Defect tracking is the process of recording and tracking problems or bugs found while testing software. It is also referred to as issue tracking or bug tracking. In large systems, there may be hundreds or thousands of bugs. Each one must be weighed, tracked, and prioritized for bug fixing. In certain circumstances, it may be necessary to track faults over an extended period of time.
Defect tracking is an important step in software development because complicated and mission-critical systems have hundreds of defects.
Managing, evaluating and prioritizing these issues is one of the difficult aspects. As time passes, the number of bugs increases, and a bug tracking system is used to handle them effectively and simplify the work
How Defect Tracking Works?
A software error happens when a program or application does not function as planned. Errors made by system architects, designers, or developers account for the majority of defects. When developing and testing an application, test teams utilize bug tracking to keep track of and report on issues.
According to Wikipedia, “a database that stores information about known problems is a significant component of a bug tracking system.” “Facts” include information regarding when a defect was reported, its severity, improper programmed behavior, specifics on how the bug was replicated, as well as the names of the reporter and any programmers who might be able to repair it.
Why bug tracking is important?
It is said that software developers produce 100 to 150 errors per thousand lines of code. “Even if only a tiny number-say 10%-of these issues are problematic, a very small application with 20,000 lines of code contains about 200 serious coding errors,” according to a report by the Consortium for IT Software Quality (CISQ).
To detect and minimize defects, software testing is critical. Testing teams are responsible for managing all bugs found through a good QA process that can find hundreds or even thousands of bugs. By helping testers prioritize, monitor and report on the status of each bug, bug tracking is integrated into the testing workflow to increase productivity.
Which Bug Tracker is the best?
- Well, it depends since there are a few factors to consider: for example, simplicity. If there are non-tech people in the team and you choose a complex tool, its adoption can be challenging. You will have to train your non-tech people and that might take too much time and resources. So, it is highly recommended that the bug tracker is simple enough and easy to use for everyone.
- Another thing to consider is the workflow. If one and the same issue travels from one team member to another then a simple workflow won’t work. However, if you are a small team, a simple workflow might be perfect for you.
- The third thing to consider is the policies i.e. you should take into account your company policies when deciding which bug tracker to use. Sometimes, clients and other stakeholders do not want software teams to use external software. On the other hand, if you are going to use a self-hosted bug tracker, it might require a whole lot of attention due to its maintenance issues.
And there are of course some other things to consider based on your business type and client requirements. So, you might want to take a closer look at a few bug trackers in order to decide which one to use.
VReli helps turn client feedback into actionable tasks. Your clients report issues by making annotations from the site. And the software turns these into bug reports which you can use to fix the problem.
See what you can do with VReli:
- Submit feedback and easily report issues directly from your website;
- See where the issue was reported;
- Automatically attach a screenshot with every bug report;
- Manage, assign, and prioritize tasks through the visual task board;
- Use it for unlimited projects;
- Export data to use for reporting;