:
| WI | When to baseline |
|---|---|
| Epic | G2, G5 |
| Feature | G2, G5 |
| Requirement | G2 (directly or indirectly by baselining related Feature items) |
| Test case | Before the start of the formal test |
| Code Review Request/Response | G4, G5 |
Work Item baseline creation
Every work item in ADO has a revision number that is changed when the item is updated, like when a field value is added, a new discussion point is entered, etc.
However, work items cannot be locked to a specific revision, thus making it impossible to keep a baseline in ADO that is locked at, for example, project closure.
In order to set a defined version of the work item that is valid at a specific point in time, the work item information has to be extracted and saved elsewhere.
Proposed workflow to baseline work items:
- Define or select a query that retrieves the work items to be baselined.
- When reaching the point in time when a baseline is to be locked, run the query.
- Extract the work items found by the query to a document or to another work item.
- Save the document in DMS or the work item in ADO.
- Perform appropriate reviewing procedures.
Future improvements to baselining in ADO
There exist other methods that can be used for baselining work items in a more straight-forward way, which would mean saving revisions more accessible without data extraction to WIs or DMS. Several methods and tools are under evaluation within the organization and will be added to this guideline when fully implemented.