The Importance of Maintaining a Bugbase

Bug and issue tracking are vital parts of software development. It keeps a detailed record of past issues in order to prevent them in the future. The process for submitting and tracking the flow of issues relies on a bugbase. Read on to learn more:

What is a bugbase?

A bugbase is a bug tracking system, keeping a record of all the issues that have appeared in your software. This kind of bug tracking is highly preferable to an excel spreadsheet or a series of emails. Emails can be lost, deleted, or simply never received. Spreadsheets, or bug sheets, often suffer from immediate obsolescence. The accuracy of a bug sheet relies heavily on a single person sending it off to the right people, at the right time, and tracking who has which version of that bug sheet.

Why should you maintain a bugbase?

Like any good database, bugbases serve to consolidate all of that data into something clear and understandable—provided they are maintained. Without a doubt, the maintenance of a bugbase is just as important as maintaining a code repository. Why? Here are just a few reasons:

• An updated bugbase will drop the incidence of bug duplication, making it easier to manage and follow up on issues
• A good, updated issue-tracker can give a snapshot into the relative health of the application and the progress it is making towards becoming ready for launch
• Bugs can be assigned to an individual to be fixed and issues can be assigned back to a tester to verify that fix
• Fixes can be deferred to a later build and FAQ’s can be fleshed out using the issues discovered over the course of testing

Bugbases are tools that are only as good and useful as the work put in to maintaining them. At Beta Breakers, we use bugbases to help further test a website or mobile app. To learn more about our services, contact us today.