Azure DevOps basics

Core concepts and terminology

Concept	Description
Organisation	The top-level container, representing a server instance. Each organisation has its own configuration and owner.
Project	A unit within an organisation that includes repositories, planning tools, and Continuous Integration (CI) & Continuous Delivery (CD) capabilities.
Team	A subset of a project, enabling smaller groups to work on specific features or components.
Access Levels	These define the available features to a user, There are three access levels: Stakeholder, Basic and Basic + Test Plans.
Access Permissions	These control specific actions (e.g. read, write, delete) on resources within projects.
Security Groups	These group users to manage permissions and apply policies consistently.

Concept	FUNCTION
Boards	Track and prioritise work using tasks, sprints, and backlogs.
Repos	Manage and store source code in Git repositories.
Pipelines	Automate code build, test and deployment processes.
Artifacts	Store build outputs, like compiled binaries and packages.
Test Plans	Define and execute test cases to ensure code quality.

Azure DevOps organises user permissions into roles. Use the table below to determine which role best suits your needs.

Role	Description
Contributor	Daily users of Azure DevOps. Key tasks: - Cloning, pushing, and pulling code in repositories. - Creating and managing work items, tasks, and bugs. - Participating in sprints and board activities. - Triggering and monitoring CI/CD pipelines.
Project Administrator	Administers specific projects. Key responsibilities: - Assigning user permissions and configuring project settings. - Setting up repositories, boards, and sprint iterations. - Creating and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and housekeeping tasks.
Project Collection Administrator	Oversees multiple projects. Key tasks: - Managing shared resources like package feeds and deployment agents. - Setting up pipelines that span projects.
Organisation Owner	Global administrator for the organisation. Responsibilities include: - Creating projects and configuring global policies. - Managing billing, subscriptions and user accounts.