Working with Telerik TeamPulse

If you are currently using Team Foundation Server 2010 and are a software development company, you probably already know that there is no easy way to collect feedback from your customers and incorporate or integrate that content into TFS Work Items.

Fortunately, the Telerik team has recently released software as an add-on to their TeamPulse to allow you to do just that!  It is called the Ideas & Feedback portal and is meant to allow customers to provide feedback regarding your product which can then be synchronized with your TFS Work Items.

If you are unfamiliar with setting this up in TeamPulse, below is the set of steps required to properly configure Team Foundation Server 2010 with your TeamPulse installation:

1. If you do not already have a Team Foundation Server 2010 Team Project created, you will have to create one.  When you create the Team Project make note of the Team Project Template that you are using since this will relevant when you configure TeamPulse for TFS Synchronization.  If you have previously created a Team Project, hopefully you know which Project Template was used to create the Team Project.  Generally, most organizations use the MSF for Agile Project Team Template. 
2. If you have not already done so, make sure that you have a user account which is configured as a Project Collection Administrator and a Project Administrator for the Team Project.  This information will be needed later when you configure TeamPulse for TFS Synchronization.  
1. For the Team Project Collection, you can go into Team Project Collection Settings-->Group Membership
2. For the Team Project Settings, you can go into Team Project Settings-->Group Membership
3. Now, you can install and begin configuring TeamPulse.
4. After installing TeamPulse, the first time you launch TeamPulse, you will be required to create a new TeamPulse project.
5. While creating the new TeamPulse project, make sure you choose the EXACT SAME project template as was used for your TFS Team Project.
6. After the TeamPulse project has been created, go into Settings-->TeamPulse Settings
7. Enter the TeamPulse Host Url for your TeamPulse installation.  NOTE: If you do not do this, the TFS Synchronization WILL NOT WORK!
8. Now, you will need to ensure that the Ideas & Feedback Portal will be available.  You can do this by going into Settings-->Portal Settings.
9. Make sure that the Portal Visibility is changed to "Portal is Public"
10. Now, to set up the TFS Sync Information, you can click on the Manage Sync Servers button also available from the Settings tab.
11. Enter the Server Details for the TFS Server.  In addition, make sure that the user account that you configure for the Sync Server is a Project Collection Administrator for the specified Team Project Collection.
12. After you have successfully added and saved the Sync Server information, you can click on the TFS Sync Information available from the Settings menu
13. From the list of available Server/Collection, select and highlight the Server/Collection.  This will then display the corresponding available Team Projects within the Team Project Collection.  Also, select the corresponding Team Project you wish to use for synchronization.
14. For the TFS Process Template, make sure that the selection in the dropdown list matches the Team Project Template that was used in TFS.  
15. Once that information has been verified, you can click on the "Connect to Server" button below the TFS Sync Status label.
16. If everything has been configured correctly, you should now be presented with a button displaying "Synchronize Now"
17. Well, now it is time to actually create content from the Ideas and Feedback Portal and synchronize that content with TFS!
18. From the Ideas & Feedback menu, click on the button for "Open Ideas & Feedback Portal"
19. Once the Ideas & Feedback portal opens, you should be able to create new Feedback.
20. You can search for existing items by typing some text in the search field, and if matching items are not found, you will be presented with a button to "Submit a New One".  Since this is a fresh installation of TeamPulse, go ahead and click on the "Submit a New One" button
21. When creating a new item, you will be provided with the ability to categorize your suggestion as an Idea, Feedback, Feature Request or Problem.
22. After you have entered some details for the Feedback item, go ahead and click the Submit button.
23. Now that you have entered a Feedback item, you need to map the Feedback item to a TFS Bug or User Story.  You can do this via Ideas & Feedback-->View Ideas & Feedback.
24. You can then click on the Edit icon next to each of the Feedback items (looks like conversational bubbles) and then either create a New User Story/Bug or Link to an existing User Story/Bug
25. Once that is done, you can return to the TFS Sync Information screen (under Settings-->TFS Sync Information)
26. Below the section for "What Am I Syncing", you should see the newly added Feedback item you just created through the Ideas & Feedback Portal.
27. Check the Sync checkbox next to the Feedback Item.
28. Now click on the Synchronize Now button to synchronize the items with TFS.
29. If the items were able to successfully synchronize, you should now be able to see the items in TFS.  If you are using the MSF for Agile Team Project Template, you can view the newly synchronized items by clicking on Product Backlog, below the Team Queries item in Team Explorer.
30. If you are now able to view the Work Items in TFS, you have successfully integrated Telerik TeamPulse with TFS!