Client Planning

Article
11/27/2007

Visual Studio Team System has four primary client applications: Visual Studio Team Edition for Architects, Visual Studio Team Edition for Developers, Visual Studio Team Edition for Testers, and the Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite, which includes the Team Explorer client and has features of all role-based editions.

When used with Team Foundation Server, these client applications provide additional Visual Studio user interfaces to capabilities such as source control, work item tracking, team Web sites, reporting, process guidance, build management, and test execution.

Note

It is possible to install multiple Visual Studio Team System client editions on one computer. In this case, Visual Studio Team System will unite the capabilities of the editions which have been installed. For example, if you install Visual Studio Team Edition for Architects and Visual Studio Team Edition for Testers, you will have both Visual Studio Team Edition for Architects and Visual Studio Team Edition for Testers functionality when you run Visual Studio.

Team Foundation Clients

Visual Studio Team System includes the following client editions:

**Team Edition for Software Architects **A Visual Studio Team System application focused on the software architect role.
**Team Edition for Software Developers **A Visual Studio Team System application focused on the enterprise developer role.
**Team Edition for Software Testers **A Visual Studio Team System application focused on the tester role.
**Team Explorer **A Visual Studio based application for software project management and analysis. Team Explorer provides an organized view of your team projects and includes access to Team Foundation Server features, including source control, work item tracking, and has Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel integration.

Integration with Team Foundation

Visual Studio Team System integrates with a number of other products, including:

**Microsoft Project ** Visual Studio Team System includes a plug-in to Microsoft Project that integrates Team Foundation Server work item tracking capabilities.
**Microsoft Excel ** Visual Studio Team System includes a plug-in to Microsoft Excel that integrates Team Foundation Server work item tracking capabilities.
**Windows SharePoint Services ** Visual Studio Team System includes a team project portal integrating process guidance, project documents, templates, and work item tracking capabilities.
Source Control Command Line A command line interface to the Team Foundation Server source control capabilities.

Client Architecture

The following diagram illustrates the basic architecture of Visual Studio Team System clients.

Client architecture diagram

Client Roles

Visual Studio Team System capabilities should be evaluated through role-based editions such as Visual Studio Team Edition for Architects, but also through other clients such as Internet Explorer, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft Excel. All role-based editions include the functionality provided by Team Explorer as well as specific functionality for their individual roles. By determining the roles of the people in your organization, you can determine which editions you want to evaluate, and you can more effectively plan your deployment of Visual Studio Team System.

Visual Studio Team Explorer Installation Considerations

Team Explorer can be installed and run side-by-side with other integrated development environments (IDEs), allowing access to Team Foundation Server functionality as follows:

Developers using Visual Studio 2005 Professional or Standard Editions.

Team Explorer can be installed on top of Visual Studio 2005 Professional editions, allowing access to Team Foundation Server functionality. Team Explorer must be installed on top of these editions, and cannot be installed side-by-side with Visual Studio 2005 Professional editions.
Developers using Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions.

Team Explorer can be installed and will run side-by-side with Visual Studio 2005 Express Editions, allowing access to Team Foundation Server functionality.
Developers using older Visual Studio versions, such as Visual Studio 6.

Team Explorer can be installed and run side-by-side with earlier versions of Visual Studio (including earlier versions of Visual Studio .NET), allowing access to Team Foundation Server functionality.
Developers using integrated development environments other than Visual Studio.

Team Explorer can be installed and run side-by-side with other IDEs, allowing access to Team Foundation Server functionality.

Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel as Visual Studio Team System Clients

Users can also access Team Foundation Server capabilities through Microsoft Project and Microsoft Excel by installing either Visual Studio Team System or Team Explorer on the client computer.