Managing Process Templates

Process templates are uploaded to a team project collection and stored in Visual Studio Team Foundation Server. By managing the set of process templates that are stored for a team project collection, you determine the set of templates that are available for selection when a project lead creates a team project. The New Team Project Wizard retrieves the list of process templates that have been defined for a team project collection.

You manage process templates by using the Process Template Manager in Team Explorer. You can upload, download, and delete process templates, and you can mark a template to appear as the default in the New Team Project Wizard.

The first step in customizing a process template is to download a copy of the source files for that template. After you customize the process template, you must upload the new version to the team project collection. For an overview of how to customize process templates, see Step-by-Step Customization Process.

Common Tasks

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Copy process template files to your local computer. To customize a process template, you must first download it either from the team project collection or from the Web.

Download a Process Template

Make a process template available for selection in the New Team Project Wizard. To create team projects that are based on a new or customized process template, you must upload the template to the team project collection where you will create the team project.

Upload a Process Template

Make a process template the default for selection. You mark a process template as the default so that it appears in the New Team Project Wizard as the default selection.

Set a Process Template as the Default Process Template

Remove a process template from a team project collection. If a process template is no longer needed, you can delete it from the team project collection. By deleting the template, you ensure that no team projects can be created from the template.

Delete a Process Template

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Update a process template to support previous customizations. When Team Foundation Server is upgraded from an earlier version, the process templates that have been defined for Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) are replaced with the most recent versions. To use the most recent features that are available with the updated templates and to access customizations that you made previously, you must add the customizations to the new templates.

Review the process for customizing and verifying process template changes. To customize a process template, you first download an existing or blank process template, modify or add files, upload the process template files, and then verify the changes that you have made.

Select a process template that best matches your process requirements. A process template defines the types of work items that you can track. It also defines the default rules, policies, security groups, and queries for use by team members.

Create a team project. You create a team project by using the New Team Project Wizard. This wizard runs the set of instructions that are provided in the process template files to configure initial settings and upload artifacts and template files.

See Also

Concepts

Step-by-Step Customization Process

Working with Process Template Files

Customizing Process Templates