Problem/bug/error tracking system
A bug tracking system or defect tracking system is a software application that keeps track of
reported software bugs in software development projects. It may be regarded as a type of issue
tracking system.
Many bug tracking systems, such as those used by most open-source software projects, allow
end-users to enter bug reports directly. Other systems are used only internally in a company or
organization doing software development. Typically bug tracking systems are integrated with
other project management software.
A bug tracking system is usually a necessary component of a good software development
infrastructure, and consistent use of a bug or issue tracking system is considered one of the
"hallmarks of a good software team".
Components of tracking system
A major component of a bug tracking system is a database that records facts about known bugs.
Facts may include the time a bug was reported, its severity, the erroneous program behavior, and
details on how to reproduce the bug; as well as the identity of the person who reported it and any
programmers who may be working on fixing it.
Typical bug tracking systems support the concept of the life cycle for a bug which is tracked
through the status assigned to the bug. A bug tracking system should allow administrators to
configure permissions based on status, move the bug to another status, or delete the bug. The
system should also allow administrators to configure the bug statuses and to what extent a bug in
a particular status can be moved. Some systems will e-mail interested parties, such as the
submitter and assigned programmers, when new records are added or the status changes.
Main benefits for having this tracking system
The main benefit of a bug-tracking system is to provide a clear centralized overview of
development requests (including both bugs and improvements, the boundary is often fuzzy), and
their state. The prioritized list of pending items (often called backlog) provides valuable input
when defining the product road map, or maybe just "the next release".
In a corporate environment, a bug-tracking system may be used to generate reports on the
productivity of programmers at fixing bugs. However, this may sometimes yield inaccurate
results because different bugs may have different levels of severity and complexity. The severity
of a bug may not be directly related to the complexity of fixing the bug. There may be different
opinions among the managers and architects.
A local bug tracker (LBT) is usually a computer program used by a team of application support
professionals (often a help desk) to keep track of issues communicated to software developers.
Using an LBT allows support professionals to track bugs in their "own language" and not the
"language of the developers." In addition, an LBT allows a team of support professionals to track
specific information about users who have called to complain — this information may not
always be needed in the actual development queue. Thus, there are two tracking systems when
an LBT is in place.
Defect Tracking Objectives
1. Provide the ability to track defects/problems
2. Provide a defect tracking database
3. Provide project-level data entry support
4. Provide defect tracking/problem reporting workflow management
5. Provide standardized and custom query/reporting capabilities
6. Provide integration to software Version Management system
7. Provide integration to Help Desk system
8. Provide management information (cost of quality) and operational information (support
project level testing process)
9. Facilitate communication among testers/developers, the help desk, and management.
