Overview
SSW has been developing software since 1990, and has perfected the art of delivering
shippable code on budget and on time using Agile techniques.
We use Microsoft's Visual Studio ALM tools (was Visual Studio Team System) to provide
the backbone infrastructure that makes sure delivering software is as painless as
possible. SSW can help you leverage the power of these tools to make your developers,
testers and analysts work efficiently together.
In our experience the adoption of ALM occurs through a number of stages. Each stage
adds complexity and cost, but also provides its own benefits.
Benefits
Source Control is a fundamental part of modern software development. Whether you
have one developer or hundreds it is imperative that you can protect your code from
mistakes and loss. TFS provides this with a comprehensive version control and branching
system that stores all of its data in SQL Server.
More about Source control and Branching...
Getting your process right could be the difference between a successful project
and one endlessly spinning its wheels. When your project is in trouble your customers
become unhappy and costs can spiral out of control. However an efficient process
can help your team work together efficiently and produce that shippable unit of
work you are looking for. More about
Project and Process Management...
Low quality software costs the economy billions annually. This is due to poor productivity
and wasted resources. There is no single silver bullet, but organizations can help
themselves by using tools and processes that give themselves the best chance of
project success. SSW can help you implement an effective team development strategy
to maximize your development team's productivity.
More about Building Quality Applications...
Quality Assurance test professionals have two key goals: to validate the quality
of an application and improve software. Yet testers often seem like an island apart
from the rest of your team. To be effective, their work should be integrated in
the same ALM processes and communication workflows as everyone else. They need to
collaborate closely with developers and provide the rich information needed to resolve
bugs fast. They also need to communicate their progress to non-technical stakeholders
with easy-to-understand reports. More about
Test and Quality Assurance...
Technologies
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server (TFS) is a team collaboration
platform that combines team portal, version control, work-item tracking, build management,
process guidance, and business intelligence into a unified server.
- TFS is free if you have an MSDN Subscription, WebSpark or DreamSpark
- The TFS license includes a license for SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard for use with
TFS.
- New in TFS 2010: you do not need to use Reporting Services or SharePoint
If you are a SourceSafe user, you know VSS is an easy-to-install and easy-to-use
source control system. TFS gives you a much more powerful system including not only
version control but also work item tracking and build support. There is now an installation
option of TFS called TFS Basic which simplifies everything for you. Some features
include:
- You can use SQL Server Express (free) as the database
- The install runs in about 20 minutes and configures everything for you automatically.
- It can run on your client machine.
- You still get Version Control, Work Item Tracking and Build support.
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 comes in three flavors of MSDN all of which includes
a TFS CAL. You only need Visual Studio 2010 Professional to use these features.
Visual Studio Team System 2010 Lab Management is an integrated solution to give
you all the benefits of virtualization for application lifecycle management. It
extends the existing VS ALM platform to enable an integrated Hyper-V based test
lab, allowing you to automate your testing process, on a variety of environments
that can be setup to your needs.
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Figure: Using Lab Management in TFS 2010 you can automate your testing process
With the addition of Visual Studio 2010 Team Explorer Everywhere you can now connect
most development platforms to TFS 2010.
Related services offered by SSW:
- Implement TFS 2010 or TFS Basic
- Branching Consulting
Migrate/upgrade from TFS 2005 to TFS 2008 (discontinued) - Migrate/upgrade from TFS 2005 to TFS 2010
- Migrate/upgrade from TFS 2008 to TFS 2010 *Popular*
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TFS Integration Platform
Additional services offered by SSW:
Common Questions:
How many developers do I need before I need TFS?
The short answer is: one. Whether you have one developer or thousands, TFS will
scale to your needs with an excellent pricing model that competes with VSS. If you
already have MSDN, you can use it with no extra cost.
I use free Open Source products so I don't need TFS, do I?
If you add up the cost of managing and maintaining the many products that you use
to provide a similar solution I think you would be shocked. Usually it is your developers
who absorb this cost making it difficult to quantify. With TFS all your support
comes from one company and with prices starting from free (with MSDN) and unmatched
scalability there really are no competitors up to the job.
Australia and World Wide
We have consultants available in all Australian capital cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra.
We also have consultants in Beijing, China and San Francisco, USA.