AZ-400 Configure processes and communications Practice Question
A team uses Azure Boards and wants to ensure that work items moved to the 'Done' state require a completed code review. What should they configure?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse Azure Repos branch policies (which enforce code review on pull requests) with Azure Boards work item rules (which enforce conditions on work item state transitions), leading candidates to select Option D instead of A.
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
✓
Add a work item rule in the process template to require a code review for the 'Done' transition.
Azure Boards allows you to define work item rules within the process template that enforce specific conditions on state transitions. By adding a rule to the 'Done' transition that requires a completed code review (e.g., via a custom field or check), you ensure work items cannot be moved to 'Done' without meeting that prerequisite. This is done through the inherited process customization in Azure DevOps, where you can add rules to the work item type's state transition.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Add a work item rule in the process template to require a code review for the 'Done' transition.
Why this is correct
A process template rule is the correct mechanism in Azure Boards because rules can enforce conditions on state transitions, such as requiring a custom 'Code Review' field to be completed before a work item is allowed to move to 'Done'.
- ✗
Modify the work item type definition to add a custom field for code review status.
Why it's wrong here
Adding a custom field to the work item type definition simply provides a place to record code review status; without a corresponding rule or constraint on the 'Done' transition, it does not enforce that a review actually occurred.
- ✗
Use a tag to mark work items as code-reviewed before moving to 'Done'.
Why it's wrong here
Tags in Azure Boards are purely ad-hoc metadata labels that can be manually added or removed by any user with edit permissions; they carry no conditional logic or validation hooks. Because tags cannot be used in process rules, there is no way to evaluate whether a specific tag exists before permitting a work item state transition, so a missing tag will never block or prevent moving to 'Done'. Moreover, tags are not stored as work item fields that can be reference in rules, making them incapable of enforcing any part of a Definition of Done. While you could search or group by tags, they remain indicative, not prescriptive.
- ✗
Configure branch policies in Azure Repos to require pull request approvals.
Why it's wrong here
Branch policies in Azure Repos enforce pull request approvals on code branches, but they are scoped to the Git repository and do not interact with Azure Boards work item state transitions, so they cannot require a code review before moving a work item to 'Done'.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
Key term
DevOps
DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the development lifecycle and deliver high-quality software continuously.
Key term
Azure Boards
Azure Boards is a work tracking and project management service from Microsoft that helps teams plan, track, and discuss work across the software development lifecycle using Kanban boards, backlogs, and dashboards.
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