Use this free Bug Report Template for Excel to manage your projects better.
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No software is perfect. During the QA process, bugs will be identified and documented for developers to fix them before the product is released to the public. Our free bug report template codifies that process so that developers have everything they need to replicate and resolve bugs. Download our free bug report template for Excel today.
A bug report is issued during the QA process of a software product when there’s a problem in the functionality of that software. The problem, or bug, is defined in detail in the bug report and sent to developers. They’ll follow the instructions on the bug report, which can include a screenshot, to see if they can make it happen again. Then they’ll work to fix the problem, so it doesn’t reoccur.
There are likely going to be many bugs in any software product as software is complex and layered, usually with many features to test. A bug report only captures one bug. There will be a bug report generated for each individual bug in the project, which means there will likely be many, many bug reports to resolve before a software release.
To add complexity to that, developers can be working on many projects at once, which is why bug reports must have a unique ID and detailed description, but we’ll get to that later. Suffice it to say, that a good bug report is going to be thorough in documenting the issues, so the developer has everything they need to repeat it and find out what caused it.
The main reason you need a bug report is to capture and remove problems in your software before it’s sold to the public. If you release the software with bugs, you’re going to lose customers and tarnish your brand to the point that there might be no coming back.
The bug report template ensures that the process of identifying bugs and removing them captures all the pertinent information developers need to do their jobs. That’s why a bug report template is so important. It provides a detailed bug analysis, provides visibility about the bug and directs developers toward debugging.
Obviously, this saves money and time by removing bugs earlier in the software development process and prevents bugs from going into production where they will negatively affect end users. The bug report template also can be archived and used as historical data to avoid repeating the same bugs in future releases.
Once you have the bug report, you’ll need to track the work on the bug. Kanban boards can be ideal for bug tracking. ProjectManager is an award-winning project management software that has flexible kanban boards that can be customized to reflect your bug-tracking process.
Simply add as many columns as you need and name them new, confirmed, assigned, fixed or whatever your bug cycle is. Kanban cards can describe the bug, add tags, priority and also attach the bug report and any screenshots to guide developers. Developers can comment on the task to facilitate collaboration whether they’re sitting next to each other or a time zone away. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
Our free bug report template for Excel is fully customizable. You can add or delete what you want to make it better reflect your own bug-reporting process. However, there are some items that should be on any thorough bug report. We have those on ours, which are explained below.
The bug ID will be used to identify one specific bug out of potentially many more. There are a few details that are needed to identify the bug, which are as follows.
This is where you’ll be able to describe the bug in greater detail. It’s also why a title with the bug ID isn’t necessarily important. The bug will be tracked by its ID. However, a short title and a longer description are fine, too.
Bugs don’t happen in a vacuum. One way to figure it out is by describing the environment. That means not only the software by the computer or device you’re using to use the software. It’s important to rule out every possibility in the search for the origin of the bug.
At this point, the tester will want to explain how they discovered the bug and make that clear to the developer so they can do the same thing and see if they get the same results.
For the developer to know how important the bug is, you’ll want to add the severity of the bug and the priority by which it should be addressed. There will be many bugs on the developer’s plate, and this will allow them to know which they should work on first.
This is simply a catchall for anything the tester or developer wants to add to the bug report template that has not been addressed elsewhere in the document.
Our bug report template is a great tool to capture the details of the bug. But once you start bug tracking, you’re going to find the bug report unable to keep up. You’ll want to get project management software that can help you manage and track the work to ensure it’s getting done in a timely manner. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that has the flexibility for everyone on the team to use while giving managers the tools they need to keep track of that work.
While developers might track their work on resolving bugs with kanban boards, managers might be using different tools, such as Gantt charts. In fact, all teams tend to gravitate towards the tools that best serve their purposes. Our software has multiple project views so managers can work on kanban boards, testers on task lists, stakeholders track milestones on calendars and more. Best of all, these different project views are all updated together in real time, so everyone is working collaboratively with the most updated data.
While testers and developers identify and fix bugs, there are other tasks to be done. Managers are overseeing everything and they need to get a high-level view of the work whenever they want it. All they must do is toggle over to our real-time dashboard which is automatically collecting live data and displaying it on easy-to-read graphs and charts. Now they can check on the progress and performance of the team. If they want more details or must present to stakeholders, use our customizable reports for status reports, portfolio reports and more.
If you’re not ready to upgrade to project management software, ProjectManager has dozens of free project management templates for Excel and Word that you can download right now. There are templates that cover every phase of the project, from initiation to completion. Here are just a few that are IT-related.
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ProjectManager is more than an outstanding project management software. Our website is the online hub for project management content. Our weekly blogs, guides, eBooks, tutorial videos and templates cover every aspect of project management, from start to finish. Here are just a few pieces from our vast archives which are about IT.
Whether you’re working on bug tracking, overseeing computer-related tasks in an IT department or planning, managing and monitoring technology, ProjectManager will help you do that job more efficiently. You can create team workflows, facilitate collaboration and manage resources. Our risk management features help you identify and control issues across your network. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.
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