In today’s world, making sure stuff is top-notch is super important. Quality assurance is like the superhero of industries, making sure everything – from software to services – is A-grade. It’s all about using different ways to check that products meet the standards we’ve set for them. In this article, we’re diving into what quality assurance is all about, looking at the main methods, and throwing in some real-life examples. From putting products through tough tests to giving them a once-over with a fine-tooth comb, let’s explore how quality assurance keeps everything ticking smoothly in our everyday lives.
What makes quality assurance important?
- QA guarantees customer’s satisfaction;
- brand’s reputation become more robust due to consistent quality;
- the losses for refunds and product replacement are reduced;
- QA allows raising a price tag higher than the competitor’s.
Phases of Quality Assurance
Outsourced software testing companies ensure that the software QA team follows the predetermined steps and evaluates them at specific points. PDCA cycle or Demining cycle form a process of QA, which comprises the following phases:
- Plan is necessary for understanding how specific processes serve to established goals and whether such procedures are necessary
- Do phase determines testing of established processes and changing established work patterns if they fail to reach objectives
- Check involves modification of the process as well as analysis of the necessary impact of the changes and their ability to meet objectives
- Act comprises consistent actions leading to long-term positive changes.
Quality Assurance Testing Methodologies
Various types of QA testing might help ensure that the app has no bugs. Among the most common methodologies QA projects use for the improvements of the application, website of software:
Non-functional testing
- Vulnerability/security testing serves to find the weak points and security problems hackers could take advantage of. Software QA services ensure that the users’ data or other available information cannot be compromised.
- Compatibility testing indicates the compatibility of the software and hardware it will be applied on. Hardware and a web browser, operating system, and complementary plugins have to pass the test.
- Usability testing aims to make a user-friendly and intuitive app with an interface and design, which are easy to comprehend.
- Performance testing shows the variety of scenarios in which the app can be used and cause challenges for the user. Performance test determines the limits of the app and how it should work within these limits.
Functional testing
- Unit testing implies dividing an app into units of source code and testing them separately. The focus on isolated parts of the app may require a lot of time and attention.
- Integration testing is the opposite of unit testing. Its goal is to observe how the units work together and fulfill the functions as a whole. Software QA services involve automation of the integration process to raise efficiency.
- System testing takes integration testing to a higher level, analyzing the entire system’s work as a whole. System testing points out the significant issues, which QA services company might have left unnoticed when testing details.
- Acceptance testing supposes typically the use of the end-user testers ensuring the app fulfills the necessary functions. This phase comprises testing against the app’s specification.
Best QA Practices
Planning all necessary activities, creating appropriate methodology and acting according to it might require time and resources. Implementation of the most effective QA practices helps achieve the high standards. Among the best practices a software testing company may apply are:
- Two-tier approach to test automation, which implies triggering the first tier in case of commit to the code base. Fast validation of developer changes and their execution occurs in a few minutes. Meanwhile, comprehensive regression testing is applied by the second tier when no changes occur.
- Dedicated security testing team working on detecting security issues normally performs penetration testing for the upcoming updates and releases.
- Dedicated performance testing team helps determine the new versions’ potential performance risks on a stable product version. Quality assurance companies can suggest and run performance tests for new features.
International Quality Assurance Standards
The certifications may serve as an indicator of a software vendor meeting the client’s requirements and quality level. The most reliable credentials for the customer to ensure that a software company follows the standards are:
- ISO 9001
- CMMI
- Test Maturity Model (TMM)
Approaches to QA should be designed to cover all aspects of software testing. A set of quality standards and suitable methodology must be determined for every software to guarantee constant profit increase and impeccable service.