How to update and mail defects in Test Director?

Normal tracking of the defects requires too much efforts but tracking the repair of defects in a project just requires the periodic updates of the defects.

This can be done directly using either of the two:

1. Defects grid and
2. Defect details dialog box

However, the ability of both the methods to update some fields of the defects depends pretty much on the permission settings given by user. 

In this article we shall discuss how you can update the information of the defects by assigning different defects to different members of the development team, adding a comment and by changing the severity of the defects.

Steps for Updating Defects in test Director

1. Make sure that you have the defects module on display and if it is not do so by clicking on the defects tab.
2. Now, to update the defects directly using the defects grid, go to the defects grid and select the concerned defect that you also added using the ‘add new defects” dialog box. In order to assign the defect to a member, select the name of concerned member from the list by clicking on the ‘assigned to’ box in the defect  records.
3. Next click on the defect details tab and it will open up defect details dialog box for you.
4. In this defect details dialog box, do the following tasks:

a) Select the required severity from the severity box to change the severity level of the defect.

b)  Add a comment to explain the change in severity level if you wish so by clicking on the add comment button in the description menu.

5. To view all the attachments click on the attachments button in the left menu and you will see the list of URL attachments.
6. For viewing the history of the changes made to the defect click on the history button in the left menu. For every change made to the defect the date of the change, new value and name of the person who made the change is displayed by the test director.
7. When you are done with everything click OK to exit this dialog box and save the changes.

Steps to mail defects in Test Director

- The details about a defect can be shared with another user via e – mail. 

- With this, a routine of the inform development  and quality assurance can be developed regarding the defect repair activity.

- A ‘go to defect’ link is included in the test director using which the user can go directly to the concerned defect. 

- Follow the below mentioned steps to mail a defect to the concerned person:

1. First of all display the defects module by clicking on the defects tab.
2. Next select the defect you want to mail and click on the mail defects button. This will open up another dialog box called ‘send mail’ dialog box.
3. In this box you need to enter a valid e – mail address in the ‘To’ field.
4. For including any attachments or history of the defects select attachments and history option from the include box.
5. You can add your own comments under the additional comments.
6. When you are done composing the e – mail click on the send button. You will get a message box. Click ok.
7. The person to whom you have sent the mail can view it from his/ her mail box.

Even a test in the test plan can be associated with a specific defect in the defects grid. Whenever an association is created it can be determined whether the test is to be executed based up on the status of the defect.