Project Defect Template - FREE download
This template is for recording defects, bug and issues identified during project testing. For a wider project issues see Issue Log template.The template is pretty self-explanatory, but we have filled out 5 issues as examples. Excel conditional formatting rules are used to set a different cell color for each impact column. These can easily be changed under Home > Conditional Formatting. Dropdown menus are used with some suggested statuses and impact levels. The menus can changed on the 'Dropdowns' worksheet.
In rows 9 through 14 are two summary tables:
- one counts the number of defects in each status e.g. number open and closed and,
- the other counts the number of defects in each impact rating e.g. number of critical issues.
Contents of the Project Defect Template
Defect details
- Defect ID
- Detected date
- Status
- Customer ref
- Reported by
- Environment (QA, Dev, Production)
- Assigned to
Defect or issues impact
The impact ratings and descriptions below are examples, which can be easily changed to suit your project.
User impact
User impact
- Critical - issues or bugs that prevent the system or product from being usuable. They must be fixed in order to launch/go live.
- High - defects that need to be resolved, but that have a workaround.
- Medium - issues that are inconvenient, but don't prevent the full use of the system or product. They may nor may not be fixed.
- Low - Issues (often ideas that would be nice to have) that have no real impact on the users. Will probably not be implemented/fixed unless they become more critical.
- Critical - issues or bugs that mean that the product or system will not meet a key business objective of the project.
- High - defects that have a workaround, but need to be resolved because they will impact whether the product will meet it's business objective(s).
- Medium - bugs / issues that might reduce the ability of the system to meet business objectives. Consider fixing in a later phase or in an upgrade.
- Low - Niggles or ideas not related to the business objectives. Ideas or enhancement suggestions can be logged for future projects.
Summary
A brief summary or title for the issue.
Defect / issue description
Give a detailed description of the defect, ideally with the steps to replicate (the steps to follow to cause the defect).
Customer facing update
Enter the latest status of the issue and next steps.
Internal update
This is an optional space to enter more details for your project team. For example, code, reference numbers, or thoughts about the cause that are not ready to be shared with the customer.