This post includes the complete list of contents of a bug/error/defect that are needed at the time of raising a bug during software testing. These fields help in identifying any bug uniquely.
When a tester finds a defect, he/she needs to report a bug and enter certain fields, which help in uniquely identifying it. Here are the contents of a bug:
Project: Name of the project under which the testing is being carried out.
Subject: Description of the bug in short which will help in identifying it. This generally starts with the project identifier number/string. This string should be clear enough to help the reader anticipate the problem/defect for which the bug has been reported.
Description: Detailed description of the bug. This generally includes the steps that are involved in the test case and the actual results. At the end of the summary, the step at which the test case fails is described, along with the actual result obtained and the expected result.
Summary: This field contains some keyword information about the bug, which can help in minimizing the number of records to be searched.
Detected By: Name of the tester who detected/reported the bug.
Assigned To: Name of the developer who is supposed to fix the bug. Generally this field contains the name of the development group leader, who then delegates the task to a member of his team, and changes the name accordingly.
Test Lead: Name of the leader of the testing team, under whom the tester reports the bug.
Detected in Version: This field contains the version information of the software application in which the bug was detected.
Closed in Version: This field contains the version information of the software application in which the bug was fixed.
Date Detected: Date at which the bug was detected and reported.
Expected Date of Closure: Date at which the bug is expected to be closed. This depends on its severity.
Actual Date of Closure: As the name suggests, actual date of closure of the bug, i.e., date at which it was fixed and retested successfully.
Priority: Priority of the bug fixing. This specifically depends upon the functionality that it is hindering. Generally Medium, Low, High, and Urgent are the type of severity that are used.
Severity: This is typically a numerical field, which displays the severity of the bug. It can range from 1 to 5, where 1 is the highest severity and 5 is the lowest.
Status: This field displays current status of the bug. A status of ‘New’ is automatically assigned when it is reported for the first time by the tester, further the status is changed to Assigned, Open, Retest, Pending Retest, Pending Reject, Rejected, Closed, Postponed, Deferred, etc., as per the progress of the bug fixing process.
Bug ID: This is a unique ID created for the bug at the time of reporting, which identifies it uniquely.
Attachment: Sometimes, it is necessary to attach screen-shots for the tested functionality that can help the tester in explaining the testing he had done and it also helps developers in re-creating the similar testing condition.
Test Case Failed: This field contains the test case that is failed for the bug.
Any of these fields can be made mandatory, in which the tester has to enter valid data at the time of reporting a bug. Making a field mandatory or optional depends on the company requirements and can take place at any point of time in a software testing project.
(Please Note: All these enlisted contents are generally present for any bug reported in a bug-reporting tool. In some cases (for the customized tools), the number of fields and their meaning may change as per the company requirements.)