Manage Defects

Create, manage, and track defects in Rallly.

Defects consist of the following topics:

• Creating a defect
• Editing a defect
• Managing duplicate defects
• Converting a defect to a user story
• Scheduling a defect
• Deleting a defect
• My Defects
• Viewing the Defect Summary and Detail pages
• Defect fields

Creating a defect

You can create a defect in Rally from several locations. This flexibility allows you to progress through work activities and create a defect whenever you need it from logical positions within the Rally application.

Create a defect from any of the following locations:

Defect Summary View:

This option creates a new line in the defect summary display and allows you to record minimal information. You can edit the defect later for further elaboration.

1. Click the Actions button and select New Defect... or,
2. Click the Actions button and select Inline Add.

User Story, Test Case, and Test Case Result Detail pages:

Some defect fields are automatically updated when creating defects from the work item detail pages

1. Click the Actions button and select New.
2. The defect editor displays.

Concurrency conflicts may occur if multiple users edit the same defect. The first user to make their changes and click the Save & Close, Save & New, or Save buttons will have their changes committed. When subsequent users make their changes to the same defect then attempts to save, they are presented with an option to Review my changes or Overwrite with my version.

If you select Review my changes, you are returned to the defect editor so the changes can be copied and not lost. If you select Overwrite with my version, your changes are saved and the other users changes are overwritten. Overwrite with my version where attachments are added and edited will save both users' changes as well as apply deletions.

Editing a defect

With the Editor:

1. Click the edit icon of the defect you want to edit. The editor displays.
2. Complete your edits.
3. Choose Save & Close, Save & New, or Save.

Inline:

1. Double click the defect row you want to edit. The row changes to edit mode.
2. Complete your edits.
3. Click to save your defect or click to cancel.

Managing Duplicate Defects

When a defect has been identified as a duplicate, the duplicate can be associated to the defect you want to keep open then closed.

Add Duplicate Defects

1. From the defect detail page, click the Duplicates link in the sidebar.
2. Click the Actions button and select Add Duplicates...
3. The Choose Duplicates window displays with all the defects in Rally. Select one or many defects by clicking the check box. When you are done selecting defects, click the Choose button.
4. The selected defect(s) display on the Duplicates page.

Remove Duplicate Defects

1. From the defect detail page, click the Duplicates link in the sidebar.
2. Click the Actions button and select Remove Duplicates...
3. The Choose Duplicates window displays with the duplicate defects. Select one or many defects by clicking the check box. When you are done selecting defects, click the Choose button.
4. The selected defect(s) are removed from the display.

Navigate Between Duplicate Defects

Use this method to quickly navigate to the duplicate defect to close it.

1. Click the Name link of the duplicate defect.
2. The detail page of the duplicate defect displays.
3. Click the Duplicates link in the sidebar to return to the original defect.

Converting a Defect to a User Story

Defects that are enhancement requests can be converted to a user story from the defect detail page. This allows you to close the defect and create a user story in one action.

What you should know before converting defects to user stories:

• The defect tasks, attachments, and test cases will be associated with the new user story and the defect will be closed.
• The only test cases that will be associated with the new user story are those that have the defect listed in the test case's work product field.
• If a test case is listed in the test case field of the of the defect then the test case will not be associated to the user story.

From the defect detail page:

1. Click the Actions button and select Convert to User Story
2. A confirmation dialog displays.
3. Clicking OK closes the defect and creates an unscheduled user story.
4. Clicking Cancel stops the conversion.

Scheduling Defects

When planning work for each iteration, select defects from the backlog and scheduling them into an iteration or release.

From the Plan page:

Your defect is now scheduled. The related scheduled fields on the defect detail page are updated to reflect the scheduling information.

1. Select the Plan tab, then select the Plan page.
2. Select the Show Defects icon .
3. Open defects display in the backlog pane.
4. Locate a defect to be scheduled in the backlog pane.
5. Click the defect and drag it into the desired release backlog or iteration.

From the Defect detail page:

1. Select to view the detail page of a defect.
2. Click the Actions button and select Edit.
3. From the defect editor, choose an iteration or release from the drop-down listings.
4. Click Save.

   The user story is scheduled and can be viewed in the related Iteration Status and/or Release Status views.

Deleting Defects

Delete a defect through the Defect detail page.

1. Open the defect detail page of any defect.
2. Click the Actions button then select Delete.
3. The defect is placed in the recycle bin.

My Defects

My Defects is part of your personalized dashboard and is presented as a panel on the My Home tab.  Only those defects that list you as the owner are displayed in this view.  Use this view as your daily defect workplace.

From the panel you can:

• Select one of the multiple predefined Quick Views to easily assemble your defects into a meaningful display.  Click the drop down arrow on the selection box in the upper left hand corner to display the saved My Defects Quick Views selections.  Highlight your selection and your display refreshes to reflect your chosen view.  These views can be further refined by using the filter and sort capabilities.
• Create your own custom views.
• Perform the common actions of all work item summary pages.
• Select the Edit icon to the right of each listed defect to edit that defect.  The Edit Defect page appears.
• Use the Copy icon to copy an individual defect to another defect.

From the panel you can:

• Assemble your defects into a meaningful display. Click the Settings icon in the upper right hand corner to display filter options. Choose your project, columns, order, and page size to customize your view.
• Double click anywhere in the cell to edit.

Viewing the Defect Summary and Detail pages

Summary Page

The Defects Summary page provides a summary listing of all defects represented in Rally and is the gateway to viewing individual defect details and their associations.

When viewed from the User Story Detail page using the sidebar link in a User Story, the Defects page displays all of the defects directly associated with the user story and its child stories. This allows you to work with all of the defects that directly or indirectly affect the user story.

The Defect Summary page displays:

• A Defect Arrival and Kill Rate chart. The header displays the Start date,  the number of days remaining in the Iteration (if the selected Iteration is the current Iteration) or State (if the selected Iteration is a past or future Iteration), and End date of the Iteration.
• Click anywhere on the Defect Arrival and Kill Rate chart to display the full sized chart.

The Defects Summary allows you to:

• Select one of the multiple predefined Quick Views to easily assemble your defects into a meaningful display. Click the drop down arrow on the selection box in the upper left hand corner to display the saved My Defects Quick Views selections.  Highlight your selection and your display refreshes to reflect your chosen view. These views can be further refined by using the filter and sort capabilities.
• Create your own custom views.
• Perform the common actions of all work item summary pages
• Select the Edit icon to the right of each listed defect to edit that defect. The Edit Defect page appears.
• Use the Copy icon to copy an individual defect to another defect.

Detail Page

The Defect Detail page provides a view of an individual defect.  

From the Detail Defect page, you can:

• View a Read-Only display of a single defect in its entirety including all current field values and any custom attributes that are available for your Workspace.
• Perform multiple activities on the defect.
• Navigate to other work items associated to the defect.

Multiple actions are provided from the Defect Detail page.

• The sidebar located on the left of the page displays any associated artifacts related to the current defect. Click any link to navigate to the summary page of the related artifacts.  This summary page offers all actions of a work item summary page.
• Use the show and hide icons to control the Sidebar links display.
• Click the URL icon in the upper left hand corner of the detail page to open a new detail page with the complete URL to this work item. From here you can copy the URL to use as a reference link in email to team members, or attachments to other work items, etc.
• Use the Actions menu located in the upper right of the Defect Detail page to select action options such as Edit, New, Copy, Print, Delete, Convert to User Story and other specific actions directly from the detail page.
• As you navigate through the associations, the Actions menu options vary in relation to the artifact you are viewing. The top section of the menu options apply to the root artifact (in this case the defect), while the lower half of the options apply to the associated work item.

Defect Fields

The following fields are presented to help you describe or add detail to a defect. These field values can be set when creating or editing a defect.

Required fields are highlighted in red on the full screen editor.