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azure-devopsproject-templateopshub

Automate removal of TFS project template customization

Background

We're currently looking to migrate our TFS projects over to VSO.

To do this we're making use of the OpsHub tool.

VSO doesn't support custom templates (not until Summer at least, which is too late for us), and OpsHub can't migrate projects where the project templates in source and destination don't match.

As such we need to revert our TFS projects to use vanilla templates. Microsoft have confirmed this / supplied a list of partners who could (for a fee) aid in unpicking these customization.

Before hiring in a third party I wondered if there were any tooling which could allow us to do this in house for relatively little pain.

Question

Is anyone aware of any tools or scripts which may aid in reverting from a custom TFS template to a vanilla one? e.g. performing tasks such as:

  • Mapping new lookup values to vanilla equivalents
  • Moving new field's data to name/value pairs appended to the end of description or comment fields.
  • Stripping custom fields/values from the template once the project's data has been updated as above & thus those fields have become superfluous.

Glossary & Acronym Definitions:

Solution

  • Removing customization is a fairly easy process which is briefly outlined at https://www.visualstudio.com/get-started/setup/migrate-team-projects-vs (step 1b).

    OIM will allow more flexible mapping and ongoing delta sync to allow for warm cutover. It is a paid product and with the additional knobs, it requires additional