How do I categorize a bug as something else than bug in TFS 2012?

Question

What is the simplest way in TFS 2012 to classify a bug as something different than "bug", such as Enhancement or Change Request or Feature.

In mantis there is a category field that can be set, and its allowable values come from an modifiable list.

Can the same be done in TFS?

Answer 1

In visual studio 2017, when you open the bug, it opens to a web page. On that page on the right hand side there is a "..." (Action) button. This drops down to include a menu item that says "Change Type".

From this you can make the item a "task", "Epic", etc.

These titles may be different depending on if you are using an Agile template or some other template for the project.

This is using TFS online. I don't know if TFS 2012 has the same feature in the same place, but it might point you in the right direction.

Answer 2

I ended up creating a new work item type. Here are the steps I followed (using VS 2015 with TFS 2012):

1. I downloaded all the files associated with the default process (Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 2.0) using Team->Team Project Collection Settings->Process Template Manager... and clicking Download
2. Went to the folder where the bug.xml file was: <export folder>\Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 2.0\WorkItem Tracking\TypeDefinitions, copied the file, pasted it, renamed it to enhancement.xml, opened it and replaced the word Bug with Enhancement
3. From the command line I ran witadmin importwitd /collection:"http:..." /p:projectName /f:"path to the enhancement.xml file"

The Enhancement work item type appears now in the list under the New button.