Defects 

You can report defects during all stages of the application management process.

In this topic:

Defect overview

Locating and repairing application defects efficiently is essential to the development process. Using the Defects module, you can report design flaws in your application and track data derived from defect records during all stages of the application management process.

You use the Defects module to:

  • Create application defects for your project.

  • Track defects until application developers and testers determine that the defects are resolved.

Defect records inform members of the application development and quality assurance teams of new defects discovered by other members. As you monitor the progress of defect repair, you update the information in your project.

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Create defects

Create and track defects during the development process.

To create a defect:

  1. From the Defects module, click New Defect.

  2. In the New Defect dialog box, enter the defect details.

    UI Element (A - Z)

    Description
    Actual Fix Time

    The actual number of days needed to fix the defect. If this field is left blank, OpenText Application Quality Management automatically calculates the Actual Fix Time as Closing Date–Detected on Date.
    Assigned To

    The user name of the person who is assigned to fix the defect.
    Closed in Version

    The application version in which the defect was closed.

    Closing Date

    The date on which the defect was closed.
    Comments

    Comments about the defect. To add a new comment, click the Add Comment button. A new section is added to the Comments box, displaying your user name and the database's current date.

    Defect ID

    A unique numeric ID for the defect, assigned automatically by OpenText Application Quality Management. The Defect ID is read-only.
    Description

    Describes the defect in detail.
    Detected By

    The user name of the person who submitted the defect.
    Detected in Cycle

    The cycle in which the defect was detected.

    When assigning a defect to a cycle in the Detected in Cycle field, OpenText Application Quality Management automatically assigns its release to the Detected in Release field.
    Detected in Release

    The release in which the defect was detected.
    Detected in Version

    The application version in which the defect was detected.

    Detected on Date

    The date on which the defect was detected.

    Default: The current database server date.
    Detected on Environment

    The environment on which the defect was detected. Environments are a combination of operating systems, browsers, and so on, on which you test the application.
    Estimated Fix Time

    The estimated number of days required for fixing the defect.
    Modified

    The date and time when this defect was last changed.
    Planned Closing Version

    The version in which the defect is planned to be fixed.

    Priority

    The priority of the defect, ranging from low priority (level 1) to urgent priority (level 5).
    Project

    The name of the project where the defect occurs.

    Reproducible

    Whether the defect can be recreated under the same conditions by which it was detected.

    Default: Y
    Severity

    The severity of the defect, ranging from low (level 1) to urgent (level 5).
    Status

    The current status of the defect. Defect status can be one of the following: Closed, Fixed, New, Open, Rejected, Reopen.

    Default: New
    Subject

    The subject folder.

    Summary

    A brief summary of the defect.
    Target Cycle

    The cycle in which the defect is targeted to be fixed.

    When assigning a defect to a cycle in the Target Cycle field, OpenText Application Quality Management automatically assigns its release to the Target Release field.
    Target Release

    The release in which the defect is targeted to be closed.

  3. If you want to switch to another module while creating a defect, you can close the New Defect dialog box without submitting the defect.

    To return to the defect you are creating, click New Defect again. The defect data is retained for you to continue working on it.

    If you want to start work on a different defect, click the Clear All Fields button to clear the retained data.

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Find similar defects

You can find similar defects for an existing defect or when creating a new defect.

You can search for defects from the Defects grid, for example, to find defects related to a specific issue, or to modify a specific defect.

When creating a new defect, you can search for similar defects, for example, to avoid creating duplicate defects.

To find similar defects:

  1. Select a defect from the Defects grid.

    While creating a new defect in the New Defect dialog box, enter descriptive information in the Summary and Description fields.

  2. Click the Find Similar Defects   button. Select either Find Similar Defects or Find Similar Text.

    • Checking for similar defects is done by comparing a selected defect with other defects in your project or by comparing defects to a text string.

    • When performing a Find Similar operation, results are displayed with the most likely candidates on top. If no similar defects are found, a message is displayed.

    UI Element

    Description
    Search for:

    Text string to find.

    Letter case does not affect the results.

    The following are ignored:

    • articles (a, an, the);

    • coordinate conjunctions (and, but, for, nor, or);

    • boolean operators (and, or, not, if, then);

    • wildcards (?, *, [ ])
    Proximity %

    When searching for similar text, the results of defects found are limited to those with a minimum similarity according to this percentage.

    Default: Defects with a similarity of at least 25 percent are returned.
    Search

    Start search.

    Searchable Fields

    The fields used to find similar defects. The fields are read-only.

    Go To

    Locates the selected defect in the Defects grid.
    <defects>

    List of similar defects.

    Item

    The number of the current defect in relation to the total number of similar defects found.

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Link defects to other entities

You can link defects to requirements, tests, test sets, test instances, runs, run steps, business process tests, flows, and other defects.

Examples of when defect linkage is useful include:

  • A new test is created specifically for a defect. By creating a link between the test and the defect, you can determine if the test should be run based on the status of the defect.

  • During a manual test run, if you add a defect, a link between the test run and the new defect is automatically created.

Direct linkage

You can link defects directly to other defects or entities. When you link a defect to an entity, a direct link is added to the entity and indirect links are added to related entities.

Examples of direct linkage:

  • A new test is created specifically for a defect. By creating a link between the test and the defect, you can determine if the test should be run based on the status of the defect.

  • During a manual test run, if you add a defect, a link between the test run and the new defect is automatically created.

Indirect linage

Indirect linkage is a one-directional flow. The system indirectly links higher-level related entities only.

The diagram below shows the indirect links created if a defect is linked to a run step.

If you link a defect to a run:

  • The defect is indirectly linked to the run, the run's test instance, the test set, and the test.

  • If the corresponding test is covered by a requirement, an indirect link is also added to the requirement.

  • The defect is not indirectly linked to the run's steps, because the run steps are lower-level related entities.

  • Only direct links to defects from an entity can be deleted.

To link a defect to an entity:

  1. From the module of the entity to which you want to link a defect, select the Linked Defects tab.

  2. Link a new or existing defect to the entity.

    UI Element

    Description

    Add and Link Defect

    Opens the New Defect dialog box, enabling you to create a new defect and link the defect to the entity.

    Link Existing Defect

    Enables you to add a link to an existing defect:

    • By ID. In the Link Existing Defect dialog box, select a defect by typing the defect ID.

    • Select. In the Defects to Link dialog box, select a defect from the grid. For user interface details, see .

    Remove Link

    Removes the selected link.
    Go To
    • Go To Defect. Opens the Defects Details dialog box for the linked defect.
    • Go To 'Linked By' Entity. Opens the Details dialog box for the entity linked to the defect.
    Type of Link

    Select an option:

    • Direct links. Displays direct links only.

    • All links. Displays all links.

    Show Links for

    Determines which links to display:

    • Current Req Links. Defect links added to the current requirement only.

    • Including Children's Links. Defect links added to the current requirement and its children.

    Available from: Requirements module

  3. In a grid view, when an entity is linked to a defect, the Linked Defects  icon is added to the entity.

To view linked entities:

  • From the Defects module: Open the target defect. On the Defect Details dialog box sidebar, select Linked Entities. Click the Defects tab for linked defects or the Others tab for linked entities that are not defects.

  • From other modules and dialog boxes: Click Linked Defects on the sidebar or the Linked Defects tab.

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Assign, repair, and update defects

Periodically review defects in the project, decide which ones to fix, and modify defect statuses, target releases, target cycles, and other fields accordingly.

In the Defects module, select a defect in the Defects grid and click the Defect Details button. Fill in the fields.

Among other tasks, you can:

  • Change the status of defects that are candidates to be fixed to Open, and assign the defects to members of the development team.

  • In the Target Release and Target Cycle fields, assign the open defects to the releases and cycles in which they are targeted to be fixed.

  • Fix the open defects. This involves identifying the cause of the defects, modifying and rebuilding the application, and rerunning your tests. For example, if a defect does not recur, you can assign to the defect the status Closed. If a defect is detected again, you can reassign to the defect the status Open. When a defect is repaired, you can assign it the status Fixed.

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Analyze defects

Analyze defect data by generating reports and graphs.

Use one of the following:

  • View defect data in a graph. On the Defects module menu, select Analysis > Graphs. For task details on generating graphs, see the Generate an entity graph.

  • Create a report of defect data. On the Defects module menu, select Analysis > Project Report. For task details on creating reports, see Create and generate custom project reports.

For information on additional analysis tools, see the Analysis.

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