It's all about the answers!

Ask a question

How to default "Filed against" field for work item


Michael Harris (2114) | asked Sep 16 '10, 3:45 p.m.
We have exactly one work item category and do not plan to have any more in the future. How do we configure RTC to automatically set the value of the "Filed against" field to our one work item category?

Alternately, is it safe to eliminate this field from all work items since we do not use it?

7 answers



permanent link
Chris Zardis (6134) | answered May 27 '11, 10:48 a.m.
In RTC 3.0 this is definitely possible (I am not sure whether these options are exposed in previous versions).

==== 1) Define a default value ====

From the eclipse client...
Go to "Team Artifacts"
Right click the Project Area and click "Open"
Open the Process Configuration tab

Navigate as follows...
Project Configuration
> Configuration data
> > Work Items
> > > Attribute Customisation

This view allows you to define default values, calculated values and validation rules.

Click "Add..."
Specify a name to identify the default value (e.g. "Default Team")
Choose the Category "Default Values"
Choose the Type "Category" (it is these Categories that are listed in the "Filed Against" drop down)
Click "OK"

Your new default value (e.g. "Default Team") will now appear in the list of Default Values in the Attribute Customisation view.

Select your default value (e.g. "Default Team")
On the right hand side a section called "Configuration" will appear. Under "Category:", click "Select..."
Then select the category you would like to be your default... e.g. "My Team".

==== 2) Assign your default value in the work item workflow ====

Navigate as follows...
Project Configuration
> Configuration data
> > Work Items
> > > Types and Attributes

At the bottom of this view are a list of attributes...
Select "Filed Against" and click "Edit"
Under Default Value you should now be able to select "Default Team".

You're finished! When you create a new Work Item in this Project Area, it should automatically be Filed Against "My Team".

permanent link
Geoffrey Clemm (30.1k33035) | answered Sep 16 '10, 10:34 p.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER
Just to confirm, this means that you have only one team in the project
area for a given timeline? (Since the Filed Against field is what
determines which team a work item is assigned to, if there is only one
category, then all work for a given timeline will always be assigned to
the same team).

Cheers,
Geoff

On 9/16/2010 3:53 PM, harrismd wrote:
We have exactly one work item category and do not plan to have any
more in the future. How do we configure RTC to automatically set the
value of the "Filed against" field to our one work item
category?

Alternately, is it safe to eliminate this field from all work items
since we do not use it?

permanent link
Ralph Schoon (63.1k33645) | answered Sep 17 '10, 6:50 a.m.
FORUM ADMINISTRATOR / FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER
I agree to Geoff. However if you have a very small team and only one team forever......

I don't know a way to make a category the default.

If you want to have wi's assigned to a team to see it in a plan you'd have to set a category.


You could make the filed against required if you wanted to make sure it is set. Otherwise you could remove the filed against from the required properties. You wouldn't see errors anymore.

I'd however suggest to use the "unassigned" category as "Inbox". You can have a query that shows those incoming items.

One way to do it I could think of would be an extension that does set it automatically.

You also could create an enhancement request.

Ralph

We have exactly one work item category and do not plan to have any more in the future. How do we configure RTC to automatically set the value of the "Filed against" field to our one work item category?

Alternately, is it safe to eliminate this field from all work items since we do not use it?

permanent link
Michael Harris (2114) | answered Sep 17 '10, 12:20 p.m.
Just to confirm, this means that you have only one team in the project area for a given timeline?


Yes, we are a team of 4 people. We only have one category and one team area. I suppose for now we can use category="unassigned" as the "triage" queue (as suggested below). While we are only 4 people, 50 - 100 other people will have access to view and create defects on us. We're trying to have as few fields as possible on the defect form.

We're operating kinda like an open source project. Very few committers and lots of people who can get the code and submit bug reports and requests. Only the core team of 4 have access to the source files in RTC. We've blocked everyone else out. All they can do is view and create defects, stories, etc.

permanent link
Matt Wietlisbach (1145) | answered Aug 31 '12, 2:53 p.m.
I tried this and it works fine but it does make the change to all Work Item Types.  Is there a way to set a default Filed Against for only a specific Work Item Type.  For example, Story defaults to one value, task to another and so on...



permanent link
Philippe Krief (561155) | answered Jan 20 '14, 6:02 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER
Hi Folks

I'm facing the same issue with a default "Planned For". Because this attribute is a "built-in" attribute, if you change its Default value, Calculated Value, ... then it will impact all the Work Items?
This limitation is too shame.
The only work around I found so far is to create a Custom Attribute each time and have to customize a built-in attribute with the side effect that I have to migrate all already created WIs to this new attribute.
The second WI, which is more problematic, comes from the fact that some Reports or Dashboard viewlet will not work anymore because they are based on the built-in attribute...
It might worth an RFE (or does it exist already) ?
Thanks

permanent link
Tom Stapleton (23135) | answered Apr 17 '14, 2:57 p.m.
Thank you very much, Chris! I have done a lot of work around attribute customization but I never saw the Category and Iteration sets until today.

Your answer


Register or to post your answer.


Dashboards and work items are no longer publicly available, so some links may be invalid. We now provide similar information through other means. Learn more here.