This article explains some of the use cases and out-of-box capabilities for the integration between OnePlan and Azure DevOps using the OneConnect integration platform.

OneConnect for Azure DevOps offers a seamless approach to exchange information between development teams and project teams using OnePlan and Azure DevOps.

This integration specifically synchronizes plans from OnePlan as work items (typically stories, tasks, and bugs) and synchronizes work items back to OnePlan as tasks in the schedule or backlog items.

Use Cases

Here are some of the most popular use cases:

Portfolio Planning and Management

Strategic Planning to Agile Execution Alignment

A portfolio manager creates a plan in OnePlan to track a strategic initiative. The integration links this plan to an Azure DevOps epic. Child items (user stories, tasks, bugs or custom) are automatically synced, giving visibility into execution progress at the portfolio level.

Centralized Resource Management

Resource assignments in Azure DevOps sync to OnePlan. Resource managers use OnePlan to analyze workload and availability across projects, including those managed in Azure DevOps. This helps identify over- or under-utilization across agile teams.

Top-Down Planning with Automatic Work Breakdown

A project manager defines high-level deliverables in OnePlan and pushes them as Epics into Azure DevOps. Developers then break them down into child issues in Azure DevOps, which are automatically pulled back into OnePlan for consolidated tracking.

Capacity Planning Across Epics

Resource Managers use OnePlan to evaluate future demand based on Epics scheduled in Azure DevOps. As new Epics are created and linked, their associated effort (based on child issues) feeds into capacity models in OnePlan for proactive staffing decisions.

Execution

Progress Tracking Across Teams

PMO leaders use OnePlan to track progress of Epics across multiple teams. As teams update issues in Azure DevOps, OnePlan reflects real-time status updates without manual reporting.

Integrated Financial Planning

Cost estimates and actuals are managed in OnePlan at the plan level. Azure DevOps project activities feed time and effort data into OnePlan for budgeting and forecasting. The PMO has visibility into the financials 

Change Management and Impact Analysis

A change in Azure DevOps (e.g., scope increase or delay) automatically updates the linked plan in OnePlan. Project Managers can quickly assess the impact across portfolios or dependencies.

Skill-Based Resource Allocation

OnePlan fields are mapped to skills or roles. As Azure DevOps epics are synced, Resource Managers can see which types of resources (e.g., Developers, QA, UX) are being consumed per initiative and adjust allocations accordingly to meet delivery needs.

Reporting

Milestone and Timeline Reporting

A project manager sets target dates in OnePlan for an epic and syncs them with Azure DevOps. Developers manage the details in Azure DevOps, while the PM monitors schedule performance in OnePlan.

Unified Status Reporting for Executives

Epics across multiple Azure DevOps projects are synced into OnePlan. Executives view real-time status dashboards in OnePlan without needing Azure DevOps access.

Cross-Functional Reporting

Project data from multiple Azure DevOps projects is brought into OnePlan to provide consolidated reporting on delivery, capacity, and risk across departments.

Subscription

Azure DevOps integrations are licensed individually. A single integration can only connect to a single Azure DevOps organization.  

Review the different OneConnect Subscription types to determine which options fits your company's requirements. 

Features

The integration supports the following features:

• Create OnePlan plans from Azure DevOps epics (or similar work item types).
  • Connect existing OnePlan plans to existing Azure DevOps epics (or similar work item types).
  • Build a hierarchy of plans in OnePlan from Azure DevOps work items.
  • Automatically set the parent of imported plans in OnePlan based on field values in Azure DevOps.
• Create Azure DevOps epics (or similar work item types) from OnePlan.
• Create OnePlan tasks in the schedule from Azure DevOps items that are the child of the item connected to the OnePlan plan.
• Create OnePlan backlog items in OnePlan from Azure DevOps items that are the child of the item connected to the OnePlan plan.
• Update OnePlan tasks or backlog items from connected Azure DevOps items.
• Update Azure DevOps items from connected OnePlan items.
  • Fields for update between Azure DevOps and OnePlan can be selected.
• Importing predecessor and successor relationships from Azure DevOps into OnePlan.
• Supports custom work item types in Azure DevOps.
• Synchronize custom fields and dropdowns.
• Manual data import/export (plan by plan).
• Automatic data sync via scheduled jobs.
• Filter what data to sync.
• Choose from different OneConnect subscription levels to match your needs.

Manual and Automated Data Synchronization  

The Azure DevOps integration support both manual and scheduled data synchronization between Azure DevOps and OnePlan.

When using the manual method, items are stored in the schedule in OnePlan. The import/export process can be triggered by user action via OnePlan.

When using the automated method, items are stored in the backlog in OnePlan and synchronized based on a pre-set schedule.

Custom Work Item Types

The integration supports custom work item types in Azure DevOps. It does not matter how the work item type (epic, user story etc.) is named in Azure DevOps, as long as the integration is configured with the connect name, the data synchronization will work.

Setup Requirements

To set up the Azure DevOps integration, you’ll need to:

• Decide which authentication method you want to use in the connection with Azure DevOps.
• Decide if you want to manage your Azure DevOps data in the schedule using tasks or in the backlog.
• Decide if you want to setup automated jobs or run the integrations manually.

Setup

To configure the integration, refer to the Azure DevOps Integration Setup page.

Next Steps

After installing the integration:

• Install the OnePlan Azure DevOps PPM Extension from the Microsoft Azure DevOps Marketplace.
• Review the recommendations and best practices article for tips on how to best configure the integration.
• Configure custom work item types that you use in Azure DevOps if required.
• Configure field mappings and schedule sync jobs.
• Load data from Azure DevOps into OnePlan.
• Review how the resource plan import works.

Mind the Gap

Known limitations of the integration:

• Azure DevOps does not support assigning multiple resources to a single work item. Due to this, only the first resource assigned to an item from OnePlan will sync over to Azure DevOps.
• Depending on the amount of changes made in Azure DevOps, running a data import every hour may be unrealistic, as processing large amount of changes may take over an hour.
• Exporting predecessor and successor relationships from OnePlan to Azure DevOps is not supported. 

Troubleshooting

In case you see an error message in the log, please review the most common OneConnect errors and specific errors related to this integration first.