Workflow for Processing a Defect through its Lifecycle

A defect is created in the Submit or Evaluate state. During its lifecycle, it can be promoted and demoted through its states as appropriate, until it reaches either the Closed or Rejected state. Certain promotions must be explicitly done; others are automatic based on the defect actions.

The stages in this procedure are as follows:

Submit the Defect

This workflow shows how to submit a defect.

  1. A person finds a problem and reports it. Who the person is and their relationship to the organization that owns the model version determines how the defect is created.
    • External Person. Product Support (or equivalent) creates an issue, which is then used to create a defect. See Creating a Defect from an Issue.
    • Internal Person. Quality Engineering (or equivalent) or other internal person creates a defect. See Creating a Defect.
    The defect can be created in Submit or Evaluate. If all the defect details are available, see Workflow for Processing a Defect through its Lifecycle.
  2. When all available details, such as reference documents and detailed descriptions, are complete, the Originator promotes the defect to the Evaluate state. If the submitter determines that the defect should not be submitted, it can be promoted directly to the Rejected state.

The defect is in the Evaluate state.

Evaluate the Defect

In the Evaluate state, the Defect Manager reviews the defect by itself, and in relation to other submitted defects.

  1. The defect shows in the Defect Assessment Dashboard for Defect Managers in the organization that is responsible for the model version. See Defects Page
  2. If the Defect Manager determines that there are insufficient details to work on the defect, they can demote it to the Submit state. See Demoting a Rejected Defect to Evaluate or Submit. The originator then must provide additional details or explanations, and subsequently promote the defect back to the Evaluate state.
  3. The Defect Manager evaluates the defect in relation to other defects. If this defect:
    • Duplicates a defect already reported, uses the Actions > Mark as Duplicate option on the defect's properties page. This action promotes the current defect to the Rejected state.
    • Relates to another defect already reported (such as a different problem that occurs within the same code), uses the Actions > Add Related Defect option on the Related page for the defect.
    • Affects issues (other than the one it was created from, if created from an issue), uses the Actions > Add Issues Addressed option on the Issues Addressed page for the defect.
    • Affects model versions (other than the one it was reported against), uses the Actions > Add Reported Against option on the Also Against page for the defect.
  4. If the Defect Manager determines that the defect should not be resolved (such as it really should be an enhancement request, or the user made a mistake), it is promoted to Rejected. See Rejecting a Defect.
  5. Promotes the defect to the Open state, which includes the creation of a defect action. See Opening a Defect To Resolve It.

The defect is in the Open state; a single defect action is in the Evaluate state.

Open the Defect

This workflow describes the process for opening a defect.

  1. The Defect Manager assigns the defect action to an action assignee and a quality assignee. The action assignee can be a software developer, hardware developer, UI designer, technical writer, or any other job function required. The person, however, must be assigned the Defect Engineer role. See Assigning a Defect Action
  2. Additional defect actions are created as needed to support the tasks required to resolve the defect.
  3. The Action Assignee processes the defect action through its lifecycle. See Workflow for Processing a Defect Action through its Lifecycle.
  4. When all defect actions are processed and closed (or rejected), Defect Management automatically promotes the defect according to these rules:
    • If at least one defect action is in the Closed state (and any remaining are in the Rejected state), the defect is Closed.
    • If all defect actions are rejected, the defect is rejected.

The defect is either closed or rejected.

Close the Defect

Defects cannot be manually closed. Defect Management automatically closes a defect when all defect actions associated with it are either Closed or Rejected, with at least one Closed. If all defect actions are rejected, then the defect is Rejected.

Reject the Defect

You can reject the defect at any point prior to the Close state.

Rejecting the defect indicates that your organization does not plan to work on the defect, and does not mean that the fix for a defect did not solve the problem. (In that case, the defect action should be demoted to Open.) A rejected defect can be reconsidered by demoting it to the Evaluate state, and then processing it through its lifecycle as described in the above sections. See Rejecting a Defect. If, after a defect is rejected, the Defect Manager or design team determines that it should be re-opened, it can be demoted to the Open, Evaluate, or Submit state, depending on the reason it is being re-opened.

In addition to the defect being rejected, all defect actions associated with the defect are also rejected. If the defect is subsequently reopened, the defect actions still remain rejected.