How to create Azure DevOps work items within Siteimprove

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a platform that provides issue tracking and project management functions for software projects. 

For customers using Azure DevOps, we provide the ability to connect your Siteimprove subscription so you can open Azure DevOps work items (e.g. tasks, issues) from within the Siteimprove platform.

For information on integrating Siteimprove with Azure DevOps see the article - "Siteimprove’s Azure DevOps connector"

After you have set up the connection, options to create work items will be available within the Policy, Accessibility, QA, and SEO modules. This allows you to report issues found by Siteimprove directly into your issue tracking tool. 

This article includes information on:

• Creating a work item from Policy
• Creating a work item from Accessibility
• Creating a work item from Quality Assurance
• Creating a work item from SEO
• Creating a work item from Performance
• The Azure DevOps work item form
• Managing work items

Creating a work item from Policy

1. Select Policy > My Policies in the left menu.
2. Identify the policy for which you want to create a work item.
3. Select the “Create new Azure DevOps work item” icon to the right of the policy.
4. Complete the “Create new work item” form within the modal presented.

It is also possible to create work items at the page level by selecting the specific Policy and then clicking on the “Create new work item” button to the right of the page title.

Creating a work item from Accessibility

1. Select Accessibility > Issues in the left menu.
2. Identify the Issue for which you want to create a work item.
3. Select the “ Create new Azure DevOps work item” icon to the right of the Issue.
4. Complete the “Create new work item” form within the modal presented.

It's also possible to create work items at the page level in Accessibility by selecting the specific issue and then clicking on the “Create new work item” option to the right of the page title.

Creating a work item from Quality Assurance

You can create work items in the following 4 locations within Quality Assurance:

• Quality Assurance > Links > Pages with broken links in the left menu.
• Quality Assurance > Links > Broken links in the left menu.
• Quality Assurance > Spellings > Pages with Misspelling or Words to Review in the left menu.
• Quality Assurance > QA Overview > See all issues below the “Fix these issues” table.

Once you identify the Issue for which you want to create a work item.

1. Select the “Create new Azure DevOps work item” icon to the right of the Issue.
2. Complete the “Create new work item” form within the modal presented.

Creating a work item from SEO

1. Select SEO > Optimize > Issues and Recommendations in the left menu.
2. Identify the Issue for which you want to create a work item.
3. Select the “Create new Azure DevOps work item” icon to the right of the Issue.
4. Complete the “Create new work item” form within the modal presented.

Creating a work item from Performance

You can create a work item from Suggested Improvements under the Page Overview and Measurement Results pages under Performance:

1. Select Performance > Page Overview and select a page or navigate to Performance > Page Overview > Page Performance > Measurement Results. 
2. Under the Suggested Improvements area identify the Issue for which you want to create a Jira.
3. Select the “Create new Azure DevOps work item” icon to the right of the Issue.
4. Complete the “Create new work item” form within the modal presented.

The Azure DevOps work item form

Each of the examples above requires you to complete the Azure DevOps work item form.

• Admins/Account Owners are able to customize the Azure DevOps work item form for specific projects and work item types under the Integrations menu. For more details on how to customize this please review the article How to create, map and configure fields in a work item/task template.
• Some fields within the form modal box are prefilled for your convenience. These can be edited as required. See How to create, map and configure fields in a work item/task template.
• The modal displays the fields required to create the work item. Not all fields are mandatory.
• Fields are inherited from your Azure DevOps account and the functionality is subject to the same limitations as Azure Dev Op’s user interface for a given account or user.

Managing work items

When work items have been created, the number of tasks for each issue will be shown alongside the issue. These tasks can be managed within the modules, i.e. Policy, Accessibility, QA, and SEO. Clicking on the number of tasks allows you to view the status of the work item, create a new work item, or delete work items.

You can manage work items at Integrations > Task Management > Tasks under the "Azure DevOps work items" tab.

Here you can see the work items, IDs, status, module, and connection details. You can filter the list and delete work items that are no longer required.

Note: When you delete work items from your Siteimprove account, they are not deleted from Azure DevOps. You are deleting the work item reference within your Siteimprove account.

Siteimprove is happy to help with questions regarding configuring the integration. Siteimprove does not provide support or product help for the third-party software with which you are connecting.