Defects are a natural part of every testing process. They tell you what’s not working, where the product needs attention, and how stable a build really is. It is not a problem that defects exist. Instead, it often comes as an issue when these defects are stored and tracked in fragmented ways.
Although Jira provides powerful tools for tracking defects, many teams face difficulties when generating an actionable defect report. A typical report requires a clear timeline to visualize trends, and it needs to include appropriate filters for refining the selection based on specific criteria. Additionally, it should allow for easy traceability back to the defects themselves. This article will explore the challenges teams face when using Jira reports for defect tracking and how a centralized defect summary report can solve these issues.
1. Defect Report from Jira’s statistics
In most QA teams, Jira serves as the main platform for managing defects throughout the testing process. When a tester identifies an issue during execution, they log it as a Jira ticket that includes key details such as the summary, steps to reproduce, expected and actual results, severity, and priority.
Create a Defect Report on Jira
Whenever your team wants to create a Defect Report from Jira’s statistics, you have to create a Jira Defect Filter. Without the filter, you cannot sort the necessary data for your Defect reports. This means you might end up mixing all work items together, even those unrelated to your current testing cycle. Creating a Defect Filter is a necessary step to define that only Bugs appear in your report within a specific time frame. Here, the two compulsory selections for your Defect Filter that you need to configure are Bug (for Work Item) and your desired timeframe (for Time Created).
Then, you move to the Jira Dashboard, pick up a widget, and search for your created Filter and choose Statistic Type (Priority, Assignee, Status, etc). When you choose the Priority for the Statistic Type, your Jira Defect Report will show how many defects exist under each priority level (High, Medium, Low).
Issues when Using Jira Defect Report
Repetitive Setup
In Jira, you need to setup filters multiple times. For instance, if you want to create a chart displaying bug priority for the current sprint, you first need to create a filter with the exact timeline. Then, you must go to the Filter View and apply this filter to see your bug list. Later, you want a new chart that shows bugs created by assignees from the previous sprint, you would need to create a new filter tailored to that time frame and data type. You will also need to apply this filter view to see the new bug list.
This repetitive process can become a problem when you want yourl reports with different combinations of time frames and data sets. Each time you change your focus, you must manually adjust the filters, making it difficult to quickly switch between views or purposes. This repetitive setup process can be time-consuming, especially when working across multiple test cycles or projects.
Lack of Traceability and Actionable Information
You can combine multiple charts in a single dashboard to visualize different aspects of your defect data. However, these charts are primarily for statistical purposes, helping you stay updated on the progress of your defects. The charts display numbers, but they don't provide specific work item IDs or the details needed for further action. For example, while the chart may show that your project has 2 high-priority defects, it won’t tell you which defects they are or which test steps or test cases they are linked to. To investigate and view the full details of the defects, you would need to switch back to the Filter view, where the detailed list of defects is available.
2. AgileTest’s Defect Summary Report
To address these challenges, defect management needs to be consistent and accessible throughout the entire testing process. Rather than relying on scattered defect lists and disconnected tools, there should be a centralized view where you can easily review every issue, track its status, and understand its context in real time.
AgileTest’s Defect Summary Report can help achieve this by organizing all defect information in one place. With the ability to filter by date range, milestone, and test execution, along with a summarized view of defects linked to their test steps, teams can more efficiently review and track defects across multiple testing cycles.
Quick Setup and Generating Process
In AgileTest, you do not have to create a Filter view of separate defect information with other work items, like in the Jira report. You can directly access the Report section → Defect Summary to generate your report of bugs.
By default, the report will display defects from all existing projects. You can filter the information to be displayed by selecting the specific day ranges, milestones, or test executions for which you need to collect test results. As an illustration, you can choose a sprint period to check if the percentage of bugs in this sprint has been fixed, and those that need to be moved to the next cycle.
In case you want to display other distribution charts, you can click the “Display” button and select your desired ones. This frees you from the process of repeatedly picking up a widget, then selecting a suitable filter view, and choosing a statistic type. You can now quickly generate and switch between charts in only one tab, thanks to the built-in filters.
Actionable Information
As you scroll down, you will see a detailed table that lists all related defects under the pie charts. This table provides detailed defect data that complements the charts, allowing you to quickly identify unresolved critical issues and decide on next steps. By looking at both the status and priority columns together, you and your team can spot which issues are the most critical and still unresolved, helping you decide what to focus on.
Additionally, you can sort defects in ascending or descending order by priority or status. This brings the most critical issues to the top of your view and reduces the chance of missing high-impact bugs that might be buried among lower-risk ones.
Defect Traceability
During test execution, when a test case or step fails, you can quickly create a new defect and link it directly to the corresponding test case or step. This link will be summarized in the Defect Summary Report, where it also acts as a shortcut, allowing you to trace back directly to the failed test case or test step from the report.
With the table view in the Defect Summary Report, you can see additional information about defects, such as the projects they belong to. And when you need to trace back the details of defects later, simply click the Ticket Key (or ID) to open the Jira defect ticket right away. This way, you can trace defects back to their source and fix them faster, without having to search for them on the Jira board again.
Final thoughts
Fragmented defect data isn’t just inconvenient; it can delay your entire release. When your team has to constantly switch between different tools, like Jira reports, to check statuses, priorities, or defect details, they waste valuable time that should be spent on testing and resolving issues.
The Defect Summary Report solves this by centralizing all your defect information in one place. Unlike Jira reports, which require manual filter creation and separate dashboards, the Defect Summary Report provides a single view. You can quickly access your recent defect status, identify critical issues, and trace defects back to their source without switching between tabs. This approach saves time on managing data, allowing your team to focus on delivering a high-quality product.
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