It appears that software testing is an intangible activity. The test engineers’ hard work and creativity are not seen by other project members. All their efforts result only in error reports.
That is why experienced specialists in web site testing, desktop testing and mobile application testing know that it is not enough to quickly find defects in course of compatibility testing, user interface testing, localization testing and other activities. No less important is to write the error reports correctly.
If the report is incomprehensible or unclearly explains how to reproduce the defect, the developers will spend much time on figuring out the defect essence or will not be able to reproduce it.
There are a lot of various tools for error tracking and test management that are used in order to simplify and streamline communication between project members and the process of error reporting.
Regardless of the Utilized Error Tracking System an Error Report Must Contain:
- the name of the reporter;
- name, version, build number of the tested application;
- detailed information about the device, operating system, browser and other peculiarities of the test environment;
- priority, severity and status of the defect;
- name of the developer or another team member to whom the defect is assigned;
- short information about the defect;
- more detailed description of the defect that often includes actual and expected results of the test;
- clear steps to reproduce the defect;
- additions in the form of screenshots or video records of the defect that help to understand it better.