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Query by rank and picklist value

Azure DevOps Services | Azure DevOps Server | Azure DevOps Server 2022 | Azure DevOps Server 2020

Use planning, ranking, and priority fields to determine the order in which your team completes work items. Effective ranking and prioritizing helps all team members understand the relative importance of each item they need to accomplish.

Rank and prioritize work items when you create your backlog.

Prerequisites

Category Requirements
Access levels - To view and run shared queries: Project member.
- To add and save a shared query: At least Basic access.
Permissions Contribute permission set to Allow for the folder that you want to add a query to. By default, the Contributors group doesn't have this permission.

Note

Users with Stakeholder access for a public project have full access to query features just like users with Basic access. For more information, see Stakeholder access quick reference.

Category Requirements
Access levels - To view and run shared queries: Project member.
- To add and save a shared query: At least Basic access.
Permissions Contribute permission set to Allow for the folder that you want to add a query to. By default, the Contributors group doesn't have this permission.

Supported operators and macros

Query clauses that specify a string or integer field can use the following operators:

  • = , <> , > , < , >= , <=
  • =[Field], <>[Field], >[Field], <[Field], >=[Field], <=[Field]
  • In, Not In
  • Was Ever

Picklist query examples

Most planning fields in the following section are either integer or string fields. For example queries of numeric or rich-text fields, see Query by numeric fields and Query by titles, IDs, and rich-text fields.

To use the In and Not In operators, enter the names or labels of items that correspond to the selected field, separated by commas. For example, to filter for Work Item Types that are either user stories or bugs, add the clause: Work Item Types In User Story,Bug.

Picklist values vary by process and organization. The examples shown are illustrative—confirm the allowed values for your process before you publish queries.

Filter for

Include these query clauses

List blocked tasks (Scrum)
(Blocked field is type String)

Work Item Type In Task
And Blocked = Yes

Priority 1 bugs (Priority field is type Integer)

Work Item Type In Bug
And Priority = 1

Features and stories that address Architectural areas
(Value Area field is type String)

Work Item Type In Feature,User Story
And Value Area = _ Architectural

Fields used to plan and prioritize work

The following table describes the fields that you can use to plan and prioritize work. Some fields are only valid for a specific process—Basic, Agile, Scrum, or Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI).

Field name

Description

Work item type

Backlog Priority 1

A number that a background process assigns to track the sequence of items on a backlog or board. To learn more about how this field works, see Use backlogs for effective project management, Backlog priority or stack rank order.

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.BacklogPriority, Data type=Double

Bug, Epic, Feature, Product backlog item, Task (Scrum)

Blocked

Indicates that no further work can be performed on the work item. If an issue opens to track a blocking problem, make a link to the issue.

  • For the Scrum process, task work items: Specify Yes or clear the field.
  • For the CMMI process work items: Specify Yes or No. Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.Blocked, Data type=String

Bug, Change Request, Requirement, Risk, Task (CMMI, Scrum)

Committed

Indicates whether the requirement is committed in the project. Specify Yes or No.

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.Committed, Data type=String

Requirement (CMMI)

Escalate

Indicates whether the issue affects the critical path of the project plan. Specify Yes or No.

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.CMMI.Escalate, Data type=String

Issue (CMMI)

Priority 1

A subjective rating of the bug, issue, task, or test case as it relates to the business. Specify one of the following values:

  • 1: Highest priority—implement feature or fix as soon as possible. Product can't ship without successful resolution.
  • 2: Medium priority. Product can't ship without successful resolution, but it doesn't need immediate attention.
  • 3: Low priority. Implementation or fix is optional, based on resources, time, and risk. If product ships without successful resolution, document the issue in release notes as a known issue.
  • 4: Lowest priority. Tracks an issue that doesn't affect usage (such as a small typo). Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Priority, Data type=Integer

Bug, Change Request, Epic, Feature, Impediment, Issue, Product backlog item, Requirement, Risk, Shared Step, Task, Test Case, User Story

Risk

A subjective rating of the relative uncertainty around the successful completion of a user story. Defined allowed values are:

  • 1 - High
  • 2 - Medium
  • 3 - Low

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Risk, Data type=String

Epic, Feature, User Story (Agile)

Severity 1

A subjective rating of the impact of a bug on the project. Specify one of the following values:

  • 1 - Critical
  • 2 - High
  • 3 - Medium
  • 4 - Low

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Severity, Data type=String

Bug, Issue (CMMI), Risk (CMMI)

Stack Rank 2

A number that a background process assigns to track the list order of items on a backlog or board in the web portal. To learn more about how this field works, see Use backlogs for effective project management.

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.StackRank, Data type=Double

Bug, Epic, Feature, Requirement (CMMI), Risk (CMMI), Task, User Story (Agile)

Time Criticality

A subjective unit of measure that captures how business value decreases over time. Higher values indicate that the epic or feature is more time critical than items with lower values.

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.TimeCriticality, Data type=Double

Epic, Feature

Triage

Indicates the type of triage decision that's pending for the work item. You use this field when the work item is in the Proposed state.

You can specify one of the following values:

  • Pending (default)
  • More Info
  • Info Received
  • Triaged

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.Triage, Data type=String

CMMI only: Bug, Change Request, Epic, Feature, Issue, Requirement, Task

Value Area 1

The area of customer value addressed by the epic, feature, or backlog item. Values include:

  • Architectural: technical services to implement business features that deliver solution
  • Business: services that fulfill customers or stakeholder needs that directly deliver customer value to support the business (Default)

Reference name=Microsoft.VSTS.Common.ValueArea, Data type=String

Bug, Epic, Feature, Product Backlog Item (Scrum) Requirement (CMMI), User Story (Agile)

Notes:

  1. To change the menu selection, see Add and manage fields (Inherited process) or Add or modify a field, customize a picklist (On-premises XML process).
  2. The sequence of items on a product backlog page depends on where you add or drag the items. As you drag items, a background process updates either the Backlog Priority (Scrum) or Stack Rank (Agile, Basic, CMMI) field. These fields determine the order in which backlog items appear on a backlog page. They're assigned to type="Order" in the ProcessConfiguration file.

More about Backlog Priority or Stack Rank fields

The Backlog Priority and Stack Rank fields don't appear on the work item forms. (To learn why, see Where is the field on the work item form to order the backlog?.)

To add the field to the form:

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