| The Basics of a Bug Tracking Report |
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The bug tracking report is one of the most important elements of a bug tracking system. The report is what tells every detail about a bug and how it was handled or is begin handled. It is very important that each report is detailed. Bug tracking reports need to include certain pieces of key information. The following explains what should be in each and every report issued.
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- Name of bug. This should be something recognizable by everyone on the bug tracking team. It needs to be something that identifies the bug, yet is also easy to remember. Some bugs are well known and already named; in this case the known name should be used.
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- Bug ID. This is used strictly within the companies bug tracking system. The ID used can be a number or letter, but it should be consistent with all the other bug IDs
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- The name of the application effected. This should be given so that it is known where the bug has attacked and will greatly aid in the bug tracking process.
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- The description of the area where the bug occurred. This means the webpage, function or other area where the bug's effects were found.
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- The place the bug occurred. This is where the bug occurred, such as a browser, program or operating system. This should also include identifying information about the area, such as version, so when bug tracking it can be easily found.
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- The effect of the bug. This is the severity of the bug as identified by the company's predetermined categorizing system and the effects the bug had.
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- The category of the bug. This is the category that identifies the effect the bug had. This could be that it affected the function, security or was just a general effect.
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- The priority of the bug. This is the importance of handling the bug and tells how quickly bug tracking needs to start. It should be a generally recognized level of priority that has been set by the company.
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- The status of the bug. This is going to tell if the bug is still open, being worked on or fixed.
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- Test information. This is going to identify the corresponding tests that were done to find, track and handle the bug.
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- Description of the bug. This needs to be very detailed and explain everything that needs to be known about the bug.
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- How to reproduce the bug. It is important to be able to reproduce the bug during bug tracking as this is a key to understanding how to fix the bug.
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- Results. This should be a summary about how the bug was handled and what the outcome was.
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- Comments. This section is for anything else that is important about the bug or any comments testers may have to give the rest of the bug tracking team.
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