Introduction

The Defect Traceability Report shows the traceability starting from Defects, Test Runs, Tests, and finally Requirements.

Figure 1 - Defect Traceability report


This report provides a reverse view of the traditional Requirement Traceability Report by starting from defects and tracing back to the related Requirements and Test Executions. This report helps identify the origin and impact of Defects, offering a defect-first perspective for better root cause analysis and quality assessment.

Possible usage scenarios:

Operations

Report Access

On the top menu of your Jira Data Center instance, click Projects and select a project (Figure 2 - 1).

Figure 2 - Project

Figure 2 - Project

A menu will open on the left side of the screen. There, click Reports (Figure 2 - 2). 

The reports available will appear on the screen center (Figure 3 - 1).

The Xray reports are marked with the Xray logo. Click Defect Traceability (Figure 3 - 2) to access the Defect Traceability Report.

Figure 3 - Reports

Figure 3 - Reports

Configuring and Using the Report

When the Defect Traceability report is opened, an empty state will be displayed, and you'll have to explicitly generate the report after selecting the initial filters. You will see the screen depicted in Figure 4.

At the top of the report, you have some options that need to be configured:

Figure 4 - Configuration

Figure 4 - Configuration


  • You don't have to change any of the options shown in Figure 4. You can create the report with the options configured by default.

  • Once you generate the report, your settings will be saved. The next time you access the report, it will be populated with the last filters you configured.

  • Once the report is generated, changes to the Filters, Filter Defects, and the Test Runs toggle will be applied automatically, and the report will be regenerated.

Filters

 The source data for the report can be selected using the fields configured in the Basic tab or the JQL written in the Advanced tab (Figure 5 - 1):

Cross-project reports is an Xray Enterprise feature. If you do not have Xray Enterprise installed, the project filter is not available, and this report can only be generated within the context of the current project.

If you have Xray Enterprise, it is mandatory to select at least one project before generating the report.

Figure 5 - Filters

Figure 5 - Filters

Figure 6 - Basic

Figure 6 - Basic

  • Basic (Figure 6 - 1):
    • Project: select multiple projects to analyze (only available in Xray Enterprise).
    • Fix Version: versions assigned to the defect issues (if any).
    • Sprint: sprint assigned to Requirements (only available if Jira Software is installed).
    • Component: the component assigned to the Issue.
    • Status: the workflow status.
    • Resolution: the workflow resolution.
    • Contains text: the full Issue key or part of the summary.
    • Saved Filters: a saved filter containing Defect Issues.
    • Test Environments: Filter defects by the Test Environment in which they were created (based on the associated Test Runs).
    • Test Run Fix Version: versions assigned to the Test Run associated with the Defect Issues (if any).
    • Test Plan: Filter defects by the Test Plan in which they were created (based on the associated Test Runs > Test Execution > Test Plan).
    • To add more fields to the filter, you can click the More button: a modal will open for you to select any fields (Figure 7). 

  • By clicking More (Figure 7 - 1), it's possible to manage which fields will be used to filter the Defects (Figure 7 - 2):

    • Selecting fields will enable further filtering of the Defects.
    • Unselecting fields will remove them from the dialog and thus from the search criteria.

Figure 7 - Filters

Figure 7 - Filters

Once you're done, click Apply (Figure 7 - 3).

You can reset the filters that are displayed back to the default filters, or you can clear all the filter values (Figure 6 - 2).

Once you're finished, click Apply (Figure 6 - 3).

Connected/Unconnected Defect Filter

When you click Filter Defects (Figure 8 - 1), you can choose to display (Figure 8 - 2):

  • All Defects.
  • Connected Defects: displays only Defect Issues that were reported when executing Tests (directly associated with Test Runs).
  • Not Connected Defects: displays only Defect Issues that were found outside Testing (not associated with Test Runs).

Figure 8 - Connected/Unconnected Defects


If you select a filter such as Test Environments, Fix Versions, or Test Plans, only connected Defects will appear in the search results, as these filters apply indirectly to Defect Issues from Test Runs. Therefore, if you select to show Not Connected Defects and one of these filters, the report will not show any results.


Toggle Test Runs

You can show/hide the Test Runs column from the report using the toggle (Figure 8 - 3). If you hide the Test Runs in the report, the Defect Issues will be connected to Tests indirectly through Test Runs, although this information is not visible in the report.

The Show Test Runs Toggle impacts the export of the report to CSV (Figure 8 - 4) Test Runs will only appear in the exported CSV file if they are not hidden in the report.

Quick Filters

You can further filter the report by using the configured quick filter. The default quick filter is the priority field on Defect Issues. You can configure which quick filter to use using the report configuration button shown in Figure 9 - 1.

Figure 9 - Quick Filters

Figure 9 - Quick Filters


The available fields to configure as a quick filter (Figure 9 - 2) are:

  • Priority (default).
  • Issue Type.
  • Status category.
  • Resolution.
  • Project.

Any other Custom Field that is a select field, which has fewer than 10 options configured.

Once you're ready, click Generate Report (Figure 9 - 3).

Once the report is generated, you can apply a quick filter by selecting one or more options (Figure 10 - 1). The report data will filter accordingly.

The report data will filter accordingly.

Figure 10 - Quick Filters

Figure 10 - Quick Filters

Sharing the Report

The report can be shared by copying and sending the URL located in the browser's address bar.

When opening the report, the Filters, Filter Defects and Test Runs Toggle options will be automatically populated with the values provided in the URL.

Exporting to CSV

Once the report is generated (Figure 11), you can export the report into a CSV file by clicking Export (Figure 11 - 1) and then selecting To csv. You will get the file instantaneously on your machine. Exporting to CSV considers if the Show Test Runs option (Figure 11 - 2) is disabled/enabled.

Figure 11 - Export to CSV

Figure 11 - Export to CSV

Understanding the Report

The Issues and values that are shown in the report (Figure 12) consider the options selected for analysis, namely, the relevant Test Executions and corresponding Test Runs, and Defects.

Figure 12 - Generated report

Figure 12 - Generated report


The report not only shows the traceability between entities but also presents some calculated values for the selected options. For example, the Requirement status and the Test status are shown in the Requirements (Figure 12 - 4) and Tests columns (Figure 12 - 3), respectively.

ColumnDescription

Defects (Figure 12 - 1)

Defects directly associated with the Test Runs

Test Runs (Figure 12 - 2)

Test Runs and their status from all related Test Executions (only three are shown, but an action allows you to see all of them)
Tests (Figure 12 - 3)

Tests and the calculated status, considering the options selected for analysis

Requirements (Figure 12 - 4)

Coverable Issues (e.g.: Requirements) and the calculated coverage status, considering the options selected for analysis

Report Performance and Limitations

In Continuous Integration scenarios, with thousands of runs, showing all those Test Runs at the same time in this report may take some time and overload your browser, and it will be hard for you to analyze the report with all that information.

Therefore, we advise you to hide the Test Runs column in the report using the toggle (Figure 11 - 2) if the number of runs is considerably high (e.g. > 1000).


If you have questions or technical issues, please contact the Support team via the Customer Portal (Jira service management) or send us a message using the in-app chat.