Troubleshooting issues for Azure DevOps integration with Agile Development

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Troubleshooting issues for Azure DevOps integration with Agile Development

    This guide helps ServiceNow customers resolve common challenges when integrating Azure DevOps with Agile Development 2.0. It addresses typical issues encountered during data synchronization and provides actionable steps to ensure smooth operation between both platforms.

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    Common Issues and Solutions

    • Export Action Not Working: Verify that your custom map configuration is valid with required fields mapped. Confirm the Enable Export checkbox is selected and the Azure DevOps password is current.
    • Sprints Not Imported: New Azure DevOps iterations create Agile Development sprints only after adding work items. To maintain data consistency, create sprints directly in Agile Development and avoid overlapping sprints.
    • Assignment Group Missing for Stories or Epics: Ensure teams are linked to assignment groups in Agile Development and project integration settings exist for Azure DevOps teams. If Azure DevOps work item areas map to multiple teams, manually assign the group in Agile Development.
    • Field Values Not Populated: Check the configuration of custom field maps for general fields, and custom state maps for Priority or State fields.
    • User Updates Not Reflected: Avoid using the same user credentials for integration setup and record updates to ensure changes propagate correctly.
    • Deleted Items Not Removed in Agile Development: Confirm the Can Delete permission is enabled on relevant tables. Note that deleting projects, teams, or areas in Azure DevOps requires manual deletion of corresponding Agile Development records by administrators.
    • New Projects Not Auto-Imported: Manually trigger project discovery or set scheduled jobs to import updates daily.
    • Imported Work Items Lack Assignment Groups: Associate Azure DevOps projects with assignment groups via team integration settings to populate this field properly.
    • Iteration Changes Delayed: Perform manual imports or schedule jobs to sync iteration updates promptly.
    • UI Action Errors on First Use: Retry Connect, Disconnect, and Validate and Fix actions if errors occur initially, as this is a known transient issue.
    • HTML Field Rendering Issues: Special characters like & in the Description field display as & because HTML field mapping is unsupported.
    • Export Continues When Webhooks Are De-registered: Webhooks only control data import. To stop exports, uncheck the Export Work Items option.

    Enabling Detailed Logging

    For in-depth troubleshooting, enable the integration project logging property to capture detailed logs about the Azure DevOps and Agile Development synchronization. This helps diagnose issues more effectively.

    Resolve common issues that you might face while working with the integration of Azure DevOps and Agile Development 2.0.

    Issue Action

    The export action is not working.
    • Review your custom map configuration.

      If your custom map configuration is invalid or if the required fields are not mapped for that work item, export does not work.

    • Ensure that the Enable Export check box is selected for the project.
    • Check to see if your Azure DevOps password has expired.
    Sprint is not imported from Azure DevOps to Agile Development 2.0. Sprints are not imported to Agile Development 2.0 for one of the following reasons:

    • Any new iterations created in Azure DevOps do not create a corresponding sprint record in Agile Development 2.0 immediately.

      When a work item is added for the first time to the new iteration in Azure DevOps, only then a corresponding sprint record is created in Agile Development 2.0.

      To ensure consistent data across the two applications at all times, create sprints in Agile Development 2.0.

    • Ensure that there are no overlapping sprints.

    An assignment group is not populated for a story or an epic.

    If the team is not associated with an assignment group in Agile Development 2.0, it can result in assignment group not being populated. Verify that project integration settings exist for your Azure DevOps team.

    If the area of a work item is mapped to multiple teams, the assignment group for that work item in Agile Development 2.0 is empty. In such cases, you can manually select an assignment group for this work item.

    A value from a field in Azure DevOps is not populated in Agile Development 2.0.

    Verify if the custom field map is configured.

    The value of Priority or State fields from Azure DevOps is not populated in Agile Development 2.0.

    Verify if the custom state map is configured.

    An update by a user in Azure DevOps is not updated in Agile Development 2.0.

    Ensure that the user credentials that are used to set up the integration of Azure DevOps with Agile Development 2.0 are not used to perform record updates.

    The work item is deleted in Azure DevOps but not deleted in Agile Development 2.0.

    Ensure that the Can Delete field in the Application access of the respective tables is set to true.

    For details, see Table design and runtime settings.

    Deleting a project, team, or area does not result in any action in Agile Development 2.0.

    After deleting the project, team, or area in Azure DevOps, the Azure DevOps administrator must manually delete the corresponding Azure DevOps project and its associated stories in Agile Development 2.0.
    New Azure DevOps projects are not imported automatically. Manually discover projects from the Azure DevOps instance record to immediately synch the project updates or schedule a job to discover and import these updates on a daily basis.

    For more details on the scheduled jobs, see Schedule jobs to import projects, teams, areas, and work items from Azure DevOps.
    Imported work items (epics and stories) of a project have no assignment group associated with them.

    Ensure that you have team integration settings for this project. For more information, see Associate Azure DevOps projects with assignment groups in Agile Development 2.0.

    The assignment group associated to any imported work item of an Azure DevOps project is based on the team integration settings of that project. If the project does not have any team integration setting, the imported work item will have an empty assignment group.
    Changes made to iterations in Azure DevOps are not reflecting immediately in Agile Development 2.0. Manually import iterations from the Azure DevOps project record or schedule a job to discover and import these updates daily.

    For more details on the scheduled jobs, see Schedule jobs to import projects, teams, areas, and work items from Azure DevOps.
    The UI actions for Connect, Disconnect, and Validate and Fix result in an error when using for the first time. This error is a known issue. Retry the UI action.
    When the Description field has & in Azure DevOps, it renders as & in Agile Development 2.0. The field mapping between Agile Development 2.0 and Azure DevOps is not supported for HTML fields.
    Export still works when the webhooks are de-registered. Webhooks are only to import data from Azure DevOps to Agile Development 2.0. To stop the export of workitems, de-select the Export Work Items checkbox for the project.

    Enabling detailed project logs

    To view all the details on project logging, enable the integration project logging property. For more information, see Enable detailed project logging in Microsoft Azure DevOps Integration with Agile Development 2.0.