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What is a defect tracking system?

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A Defect Tracking System is a software tool used to identify, document, manage, and track defects or bugs found during the software development and testing process. It helps teams log defects, prioritize fixes based on severity and priority, assign them to developers, and monitor their status until resolution. A defect tracking system improves collaboration between developers, testers, and project managers, ensuring a structured approach to bug resolution and software quality assurance.

What is a bug tracker?

A bug tracker is a tool used to record, manage, and monitor software bugs throughout the development and testing process. It allows teams to log defects, assign them to developers, set priorities, track progress, and ensure timely resolution. Bug trackers ease communication between testers, developers, and project managers, improving software quality and efficiency. Examples include Jira, Bugzilla, and QA Touch.

What is a defect life cycle?

The Defect Life Cycle, also known as the Bug Life Cycle, represents the various stages a defect goes through from discovery to resolution in the software development process. It typically includes the following stages:

  1. Assigned to New Defect – The defect is reported and assigned for analysis.
  2. Defect Validation – The assigned person checks if the defect is valid:
    If invalid, it is rejected.
    If it is a duplicate, it is marked accordingly.
    If valid, it is assigned to the developer.
  1. Fixing the Defect – The developer works on resolving the defect.
  2. Marked as Fixed – Once resolved, the defect is marked as fixed.
  3. Retesting – The tester verifies the fix:
    If successful, the defect is marked closed.
    If unsuccessful, the defect is reopened and reassigned to the developer for further fixing.

How to decide the severity and priority of a bug?

Deciding the severity and priority of a bug depends on assessing its impact on the system and determining how urgently it needs to be fixed.

Bug Severity (Impact-Based): Severity is determined based on the technical impact of the bug on the system.

  1. Critical – System crash, data loss, or security vulnerabilities.
  2. High – Major functionality is broken, but the system is still operational.
  3. Medium – Non-critical features are malfunctioning, causing inconvenience.
  4. Low – Minor UI issues, typos, or cosmetic defects.

Bug Priority (Urgency-Based): Priority is assigned based on how soon the issue should be resolved.

  1. P1 (High) – Needs immediate attention, blocking development or release.
  2. P2 (Medium) – Should be fixed soon but is not blocking critical functionality.
  3. P3 (Low) – Can be addressed later as it has minimal impact.

It can be decided in the following way:

  1. A critical security vulnerability: Severity: Critical, Priority: High
  2. A broken ‘Submit’ button on a payment page: Severity: High, Priority: High
  3. A misaligned button on a non-critical page: Severity: Low, Priority: Low

Severity is usually determined by testers, while priority is set by the development team and product managers based on business needs.

How does QA Touch streamline the defect life cycle?

QA Touch streamlines the Defect Life Cycle by providing a structured workflow for logging, tracking, and resolving defects efficiently. It allows teams to report defects with detailed descriptions, assign them to the right developers, and monitor status changes such as New, Assigned, In Progress, Fixed, and Closed. Easy integrations with tools such as Jira and ClickUp enhance collaboration, while real-time notifications and analytics help teams stay updated and improve software quality.

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Sridhar K

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Why QA Touch?

QA Touch is an AI-driven test management platform built by testers for testers. It simplifies collaboration between developers and QA engineers while helping to manage, track, and organize test cases efficiently. Streamline your testing processes, enhance QA visibility, and deliver high-quality software with ease.

QA Touch offers comprehensive features to manage the entire test management process. From easy migration with CSV files to audio-visual recording of issues and activity logs and a shareable dashboard for real-time reporting to stakeholders, we ensure the testing teams are always on top of things.

Our focus is on providing complete visibility and control over testing workflows and fostering collaboration between testers and other stakeholders (both internal and external). You can have a look at all the features here.

Once you sign up, it takes only 30 minutes to get your QA Touch account up and running. After registration, you will receive an account activation email with all the details. Log in with your account details and create your first test project on QA Touch—it’s that simple. You are now ready to start inviting your team and assigning them roles.

If you are finding it difficult to log in or facing any difficulty, feel free to reach our support team at info@qatouch.com

Why is QA Touch the best test management tool for me?

QA Touch is an AI-driven test management platform that simplifies collaboration between your developers and testers. Beyond creating, organizing, and executing test cases, QA Touch enables you to manage projects, track bugs, and monitor time—all in one platform.

With an intuitive UI and seamless two-way integrations, QA Touch adapts to your workflow, making test management, project oversight, and bug tracking smarter and more efficient.

With secure OKTA, Microsoft Azure SSO, and Google SSO enterprise features, you can stay connected in every app.

We have integrations with dozens of major apps like Slack, Jira, Monday.com, Cypress, and many more. Explore the whole list of integrations now supported here: Explore integrations

The test management tool is a modern software application that helps QA teams and developers manage their testing process efficiently. It provides a structured approach to creating, organizing, executing, and tracking tests to ensure software applications meet specified requirements and function properly before release.

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