AZ-400 Configure processes and communications Practice Question
A company uses Microsoft Entra ID for identity. They want to enforce that all code changes in Azure Repos require a linked work item and a successful policy evaluation. Which branch policy should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse branch policy settings that add metadata (like auto-include reviewers or comment counts) with policies that enforce mandatory linking or validation, leading them to select options that only facilitate review but do not enforce the required traceability.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Require work item linking in the branch policy.
Requiring work item linking in the branch policy ensures that every pull request (PR) in Azure Repos must be associated with a work item (e.g., user story, bug) before it can be completed. Combined with a successful policy evaluation (e.g., build validation, required reviewers), this enforces traceability and compliance for all code changes.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Set the merge strategy to squash merge.
Why it's wrong here
Setting the merge strategy to squash merge only controls how commits are combined into the target branch. It does not enforce any link between the pull request and a work item, so a PR can still be completed without traceability to a requirement or task.
- ✗
Enable 'Automatically include reviewers'.
Why it's wrong here
Enabling 'Automatically include reviewers' is a policy that adds specific reviewers based on repository or file-path rules. It improves code review coverage but does not require or validate that a work item is linked to the pull request, so it fails to meet the traceability requirement.
- ✓
Require work item linking in the branch policy.
Why this is correct
Requiring work item linking in the branch policy is correct because it enforces that every pull request must have at least one linked work item before it can be completed. This creates an auditable trace from code changes back to the original requirement or task in Azure Boards.
- ✗
Enforce a minimum number of comments.
Why it's wrong here
Enforcing a minimum number of comments only requires that reviewers leave a certain number of code review comments. Comments are free-form text within the PR discussion and are not work items, so they do not provide the required linkage to a work item for traceability.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
Key term
User story
A user story is a short, simple description of a feature told from the perspective of the end user, used in agile software development to guide work.
Key term
Pull request
A pull request is a way for a developer to propose changes to a codebase and ask other team members to review and merge them into the main project.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-400 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-400 exam.