Closed versus Resolved
I'm sure that this has been talked about before, or perhaps its just a very stupid question, but i can't find any information on this.
What is the difference between a work item being "Closed" and a work item being "Resolved?"
I know that when checking in changesets, you can only set them to resolved, not closed. But working directly with the item, you can set them to either.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
A work item can be closed for many reasons, and none of those being because it was resolved. For instance, "Obsolete", is a good example. Closing a work item because it is obsolete is much different than closing a task because it was actually Resolved. Resolving the item usually directly relates to the contents of the work item. Closing an item is usually (but not always) enforced by independent actions or situations that are not directly related to the work item itself.
Tim, having a resolved state separate from closed depends on your workflow. Here is how we use the states: When developer fixes or "resolves" a bug in his opinion, then he marks the bug as resolved. But it then goes to tester who does further verification & regression tests to make sure it is really resolved and mark it as closed. So here resolved means the problem is resolved but still some followup work is pending. Closed mean there is no further work to be done on an item. If only closed apply to your workflow, then you could remove resolved state from work item type definition.
