Submitting a Bug

Submission of Bugs

In some circumstances, the components of the system might not perform as expected. This is not intentional, but in any case it is best to Submit a Bug.

What is a Bug?

Bug

🪰A bug is any unintended behavior in a system that causes it to work differently from what was expected.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the system is broken outright — sometimes it’s subtle, like incorrect data display, or sometimes more severe, like a crash

What can cause a bug?

Causes of a Bug

🪰Bugs can appear for many reasons, including but not limited to:

  • 📝Misconfigurations → settings or environment variables aren’t aligned correctly.

  • 📈Visualization/Display issues → data is processed correctly, but presented incorrectly.

  • ❌Application logic errors → mistakes in how code handles certain cases.

  • 🔗Integration mismatches → different systems or services interpret data differently.

  • 🍱Edge cases → unusual but valid scenarios that weren’t fully anticipated.

In these cases, bugs happen — they’re a normal part of complex systems.

🔑The key is recognizing that they may stem from multiple layers — not just bad code.

When to Report or Dismiss an Error?

Reporting vs. Dismissing a Bug

✅It is always good practice to notify administrators, stakeholders, or developers of unintended errors that might occur in the application.

💼In the case that a bug was already submitted, it is completely safe to dismiss this bug.

📤Otherwise, please proceed with Submitting a Bug

Submitting a Bug

Submitting a bug is the process of providing feedback about an error or weird behaviour within the system.

This feedback helps to further recreate the scenario and/or further diagnose the cause and source.

Do Not Submit PHI in Bug Reports

🚫Bug reports should never include Protected Health Information (PHI) such as:

  • names,

  • addresses,

  • phone numbers,

  • health records, or

  • any personally identifiable details.

✖️Including PHI creates serious privacy, compliance, and legal risks (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR).

✔️Always use generic test data or anonymized examples when describing bugs.

✅ Good Example:

User with ID 12345 cannot update their profile

❌ Bad Example:

John Smith at 123 Main St. cannot update his health record

Different Workflows to Submit a Bug

In order to submit a bug, there are two separate workflows:

  1. 💳Submitting via an Error Modal, or

  2. 📤Submitting a bug by navigating to System->Submit Bug, or

Submitting a Bug: via Error Modal

There are some occasions where an error is encountered during a workflow or operation in the application.

When does this Display?

When an error occurs, an error modal (or dialog) is presented with the associating error.

💼In any case, there is always an opportunity to either:

  1. Report a Bug, or

  2. Dismiss

Error Modal Explained

Understanding Components of the Error Modal

If interested, the Error Modal can be broken down into smaller components which makes the error easier to understand:

  1. 🗒️Description

    • This is a brief message indicating what error was encountered while using the application

  2. ❌Exception

    • This is a collapsible component. The component can be expanded by clicking on the chevron > or text beside the chevron >

    • This is a more detailed message of the exception that was encountered by the application

    • This is useful for both administrators, stakeholders, and developers of the applications to further diagnose the type of error encountered

  3. 💬Explanation

    • This is a collapsible component. The component can be expanded by clicking on the chevron > or text beside the chevron >

    • This is a explanation of the exception, or a even more detailed description

    • This is more useful to the administrator, stakeholder, or developer of the application

  4. ⌨️Controls

    • 📤Report Bug button

      • When clicked, this will redirect to the Submit Bug page and provide the error encountered with the information filed with the bug report

    • 🆗Ok button

      • When clicked, this will dismiss the error encountered and close the Error Modal.

Submitting a Bug: via System -> Submit Bug

🚧 Submitting a Bug can be done by doing the following:

1

Navigate to System → Submit Bug.

After the page loads, you will see the Submit Bug Form.

2

Enter the description of the bug into the Description Field.

Description

This should be a short description that briefly explains:

  • Which part of the system or feature is affected

  • Any components, services, or modules involved

  • The inputs, conditions, or actions that trigger the issue

  • Any related functionality that might be impacted

Keep it clear and concise so others can quickly understand the scope of the bug without needing full technical details.

It’s usually a good idea to follow the 4 W’s approach: Who, What, When, and Where.

Examples of Description

Bad Example of Description

The application doesn’t work. Please fix ASAP.

Another Bad Example of Description

I can't login.

Great Example of Description

Cannot remove a policy from a group.

This happened in the "Security->Groups->Edit Group" page.

I am part of the ADMINISTRATORS group.

I added group policy "Unrestricted All 1.3.6.1.4.1.33349.3.1.5.9.2" to "LOCAL_USERS" by mistake and I am no longer able to remove it.

The following error message is being displayed "exception...."

3

Enter the steps done which led to the error in the Steps to Reproduce field

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce describes what was done (in exact order) so others can reproduce the error/behavior.

Focus on the discrete details that led to the How.

Examples of Steps to Reproduce

Bad Example of Steps to Reproduce

Logged into the system. Tried to remove a policy. Something broke and it didn’t work.

Great Example of Steps to Reproduce

  1. Navigated to the Security->Groups page

  2. Clicked Edit button on the LOCAL_USERS group

  3. In Assigned Policies, selected "Unrestricted All 1.3.6.1.4.1.33349.3.1.5.9.2"

  4. Clicked the Add button

  5. Clicked the Remove button

  6. An error popup appeared

4

(Optional) Check the Attach my log file box.

Attach my log file

✅This checkbox enables/disables sending log files from the server surrounding the time the error occurred.

⌚This helps diagnose timing issues or related services revealed in the logs.

5

(Optionally) Check the Attach my configuration file box

Attach my configuration file

✅This checkbox enables/disables sending the configuration file used in the server to provide more information about how the application was configured.

📝This helps diagnose potential configuration-related issues that may have caused the bug.

👥Developers and other admins can use this to reproduce the error.

6

Click the Submit button.

The bug will be submitted for further diagnosis.

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