In Azure DevOps, a “Stakeholder” is a user or role with limited access to the Azure DevOps organization or project. Stakeholders have specific permissions and are typically associated with a lower level of access compared to other user roles in Azure DevOps. Here’s what you need to know about Azure DevOps Stakeholders:

1. Limited Access: Stakeholders have restricted access to the Azure DevOps organization or project. Their access is primarily focused on viewing and tracking work items, dashboards, and basic project information.

2. Common Scenarios: Stakeholders are often used in scenarios where organizations want to provide visibility into the progress of development projects without granting full access to all Azure DevOps features. This role is commonly used for business stakeholders, executives, or clients who need to track project status.

3. Permissions:

• Stakeholders typically have read-only access to work items, boards, backlogs, and dashboards.
• They can create and view work items, but they may not have the ability to modify them or perform actions like creating pull requests or triggering builds and releases.

4. Licensing:

• Stakeholders require a valid Azure DevOps license to access the organization or project.
• Azure DevOps offers different licensing options, and Stakeholders are billed at a lower rate compared to other user roles. Licensing details can be found on the Azure DevOps pricing page.

5. Visibility:

• Stakeholders can view project boards, backlog items, sprint progress, and other project-related data.
• They can also access dashboards and reports to track project metrics.

6. Collaboration Limitations:

• Stakeholders may have limited collaboration capabilities, such as commenting on work items. They cannot perform actions that require full contributor or developer access.

7. Access to Repositories: Stakeholders may have read-only access to source code repositories. They can view code, commits, and pull requests but may not have the ability to push changes or create branches.

8. Work Item Tracking: Stakeholders can track the progress of work items and projects but may not be able to actively participate in the development process.

9. Project Visibility: Stakeholders provide a way for organizations to maintain transparency and share project status with external parties without exposing sensitive development resources.

10. Flexibility: Azure DevOps allows organizations to customize permissions and roles to meet their specific needs. You can configure access for Stakeholders based on your project’s requirements.

In summary, Azure DevOps Stakeholders play a valuable role in providing visibility and tracking capabilities to individuals or groups with limited interaction with the development process. They are cost-effective for organizations that want to grant read-only access to project data without providing full contributor or developer access. The permissions and licensing for Stakeholders can be adjusted to align with the desired level of access and collaboration.