Reporting a symptom with no steps
'It is broken' gives the owner nothing to act on. Ask for the page, the action and the result, even when the reporter cannot guess the cause.
Bug report template for internal tools: steps the owner can repeat
An internal bug report describes a problem in a tool your own staff use, with enough detail for the team that owns it to repeat the problem. The two answers that matter most are the exact steps and the difference between the expected and actual result. Ask for the business impact too, because that is what decides which bug is fixed first.
What people search
Bug report template: 390 average monthly searches.Google Ads Keyword Planner · 2026-10-09 · United States
A filled example
A completed report, as a fictional example
Example only, not a real submission
- Title
- Expense approval total does not update after editing a line
- Tool or page
- Internal expense tool, approval screen, Chrome on a company laptop
- Steps to reproduce
- 1. Open a submitted report. 2. Edit one line amount. 3. Save. 4. Read the total at the top of the screen.
- Expected result
- The total includes the edited amount straight away.
- Actual result
- The total still shows the old amount until the page is reloaded.
- How often
- Every time, three attempts out of three today
- Business impact
- Approvers must recheck totals by hand before the weekly approval batch closes on Friday.
Field blueprint
Fields that let the owner reproduce the problem
| Field | Type | Required | Why you ask it |
|---|---|---|---|
Reporter name | Short text | Required | Lets the owner ask follow-up questions and know who saw the problem first-hand. |
Work email | Required | Gives the owner a way to reply without searching the directory. | |
Tool or page nameFor example: expense approvals, leave calendar or intranet search | Short text | Required | Names the system so the report reaches the team that owns it. |
Short titleTotals do not update after editing an approved line | Short text | Required | Makes the report easy to find in a list of open problems. |
Steps to reproduceNumber each step. Leave out passwords and details about customers. | Long text | Required | The owner can see the bug fastest by repeating your exact steps. |
Expected result | Long text | Required | Separates what should happen from what happened, so the owner can tell a bug from a misunderstanding. |
Actual resultCopy any error message word for word. | Long text | Required | Describes the failure in observable terms, such as the wrong number on screen. |
Screenshot locationLink to where the screenshot is stored | Short text | Optional | Attachments are not accepted on this form, so a link to the screenshot lets the owner see what you saw. |
Business impactStops my work todaySlows my work, but I have a workaroundCosmetic or minor | Single choice | Required | Ranks the report by its effect on work. Choose based on what the problem stops, not on how frustrating it feels. |
How often it happensEvery timeSometimesOnly once | Single choice | Required | An intermittent bug needs a different investigation from one that fails every time. |
Browser or app version | Short text | Optional | Narrows the environment when the problem depends on a browser, app version or device. |
Time it happened, with time zoneFor example: 14 October, 10:20 a.m. Eastern | Short text | Optional | Lets the owner find the matching log entries. |
Workarounds already tried | Long text | Optional | Stops the owner from repeating a workaround you have already ruled out. |
Try it
Check that the form reads clearly to someone who did not see the bug
Mistakes to avoid
Why reports stall in a queue
Putting personal or customer data in the report
Bug reports are read by several people, including anyone the owner brings in for help. Use a test record or an anonymized example, and never paste a customer's details.
Marking every report as blocking
When every report says it stops work, the severity answer stops separating urgent problems from annoying ones. Agree on what counts as blocking in your team guidance, and check the claims when you read the grid.
Sending a feature idea through the bug form
Use this form only for behavior that differs from what the tool should do. New ideas belong in a separate intake, so the owner does not have to sort them from defects.
After a response arrives
What happens to a report after it is sent
Expect the creator's notice after the hourly job
Attain OS stores the report, and a scheduled job processes submissions hourly in production. The form's creator gets a notice after that processing, not at the moment someone presses send.
Triage from the grid
Open the submissions grid, read the business impact and the steps, and move confirmed bugs into the tracker your owners already use.
Export before the review meeting
Export CSV from the grid when the team needs the list for a sprint review or a weekly count of open problems.
Use a Customer Care case when a tool needs a named owner
When the form settings create a Customer Care case for each submission, the case carries the priority, tags and assignees you set. Assign it to the team that owns the tool.
Frequently asked questions
Is a bug report form the same as a bug report template?
They overlap. A template is a document you fill in by hand, while a form collects the answers in a fixed field list that someone can read in one grid and export. Use the fields here as your template, and keep the same wording for every report so the answers are comparable.
What does a good bug report example look like?
A good example has a short title, numbered steps, the expected and actual results and the exact error text. The filled example on this page is fictional, but it shows the detail an owner needs before they can reproduce a problem.
What format should a bug report follow?
Use the same order every time: where it happened, what you did, what happened, what should have happened and how often. Non-engineers can answer those questions without knowing the cause.
Should I use this form for a bug a customer sees?
No. Use the external bug report for problems customers see in your product. This form is for internal tools that staff use, and the team that owns each tool may be different.
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