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Sina Gulsen edited this page May 29, 2026 · 9 revisions

Admin Guide

This guide covers project-level administration for Effort Tracker, including activity type management, import/export, and data purging.

User Roles & Permissions

Feature Normal User Project Admin Org Admin
Work Item Tab
└─ Log own effort ✅ ✅ ✅
└─ View all logs ✅* ✅ ✅
└─ Edit/Delete own logs ✅ ✅ ✅
└─ Edit/Delete others' logs ❌ ✅ ✅
Reports Hub
└─ View/Query/Export reports ✅* ✅ ✅
Project Admin Hub
└─ Access page ❌ ✅ ✅
└─ Manage Activity Types ❌ ✅ ✅
└─ Import/Purge project data ❌ ✅ ✅
└─ Configure data visibility ❌ ✅ ✅
Org Admin Hub
└─ Access page ❌ ❌ ✅
└─ Manage subscription/seats ❌ ❌ ✅
└─ Export/Purge all org data ❌ ❌ ✅

* When data visibility restriction is enabled, normal users can only see their own effort logs.

Who is a Project Admin?

Members of your Azure DevOps project's Project Administrators group.

Who is an Org Admin?

Members of your Azure DevOps organization's Project Collection Administrators group.

Note: Org Admins automatically have all Project Admin permissions.

Accessing Project Settings

Navigate to Project Settings > Effort Tracker (under Boards section).

Access Denied? You must be a Project Administrator to access this page. Contact your project admin if you need access.

Admin Interface Overview

The admin interface has five tabs:

  1. Activity Types - Manage activity categories
  2. Import / Export - Data migration tools
  3. Purge Data - Delete records
  4. Users - View users in this project
  5. Options - Project-level settings (data visibility)

Activity Types

Activity types categorize effort entries (e.g., Development, Testing, Code Review).

Viewing Activity Types

The Activity Types tab shows all types for your project:

Column Description
Name Display name of the activity type
Order Display order in dropdowns
Active Whether the type is available for selection
Records Number of effort entries using this type
Actions Edit and delete buttons

Adding an Activity Type

  1. Click Add Type button
  2. Enter the Name (e.g., "Bug Triage")
  3. Set the Display Order (lower numbers appear first)
  4. Ensure Active is checked
  5. Click Save

Editing an Activity Type

  1. Click the Edit (pencil) icon on the row
  2. Modify the name, order, or active status
  3. Click Save

Note: Changing a name does not update previously saved records. Existing effort entries retain their original activity type name.

Deactivating an Activity Type

Instead of deleting, you can deactivate a type:

  1. Edit the activity type
  2. Uncheck Active
  3. Click Save

Deactivated types:

  • Won't appear in dropdowns for new entries
  • Will still display on existing entries
  • Can be reactivated later

Deleting an Activity Type

  1. Click the Delete (trash) icon
  2. Confirm the deletion

Tip: Consider deactivating instead of deleting if you may need the activity type later. Existing effort entries will retain their activity type.

Import / Export

Exporting Data

Export all effort data from your project:

  1. Go to Import / Export tab
  2. Click Export All Project Data
  3. A ZIP file downloads containing:
    • effort_logs.csv - All effort entries
    • activity_types.csv - Activity type definitions

Importing Effort Logs

Import effort entries from CSV:

  1. Click Download Template to get the format
  2. Fill in your data following the template
  3. Click Select CSV File
  4. Review the import preview
  5. Click Import

Import CSV Format

workItemId,date,hours,activityType,notes,areaPath,userId,userDisplayName
123,2025-01-15,4:30,Development,Implemented feature,Project\\Area,a1b2c3d4-...,John Doe
124,2025-01-15,1:30,Testing,Wrote unit tests,Project\\Area,b2c3d4e5-...,Jane Smith
Column Required Description
workItemId Yes The work item ID
date Yes Date in YYYY-MM-DD format
hours Yes Hours in H:MM format (e.g., 1:30 for 1h 30m)
activityType Yes Must match existing type name
notes No Optional notes (max 255 characters)
areaPath Yes Work item area path
userId Yes Azure DevOps user GUID
userDisplayName Yes User's display name

Note: All time values use H:MM format (e.g., "1:30" for 1 hour 30 minutes). This applies to both CSV import and export.

Importing Activity Types

  1. Click Download Template for activity types
  2. Fill in your types
  3. Click Select CSV File under Activity Types
  4. Review and import

Activity Type CSV Format

name,displayOrder,isActive
Development,1,true
Testing,2,true
Documentation,3,true

Options

The Options tab contains project-level settings that control how Effort Tracker behaves for users in this project.

Data Visibility

By default, all users can see all effort logs in a project. You can restrict this so that normal users only see their own entries.

To enable data visibility restriction:

  1. Go to the Options tab
  2. Check "Restrict data visibility to own records for non-admin users"
  3. The setting saves automatically

When enabled:

  • Normal users only see their own effort logs in the Work Item tab and Reports hub
  • Project Administrators and Organization Administrators can always see all data
  • Export and query results are also filtered for non-admin users

When disabled (default):

  • All users can see all effort logs in the project

Note: This setting is per-project. Each project can have different visibility rules.

Purge Data

Delete effort records from your project. Use with caution!

Purge with Filters

Delete specific records matching criteria:

  1. Go to Purge Data tab
  2. Select filter criteria:
    • Users
    • Area Paths
    • Activity Types
    • Date Range
    • Work Item IDs
  3. Click Purge Filtered Records
  4. Review the matching count and confirm the deletion

Purge All Data

Delete ALL effort data from the project:

  1. Click Purge ALL Data
  2. Type the project name to confirm
  3. Click Confirm Purge

Warning: This action is irreversible. Export your data first!

Users

View users who have logged effort in your project:

Column Description
User ID Azure DevOps user identifier
User Name Display name
Logs Number of effort entries

Best Practices

Activity Type Naming

  • Use clear, consistent names
  • Keep them concise (1-3 words)
  • Use title case (e.g., "Code Review" not "code review")

Before Major Changes

  1. Export first: Always export data before purging
  2. Communicate: Inform team of activity type changes
  3. Test imports: Try with a small dataset first

Regular Maintenance

  • Review inactive activity types quarterly
  • Archive old data via export before purging
  • Check for unused or duplicate types

Next Steps

Effort Tracker Wiki

Getting Started

User Guides

Administration

Reference

Links

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