All Collections
Educational Material
Reports
Understanding TL's Rejection Reasons
Understanding TL's Rejection Reasons

Quickly learn how to understand and implement the information shared in the bug report rejection reasons

Zorica Micanovic avatar
Written by Zorica Micanovic
Updated over a week ago

One of the most difficult situations for our testers is to accept bug report rejections by TLs. No matter how it feels, you need to understand that there are no personal reasons behind rejected bug reports. TLs review the bug report on the base of Test IO quality standards and makes the decision if it fits the standards or not. It doesn't mean that your testing capabilities are too low for us. In fact, we are giving you a chance to understand what went wrong with your bug report and how to avoid such cases in the future. That is why we have compiled the list of TL's rejection reasons with detailed explanations of what they mean and how to learn from them. You may find it in the table below.

Rejection Reason

Explanation

How to improve?

Not a bug

Hi,

The behaviour or design of the product you describe is intentional. The customer deliberately implemented this piece of functionality to work the following way:

Therefore, your report cannot be accepted. Please check out our Academy article on how to tell if observed app behaviour is a bug: https://epa.ms/academy-functional-bugs. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that you submitted a bug which appears to be normal feature behaviour.

The best tip is to look for evidence that supports your claim whenever you see something odd while testing. In addition, you must always remember there are different implementations for the same feature depending on the customer. For instance, the main Navigation Menu. Some menus open on click and stay open until you click outside of it. Others close as soon as the cursor moves outside of the expanded drop-down.

Out of scope

Hi,

The issue you found is not in scope of this test, for the following reason:


This is why it cannot be accepted. Please check out our Academy article for more information and don't hesitate to ask questions in the test chat if instructions are unclear: https://epa.ms/academy-test-scope. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that you have submitted a bug which is valid but still not in the scope of the test.

The best tip to avoid such rejection is to carefully read the test instruction, and test cycle chat and focus your testing on the features which are in the scope of the test.

Duplicate

Hi,

This bug has already been submitted in the same test (duplicate bug) and this is why it cannot be accepted.

Reference ID of the original report:

Please note that each bug may only be submitted once. If two bugs have the same root cause, only the first report gets approved since fixing the bug will fix both problems altogether. To avoid submitting duplicates, please always pay close attention to the “Similar bugs” list on the right-hand side of the bug submission form and the list of already submitted bugs in your test. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that you have submitted a bug that contains the same root cause as your fellow tester or a previously bug submitted by yourself and that your bug report was submitted after the original bug report.

The tip in this case would be to scroll down through the already submitted bugs before and after you submitted a bug, and check the features and titles first. If a bug looks like yours, you need to open it to see the description and check if the root of the problem is the same. If so, you must not submit a new report or delete your submitted report immediately. Keep in mind sometimes you might need to reproduce the bug by your fellow tester with an open console to understand if the bug cause is the same or not.

Other...

Hi,

Your bug report unfortunately cannot be accepted because of the following reason:

This rejection reason is used when your bug needs to be rejected because of a reason that is not a typical one.

The TL will always add some extra information explaining their decision, so you must read the rejection reason carefully to understand what is the issue with your report and how to avoid it next time.

Known bug

Hi,

This bug is already known and this is why it cannot be accepted.

It may not be submitted again. The original submission can be found on the Known Bugs list of this test.

This rejection reason means that the bug was already submitted in one of the previous test cycles and has been added to the list of Known Bugs. The customer is interested only in unique bugs that were not already reported by our testers in the previous test cycles.

A pro tip here would be before you submit a bug just go to the Known Bugs tab and filter out the features and then the types of the bugs. Afterwards, just take a look at the results. If still in wonder, open the original bugs and take a look at the attachments and descriptions. Another clue would be to look into the right sidebar while you're submitting the report and check the Similar bugs section.

Inconsistent report

Hi,

This report is not consistent and cannot be forwarded to the customer in this state. This is why it cannot be accepted.

To avoid this type of rejection in the future, make sure to include all necessary information required to successfully reproduce the bug and to follow our quality standards in the Academy: https://epa.ms/academy-quality-standards. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that your bug report quality is too low that we can't forward it to the customer in the state the way it is at the moment when TL reviews it.

The tip from our side would be to always double-check if you have listed all the required steps to reproduce the bug and to make sure that your bug report has a meaningful title and complete expected and actual results. If you are not a fluent English speaker, we suggest using Deepl to translate the text from your native language to English. Additionally, you can install the free Grammarly browser extension on your device and check the text for grammar before you submit the bug report.

Didn't follow instructions

Hi,

The test instructions were unfortunately not followed and this is why your report cannot be accepted.

Please always make sure to read the test instructions and feature descriptions carefully. Don't hesitate to ask questions in the test chat if instructions are unclear. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that you did not follow one or more instructions that were requested by the customer in the cycle instructions and features or requested by the TL via Chat, which caused you to submit a bug that break the rules and guidelines set by Test IO or the customer.

The tip in this case would be to always read the test instructions and the chat messages and ask your TL in the test cycle chat if something is not clear to you.

Implausible behaviour

Hi,

This bug cannot be reproduced or the testing scenario is not a realistic use-case.

Please read up on edge case bugs in our Academy for more information: https://epa.ms/edge-case-bugs. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that the bug you reported is caused by unusual user behaviour. In general, such bugs forced bugs are not interesting for our customers. Also, it means that the TL and other testers could not reproduce your bug using similar devices

The tip from our side would be not to execute unusual steps, for instance tapping one button 3 times fast, because such bugs are not produced by normal user actions. Also, you must always check whenever it's possible if your bug is reproducible on other devices too.

Automatic

Hi,

This bug is not relevant to the customer and will not be fixed. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that the impact of the bug you found is not going to produce any significant inconvenience on the customer's side and that fixing it will produce too much cost than the benefits.

The tip from our side is to always evaluate what is the impact of the bug you found and how much will it cost the customer to fix the bug. Sometimes the audience affected by the bug is so small that fixing a bug is simply not profitable.

Unanswered request

Hi,

I am a bot and noticed that you did not respond to the TL's information request within 24 hours, so I unfortunately need to reject your report to guarantee test completion. Thank you for your understanding.

This rejection reason means that you have missed an opportunity to submit important additional information requested by TL which was necessary to reproduce the bug or to forward the bug with standard quality to the customer.

The tip from our side is to answer the TL's request in a timely manner and provide all the requested information or additional attachments as per TL's instruction in the request. If the bug is no longer reproducible on your side, inform TL in the comment and thank them for the opportunity to prove that the bug exists. Some issues are temporary and it is better to honestly inform your TL about it instead of trying to force the bug again.

Low quality attachments

Hi,

The attachment in the bug report does not meet our quality standards and this is why it cannot be accepted.

Please check out our Academy to improve future attachments: https://epa.ms/bug-report-attachments. Thank you.

This rejection reason means that you have submitted a bug report with attachments which don't contain relevant mandatory information or the bug is not marked properly (in the case of Content and Visual bugs). It can also mean your attachments can't be opened in common browsers or their overall quality is not good enough and it's hard to see the problem.

The tip from our side is to get back to the basics and read Academy articles Bug Report Attachments, Screencasts and Screenshots.

Language issues

Hi,

The language of your report is not comprehensible as it contains wrong formulations, too many spelling mistakes, or bad grammar. This is why it cannot be accepted.

We cannot forward such reports to the customer. Please make sure that all your reports look professional. This includes that your spelling and grammar are correct. Thank you for your understanding.

This rejection reason means that your English or German language skills could be improved a bit in order to match our quality standards.

The tip from our side would be using Deepl for translations from your native language into English or German (depending on the bug report requested language). Also, you can install the Grammarly app on your device or browser extension to improve your written English skills while writing a bug report.

Wrong bug type

Hi,
This bug was reported under the wrong bug type. The correct type for this bug would be:


This is why it cannot be accepted. You can report it again with the correct bug type if no other has submitted it in the meanwhile and the correct bug type is in the scope of this test cycle.
Thank You

This rejection reason will be selected if the bug is valid and in scope, but you have selected the wrong bug type. For example: you submitted a VISUAL bug as a CONTENT one.

The tip here would be that you read once again all articles related to the bug types that we have (Functional Bugs, Visual Bugs, Content Bugs, Usability Suggestions) and report the bug with the correct type.

Did this answer your question?