What is Issue tracking system and its stages

The Issue tracking system is the tool which helps developer and tester to find issue easily and report and share details to all team members easily from the same tool which helps the developer to fix the issue more easily and fast with the help of issue tracking system. Issue tracking is the bug or defect that comes in software development process which causes an unwanted stop in a  software project, which is a loss to the company so to track that in the software before it does more damage to the project issue tracking system is used to resolve that problem.  Example how issue tracking system works First the issue is reported on the form then developer attempt to confirm that it is the valid issue or not then he confirmed it as yes or no to the issue and if he need more information for that issue then he will request for  that then tester will provide more information about the issue then issue will be mark as confirmed on the tracker and it will be register and developer will start working on that issue and as soon as it is resolved then he will update that in the tracker as issue resolved and if issue directly updated on the tracker then as very one is working on the same platform they can know the status of that issue as open, confirmed or pending this will help other teammates to work accordingly on the project. This tracker helps developer and tester to well communicate with each other in well organized and systematic manner which helps in better collaboration within the team. Buy this if the customer calls in for any report anyone can give the exact working details on the project with all the relevant status of the project.

Issues Resolving Stages

Issue mainly consists of status like open, pending, confirm and ready

New/open:  whenever you report any issue the status will come new or open. Then the developer will first check the issue whether it is right or not like it can be reproduced or not are you able to confirm it or not or it is duplicate reported issue or whether it is a known issue or not when the developer confirms all these things then he confirms the issue.

Information Required: Now as the issue is reported now developer needs the complete detail information about the issue because if the developer gets the correct and relevant information about the issue, then it will be easy resolve otherwise developer will mark as unconfirmed and will close the case so detail information is a must for any issue.

Needs Review: Now cms maintainer will check and review the decision in this process more information is required from the same person who has reported the issue because he is the only person who knows about the issue better because he has reported it in the first place.

Confirmed: That means now it confirmed that it is the bug and reported successes. Now developer will resolve it step by step with clear instruction that how to reproduce the problem and fix it.

Pending:  It means issue fixing is still under process and patch has submitted  now tester should have the complete instruction how to fix with the help of patches

Ready to commit: That means two people have tested the issue now and it is working fine and according to the issue tracking software. On some issues you may require more people to test one file or issue, it depends on the quality of the issue.  

Fixed in Code Base: That means the issue is fixed in the form of code patches and it is verified and check with  JBS coordinator and it will be released in the next maintenance.

The Good and the Evil of Time Tracking

Time tracking is used to track the time so that we can know what type of work we have done in that particular hour or incomplete day. Which helps to calculate that how useful we have used time and how much we have wasted. Time is the most value able if it is gone once, it will never come back. But still there are people who don’t value time at all and they have to face many consequences of not valuing your time.  Like many times we got the project and we think that we will complete it slowly or we will do that later or at the end of deadline time. But when deadline finishes and you are not able to finish your project, then you realize that, might I have done this work at that point when I have wasted my time on unwanted things this is the value of time that we don’t realize at present but regret later. But time tracker helps you to record your each work and gives you the notification if you are going wrong or if your deadline is coming near but work is still pending this helps you to analyze and use your time in a correct way and properly utilize it. Everything  has its own pros and cons same goes with time tracker some feels beneficial some not.

 Like an example, There was the person in the company who sells things online to earn extra for his studies so he works from 7 in the morning till 3 pm in the afternoon just fill his requirement and side by side he used to work in the office and do their work too. But by implementing time tracker in his office, he was a complete trap and was not able to sell his things online as everything was recorded so was doing only office work that reduces his own business and then he was not able to gather enough funds for studies. But in the other hand company getting profit by knowing the employees exact working hours and they are providing salary accordingly this reduces their over cost to their employee. 

Projects of Future’s Past

The most important benefit of time tracker is having the accurate cost of the project. Many IT company runs over time and budget and delivers only 50% of their value incurred which the loss to the company, but this can be avoided if you are using proper time and project tracker and then you can see the difference.  If you are properly tracking any previous project, then that can help you in the future project and its cost. This will help to reduce the risk of the over cost in the budget.  Example like If your company does the same kind of project then and you have completed dozens of projects, then you can use the data and work for the future project and can improve the future project from previous mistake this the biggest benefits of time tracking

We Can Build It, We Have the Technology

Proper time tracking is the biggest benefits for resource allocation sometimes we get a customer who is very irritated with service and give wrong, blame to the company by time tracker and the resources we have by that we can justify you in a good manner and clear the doubt of the customer.  Resource allocation gives proper support.

What is bug testing and Some tools to help

Bug this the error that comes with the software while running which can crash that the program or you can say destroy  that software. This the coding error comes when  the developer  does  wrong coding in the development process of that software. This problem comes when developer inserts any code without the logic of it. Most of the bugs come due to human error. Bug testing checks  the bug of  the software before the release of the software which helps in smooth running of the software and bug testing works like a quality check to the project, which checks the quality and its working process that everything is working fine or not before it reaches to the customer.  But still, the major question comes that why bug test? Is people are not ethical in making the software. But the thing is everyone is not working ethically or it can be human errors as well, so to be on a safer side this practice is incurred to test the bug before it releases to the customer so that you can check all the security issue and software issue early before it gets too late that the main reason why bug testing is important.

An example that how bug testing is done like XYZ company is making a software  first developer work on software making  he gives his 100% to make it effective without any error but as a company you  not rely on the developer he can make a human error which can be a disaster to your company later. But in the same way after the developer is done if there is the gate to check the software before it reaches to the customer then it will be good and in this case, bug testing works like a gate who checks the quality and all the error and send it to the developer to fix it. This helps the company in the smooth running of the software and getting the positive feedback from the customer which will increase the revenue of the company. 

When you are buying any bug tracking tools you should keep in mind that it should be easy to use so that who are not familiar with this process can easily understand that with the help of these tools so that will be simple for them to run and execute it. That tool should be with a feature of automation this helps rectify little operator error. It should be customizable so that you can fit it according to your needs. It should be user-friendly not very complex 

Some Bug tracking tools

JIRA

This is a configuration management application ensures complete the management & handle of your application, H/W, documentation & web contents, providing a proactive support platform for software development throughout the life cycle.

Axosoft

An application with the collaborations, project planning, agile bugs & event tracking capacities. Application development teams will appreciate the ability to spontaneously manage their product backlogs, plan releases, & analyze their burn down speed.

Scopidea

This lets the designers& developers make issues reports & feature requests with just a point & click. It intuitively compiles the contextual feedbacks & bug reports with all the pieces of information required to fix the issues. Includes the browsers’, Operating Systems & automatics screenshots’. Easy enough for non-technical users to use the robust enough for the developers to like.

What is Web bug tracking?

The bug is an error occurred in the software development or defect occurred this bug comes while making the software if the coder makes some coding mistake then bug or defect comes in  the software.First of all, we should know about the bug tracking. It is an application that helps to keep a record of  all the bugs and defect reports in the software development. In other words, you can say keeping the records of all the errors for future reference in the project management cycle is called bug tracking. Web bug tracking is keeping the errors records online so that anyone from project management team can see that error from anywhere  24*7/ 365 days anytime. this web bug tracking is helpful when the employee is working from home or from the different city he/she can keep the records of all the bugs and can coordinate with the team working from anywhere in rectifying the bug or defect. Example like XYZ company is working in gaming software and there are 5 members in the team who is working for the same game app 3 of them is working in the office and two of them is working from home so how the employee will coordinate while  working on bugs for that web bug tracking is used.  By the help of the web bug tracking, an employee can coordinate with each other online and can resolve the error  and make a record of it for the future reference. By the help of web based tracking it helps the employee to work flexibly and can keep the record of it online so that there will be no miss communication between the employee  working from home or from the  office. A large number of bugs are called buggy.

Web bug tracking consists of the following  information:

WEB BUG TRACKING

Bug ID: Every error or defect should have a unique id number so that it can be tracked easily without miss communication .

Bug Description: you should mention the complete description of the error that what the error is all about how it appears.

Product version: Mention the version of the software in which the bug appears.so that it will be easier for the developer to rectify that.

Detail steps:  Complete information about  the bug that how it appears what is the root cause of it. So that developer can focus on that issue more.

Date raised: you should mention the date when that error occurred.

Reported by: Name of the employee who reported bug.

Status: That means whether that’s a new defect, older or its open or closed like that status should be mention correctly.

Fixed by: Name of the developer who fixed the issue and how.

Date closed:Date when the issue is resolved and report is closed

Severity: As per the severity developer can find the impact of a bug in the software.

Priority: By the priority set we can place orders  for fixing it.

A Major disadvantage for bug tracking, if it is not web based

If  bug tracking is not web based then it requires to download and installed the software on every computer in which you want to run this software. This will take more space on the computer and affect the speed of the computer and if it is properly not installed it will not work properly. Every time updating is required for the software so that meet up the current version requirement. 

But in a web tracking system do not require download and it is easy to access from anywhere, from any computer this can be used by multiple users at the same time without having the trouble of downloading  and hassle free and as it is web based it is updated automatically. 

What is Issue Tracking Systems and its goals?

Issue tracking system is the process of generating the list of issues as needed by the company. Issue tracking system is commonly used in the call center to update the customer issue reported by them or any employee. Issue tracking plays a vital role in the customer feedback and resolving their concern on time with all legal updations regarding the same in the report. Example like XYZ company is making antivirus software and that is installed on a customer computer, but the customer still gets the virus then he/she will give the call back to that antivirus company that virus is still coming to his/her computer after installing the antivirus. Then the agent from the company ends will ask few open-ended questions than agent will check the computer and then he will open a ticket with reference number  in the customer name and he will mention all faults and errors running on his/her computer, in that ticket and at the same time he will inform the customer that we will get back to you after the work done on his/her computer. And then he will pass the ticket to the concerned department with all the details regarding errors in that this is called issue tracking system by which we can record all issues raised by the customer and pass it to the concerned department or the same person can solve and then close the ticket. In simple words you can say that issue raised by the customer or employee should be reported in the open  ticket and ticket should be close when the issue is resolved. And for that kind of report record, the application is called issue tracking system. By Issue tracking application in a call center  the employee has a great help because when the customer call in they have a small summary of customer details on the screen with all the previous notes and issue raised by the customer that helps the call center agent to understand the customer better and can make the customer happy by resolving issues and that will be more beneficial for the company because one happy customer leads  to another customer.

WORKFLOW OF ISSUE TRACKING SYSTEM

Open Ticket--------------Work in progress-----------Resolved------------Close The Ticket

Goals of issue tracking

Each goal can be taken down differently according to the project requirement and its flow of work

Capturing: In issue tracking system agent should know that what type of the issue is customer raising and where to record that issue in the application so that it reaches to the right department.issue tracking has its own temples agent just have to select the right category when recording any issue so that it reaches to the right department for its resolution.

Recording: Employee must know that where to record the issue so that it reaches to right issue resolving person.And issue resolving employee should record each bug that he captured and how customers can prevent that in future.

Accountability: By issue tracking system employee can have each record of the ticket that who has open the ticket, what is the issue recorded who is working on it and when it will be done. It helps the developer  to focus on the main error or bug recorded  by the customer end so that they can be focused more on it. It reduces miss communication gap.

Prioritization: issue tracking system helps the employee to check the things which need more attention, what can be done next it helps the employee to plan their own chart to finish the task accordingly.

Resolving: By issue tracking system, it helps the employee to record that how he/she has resolved the issue with all solution methods. So that it can further process for the closing state.

Reviewing: It helps  the employee to check whether  the issue is properly resolved or not  with the  same expectation that customers want.

For more information visit here: https://www.scopidea.com

How to work with Bugzilla (bug tracking tool)

Let me first tell you what is a bug tracking tool??
Bug tracking tool is actually a software application that enables us to keep track of reported bugs, defects or issues. Bug tracking tool is also called defect tracking tool. There is a number of bug tracking tool available online in the market.

As we all know that Bugzilla is a bug tracking tool, which is widely used by software testers for creating reports and various other tasks. So, I think it is mandatory that every software tester should be well known to Bugzilla & its working.  Previously we discussed How to login to Bugzilla in part 1 & then we discuss that how to create reports in Bugzilla in part 2. Now today we are going to discuss that how to create graphs in Bugzilla.

Through graphs, we can view the current state of the bug database. In this, we can run reports either through HTML tables or graphical lines/pie chart. The idea behind creating graphical reports in Bugzilla (bug tracking tool) is to define a set of bugs using standard search interface & then it allows us to choose some aspect of that set to plot on horizontal as well as vertical axes. And if you choose vertical pages, then you will get a 3-dimensional plot.

Step #1:

In order to view your report in graphical representations. We first have to choose &  click on the reports from the Main Menu & after that, we have to select a graphical report from the drop down menu.

Step#2:

If for example we have to create a graph %complete vs deadline. Therefore, for this, we have to choose values on vertical as well as the horizontal axis. So, we choose %complete on vertical axis and deadline on the horizontal axis.

Now we have to set various options in order to present the reports graphically.

Ø  Vertical as well as horizontal axis

Ø  Multiple Images

Ø  Various graphs like format line graph, pie chart, bar graphs etc.

Ø  Plot data set

Ø  Classify your bug

Ø  Classify your product as well as component

Ø  Classify bug status

Ø  Select resolution

Ø  Click on generate report

After filling all these fields, we will get the required graphical report.

This is all for today’s blog on the topic Bugzilla (bug tracking tool). In our next post, we will continue our discussion and I will let know you know about Browse option, simple search option in Bugzilla and many more.

Till then please keep visiting our website www.scopidea.com for more useful & knowledgeable blogs and articles.  

How to work with Bugzilla (Bug Tracking Tool)

Previously we introduce our reader to Bugzilla, which is an efficient Bug Tracking Tool. You can go through that particular article by visiting Bug Tracking Tool (part 1). Today we are going to discuss how to create a bug report in Bugzilla.

Before moving further, let me tell you first what Bugzilla actually is???

Bugzilla is actually a bug tracking tool that allows one or more developers to keep track of various defects or bugs within the product.

We can create a bug report in Bugzilla bug tracking tool through following steps.

Step #1: In order to create a new bug in Bugzilla, visit the HOMEPAGE of Bugzilla & click on the NEW TAB from the MAIN MENU.

After clicking on the new bug, a new window appears with various fields in which you have to enter information regarding that particular bug.

 Step#2:  In the next window, you have to enter information in the following fields:

Ø  Enter Product

Ø  Enter Component

Ø  Give Component Description

Ø  Select Version

Ø  Select Severity

Ø  Select Hardware

Ø  Select Operating System

Ø  Enter Summary

Ø  Enter Description

Ø  Attach Attachment

Ø  Then after filling up all the above mentioned filled, just click on Submit button.

Ø  Please note that the above fields will vary as per the customization of your Bugzilla.

Here, the mandatory fields are marked with red asterisk.

Step#3:  After clicking on SUBMIT button, your bug ID is created & is assigned to your bug.  We can also add other optional information to the bug in order to give more details about the bug which we created.

Other information which we can add is:

Ø  URL

Ø  Whiteboard

Ø  Tags

Ø  Blocks

Ø  Attachments

Step#4: Within the same window, if you further scroll down. You can select a deadline date as well as the status of the bug.

From Deadline, we mean time limit which is required to resolve the bug in given time frame.

This is all for today’s blog regarding Bugzilla (Bug tracking tool). In our next article, we will discuss how to create graphical charts in Bugzilla bug tracking tool. Till then, keep visiting www.scopidea.com and enhance your technical knowledge.