Could you explain the options available for project managers and business analysts to get involved in work item creation and issue tracking through Team System?

I read that Microsoft was providing free access through TFS web access.  But after reading the fine print, it looks like they may only view items that have been created or assigned to themself.  This makes it pretty much useless as they will create duplicate items, and have no concept of the general progress of the project.  It seems like a bait-and-switch to me.  Purchasing licenses for all our PMs, BAs, and UAT testers will add up quickly.  It will severely limit adoption of TFS in our organization.

PS: It also seems strange that by default the PMs and BAs get full TFS web access, and the TFS has to remember to put them into a restrictive role in order to bring them into license compliance.  Normally you start off restricted, and get added to a more liberal role once your licensing is confirmed.

Your colleagues would rather stick a fork in your eye?  Wow, thats cold.

Hi Anon,

TFS has a client license access requirement for all users. With that license, a user can use all of the capabilities that TFS offers, using any method they wish (for example, from Project Pro, Excel, TFS Web Access, the Team Project Portal, Team Explorer, etc). They use their normal licensing to gain access to the office front ends, or can download and use Team Explorer for free, or work through their browser.

In the case of a developer, normally they get this client access license (CAL) included with their Visual Studio with MSDN license, so no need for a CAL.

There is one exception to the need for the CAL, as you pointed out. That is for creating your own work items. This is mainly to support things like bug submissions, requirements submissions, etc. That was the intent of the license exception.

Hope this clarifies it for you... if you have any additional questions regarding the tooling and licensing, please reach out to us.

Wow! that was nice and simple.

great blog but lacking details such as price tiers etc

i read text only while on the road so could not watch the video

I concur with Bob H.  Blog is incomplete without pricing details.  I find this to be an ongoing issue with Microsoft.  They're very truculent about telling you how much it's going to cost.  I realize Microsoft offers a lot of different software, but how about a simple example using Office Professional?