Connect Azure DevOps
Connect Azure DevOps to bring your projects and work item activity into Flowstate, where they become effort, cost, capitalisation and R&D evidence. Flowstate only reads from Azure DevOps.
You need access to integrations. Ask your Flowstate admin. For the whole set-up, including linking projects, see Connect your project tool.
Before you start
- Your people in Flowstate, with the email address they use in Azure DevOps. See People and teams.
- A personal access token with the Work Items (read) and Project & Team (read) scopes, from an account that can see every project you want.
- Your organisation address, such as
https://dev.azure.com/yourorg.
You can connect one project tool at a time.
Connect Azure DevOps
- Go to Settings → Integrations, select Browse catalog and open Azure DevOps.
- Select Connect.
- In API URL, enter your organisation address.
- In API Key / Token, paste the personal access token.
- Select Test Connection. When it passes, select Continue.
- Choose whether to Auto-create Flowstate projects, then select Continue.
- Check the summary and select Complete Setup. The Configure Azure DevOps page opens.
- On the Data Mapping tab, under Project Source, choose Azure DevOps Projects or Work Item Types (e.g., Epic, Objective). Do this before the first sync: changing it later means clearing out the projects created the first way.
- On the Sync Settings tab, choose how far back to read under Initial Sync History Limit, then turn on Scheduled Sync, choose a Time of Day and select Save Schedule.
- Match people. See Match people and teams from your tools.
To come back to these settings, select Configure on the Azure DevOps row of Settings → Integrations, then Configure on Azure DevOps again.
Check it’s working
Go to Settings → Integrations → Sync Health and open the Azure DevOps tab. When the first sync has finished, the status is Healthy and the counts of Projects, Tasks, Users and Activities are above zero. See Check and fix syncing.
What syncs
- Projects or epics (depending on Project Source), their work items, who each one is assigned to, and state changes.
- Once a day at the time you choose. Add service hooks to see changes as they happen.
- Nothing goes back to Azure DevOps.
Optional settings
These are on the Data Mapping tab.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Custom Field Mappings | Uses an Azure DevOps field to put a project in a cost centre, department or value stream, or to link it to a Flowstate project by name. Select Add Mapping, enter the field’s reference name (such as Custom.Capex) in Source Field, choose a Field Type, then select Save Mappings. |
| Delivery Status Mapping | Matches Azure DevOps states to Flowstate’s delivery statuses. A linked project’s status then comes from Azure DevOps. |
| Effort Tracking Configuration | Chooses which work item types count towards effort, under Task Types to Include. This applies to your whole organisation. |
See changes as they happen
Add service hooks in each Azure DevOps project you sync:
- In Flowstate, open the Webhooks tab and copy the Webhook Endpoint URL.
- In Azure DevOps, open the project and go to Project Settings → Service Hooks.
- Select + Create subscription and choose Web Hooks.
- Choose the trigger Work item created.
- Paste the URL, leave authentication blank, and finish the subscription.
- Repeat for Work item updated and Work item deleted. Work item commented is optional.
Replace expired credentials
If the token expires or is revoked, syncing stops and a red banner says “Azure DevOps authentication failed — sync is paused.”
- In Azure DevOps, create a new personal access token with the Work Items (read) and Project & Team (read) scopes.
- Open Azure DevOps’s settings and, on the Connection tab, select Edit Credentials.
- Paste the new token into API Key / Token and select Save Changes.
Done when: the banner has gone. To sync straight away, select Sync now on Sync Health.
Start again or disconnect
On the Advanced tab, under Danger Zone:
- Purge LiveProjects deletes every project created from this connection. Use it only before syncing again with a different Project Source.
- Delete Integration removes the connection.
Neither can be undone.
If something’s not right
Nothing is showing yet. The first sync reads your history back as far as Initial Sync History Limit, so it takes a while. Sync Health shows Syncing until it’s done.
Epics aren’t becoming projects. Project Source is set to Azure DevOps Projects. Change it to Work Item Types (e.g., Epic, Objective). If projects already exist from the old setting, select Purge LiveProjects first, then sync.
The connection test fails, or syncing stops with an “authentication failed” banner. The token has expired or is missing a scope. Replace it.
Changes take a day to appear. That project has no service hooks. Add them.