How is a defect reported?
The testing or the quality assurance team reports the bugs to the development team via a detailed document called a bug report.
A bug report is a detailed document that contains the following details:
- Defect ID: A unique identification number for that specific defect.
- Description: A detailed description of the bug, e.g., the defect type, the buggy module, etc.
- Software version: The version of the software which is buggy.
- Steps: The steps required to reproduce the defect. This helps the development team trace the source of the bug.
- Date raised: The date when the defect was reported.
- Reported by: The name or unique identification of the person who reported the bug. It could be a consumer or someone from the testing team.
- Reference Material: Any material or documents that might help the development team fix the defect. This is optional.
- Current status: The current status of the defect or the current stage from the lifecycle of the defect.
- Fixed by: The name or unique identification of the developer who fixed the defect.
- Date closed: The date when the defect was fixed and marked closed.
- Severity: The severity or the impact of the defect on the overall functioning of the software. Severity could be critical, major, or minor.
- Priority: The urgency in fixing the defect. The urgency could be high, medium, or low.
How is a defect fixed?
For a defect to be fixed, it goes through an entire lifecycle. This lifecycle has the following stages:
- Defect identified
- Assigned
- Open
- Rejected
- Deferred
- Fixed
- Test
- Reopen
- Verify
- Close