Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS), now largely superseded by Azure DevOps Server, was a Microsoft product that provided source code management, reporting, requirements management, project management, and testing for collaborative software development projects. Think of it as a central hub for all aspects of a software development lifecycle.

Here[SQ]s a breakdown of its key features :

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Source Control:

TFS offered version control systems (like Team Foundation Version Control – TFVC – a centralized system, and Git, a distributed system) to track changes to code, allowing for collaboration, branching, merging, and rollback to previous versions.

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Work Item Tracking:

This allowed teams to manage tasks, bugs, issues, and user stories within a structured system. It facilitated assigning work, tracking progress, and reporting on team velocity.

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Build Automation:

TFS enabled automated builds of software projects, triggering builds based on code check-ins or schedules. This automated testing and deployment processes.

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Testing:

It supported test case management, allowing for the creation, execution, and tracking of test results. This aided in ensuring software quality.

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Reporting:

TFS provided tools to generate various reports on project progress, code quality, bug trends, and other metrics, helping teams monitor performance and identify areas for improvement.

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Project Management:

It offered features for managing projects using various methodologies (like Agile or Waterfall), allowing for task assignment, tracking progress against timelines, and managing resources.

Essentially, TFS aimed to provide a comprehensive platform to manage the entire software development process within a single environment, improving collaboration and efficiency.

Why it[SQ]s largely superseded:

While TFS served its purpose well, Microsoft has transitioned to Azure DevOps Server (on-premises) and Azure DevOps (cloud-based). These successors offer improved scalability, integration with other Azure services, and a more modern user interface. While some organizations still use TFS, it[SQ]s not actively developed or recommended for new projects. Most new projects would leverage Azure DevOps instead.