A method and system ties together the identification of a defect during testing with the supporting application code on the systems that led to the generation of a defect. The association between the two is through the use of a unique Trace ID. This Trace ID is unique to each interaction between the consumer (e.g. client browser) and the provider system(s) (web application server, back office systems, etc). When a potential defect is identified by the end user or tester, the present invention “collects” the associated log messages using the unique Trace ID and attaches those to the defect. The software developer providing the defect triage can then readily review the associated log files without having to manually search the supporting log files manually.