Quality assurance, quality control, and quality management are all phrases that are frequently used interchangeably.
It’s critical to grasp the differences between these terminologies as a test manager or project manager so you know what you’re talking about with your client and team members.
Let’s get one thing straight:
What is Quality Assurance?
The set of actions that specify the methods and standards for developing a product is known as quality assurance.
What is Quality Control?
Quality Control refers to the actions and strategies used to ensure that the created product meets the specifications. Both processes culminate in the delivery of a high-quality product.
Do you have trouble distinguishing between quality assurance and quality control when it comes to software testing? It’s no problem! Continue reading to learn the difference.
Understanding Quality Management
Quality Management is a considerably bigger subject that assures that software products meet the needed level of quality. For your company, you can develop a standard quality management approach. Quality assurance, quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement are the four key sub processes.
Quality Assurance
Software Quality Assurance, or QA, is a method of creating an environment in which the software product being developed fulfils the quality standards in a planned and systematic manner.
The application of well-defined standard processes and methods is referred to as quality assurance. It’s a proactive quality control procedure. At the managerial level, this process is monitored and managed. Process checklists, process standards, project audits, methodology, and development procedures are all covered by quality assurance.
It is a preventative procedure that strives to set the proper methods and standards in order to produce a quality, suitable environment for the product under development.
Quality Planning
A quality assurance plan for a specific project is prepared in this sub process. Organizational standards that are suitable to a project are chosen in the quality assurance strategy. It should also include a quality control plan.
What QC actions are conducted, when they are performed, and who will perform them are all detailed in quality assurance planning. It also includes information on the resources needed, as well as the tools and processes that will be used to undertake quality control.
Quality Control
Quality Control, or QC, is a set of operations that ensures that a product’s quality is maintained by finding any flaws that may exist.
The quality control process is a subset of the quality assurance process. It is a remedial procedure. The purpose of actual testing is to locate and identify any bugs that may be present in the product. The developers are notified of the bugs, and they attempt to resolve them.
After the fixes have been made, the product is tested again to ensure that all of the functionality and features are working properly. The quality control process ensures that the product being generated is of the required standard. Inspection, deliverable peer reviews, and the software testing process are all examples of quality control activities.
Quality Improvement
A structured way to analyzing the input received from the quality control team is quality improvement. Efforts are made in this process to identify any areas where existing standards and processes could be improved. The goal is to improve the process that establishes the organization’s quality standards.
What are the Differences between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?
“The main distinction between quality assurance and quality control is that quality assurance operations take place during the software development process. After the software has been developed, quality control operations are carried out.”
Quality Assurance vs Quality Control Tools and Techniques
When we talk about quality assurance vs. quality control, you’re undoubtedly asking what the distinction is between tools and approaches. So, we’ve separated the tools and processes for QA and QC so that you can simply comprehend and distinguish between them.
Quality Assurance Techniques
Defining Processes
The definition of organizational processes and standards is a distinguishing element of software quality assurance. The method will be used as a guide and will improve with time.
Expert definition of organizational standards is crucial because it lays the framework for quality assurance and ensures the production of trustworthy, high-quality goods. The IEEE Standard for Quality Assurance Processes is also a good resource.
The standard is aligned with the software development life cycle and includes requirements for initiating, planning, managing, and implementing Software Quality Assurance.
Quality Audit
A quality audit is a strategy for examining work products and determining whether the software product adhered to the standards, norms, regulations, plans, and processes. It’s a methodical way to examining all of the essential procedures and standards throughout product development and testing.
Selection of Tools
1. Cost-Benefit Analysis
A systematic way to analyzing an investment against its predicted benefits is known as cost benefit analysis. It’s utilized to see if the investment is reasonable in terms of labor, time, and money saved.
2. Cause and Effect Diagrams
The ‘Fishbone’ or ‘Ishikawa’ diagram is another name for a cause-and-effect diagram. This method combines brainstorming and mind mapping on a diagram to force you to consider all of the potential sources of a problem. You’ll be able to locate the proper solution once you’ve identified the fundamental problem.
3. Control Charts
Control charts are used to examine process performance trends over time. It’s a useful tool for determining whether you need to make any major adjustments to the process and avoiding specific issues.
4. Cost of Quality
There are two sorts of quality costs. The cost of poor quality has an impact on both internal and external expenditures associated with not meeting criteria. The cost of good quality, on the other hand, comprises the price of prevention for investing in services and product assessment.
5. Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing a company’s performance against industry standards.
6. Design of Experiments
It is a method for determining the link between elements affecting a process and the process’ output under controlled conditions. It’s used to manage processes so that you can figure out which inputs have the biggest impact and what steps you can take to improve the result.
Quality Culture
A quality culture should be formed in which everyone feels accountable for the product’s quality.
Quality Control Techniques
Quality Control Reviews
Quality Reviews are one of the most often used quality control procedures. A software review can be characterized as follows, according to Wikipedia:
“A procedure or meeting in which project personnel, management, users, customers, user representatives, or other interested stakeholders assess a software product for criticism or approval.”
Any software development activity produces the product that will be reviewed. Project plans, requirements documents, design documents, quality assurance plan, test documents, and code are all subject to quality evaluations.
People who are examining software items provide feedback, which is recorded and forwarded to the appropriate person for incorporation.
Roles and Responsibilities in QC Review
Roles and responsibilities can be classified as follows in a review:
- The evaluation procedure is led by the moderator. He chooses the type of review and who will attend. He is in charge of getting the necessary information and documents to the members of the team.
- He is the author of the software product under consideration. His job is to explain any sections that are confusing to team members and to comprehend the necessary adjustments as indicated by reviewers.
- He is in charge of recording the faults that are discovered as well as any suggestions or feedback for process improvement.
- Reviewer is the expert who reviews the software product, identify the issues and suggest improvements.
Types of Reviews
Management Reviews
Upper management conducts management reviews to assess the quantity of work completed and make necessary judgments.
Technical Reviews
Technical reviews, which are led by professional moderators, are a less formal sort of quality control review. Technical evaluations are carried out to ensure that technical principles are used consistently. It is carried out at an early stage to ensure that technical standards and practices are correctly applied. In the technical quality control assessment, any alternative product possibilities are also assessed.
Walk-through
A walk-through is a form of quality control assessment in which the product’s author leads the session and shares his thought process with the entire team. The product to be reviewed is thoroughly discussed, and audience comment is solicited.
High-level papers, such as specifications and design documents, typically undergo walk-throughs. Walkthroughs are particularly effective if the audience is made up of persons who are unfamiliar with the software.
The following are the key goals of a walk-through:
- Obtain feedback from stakeholders and establish a common understanding.
- Examine the viability of the recommended remedies.
- The software product’s evaluation
Inspection
Inspection is a rigorous review procedure used in software testing to find bugs and issues. It is a prepared meeting in which each participant’s role is defined. Inspection is a quality assurance procedure that verifies that the software product meets the relevant specifications and standards. If any non-compliance is discovered, defects are recorded.
The primary goal of inspection is to detect flaws as soon as feasible. As a result of this QC procedure, an estimate of rework effort is generated. Design documents, specification documents, test documentation, and the code are all inspected.
Testing
Software testing is an important part of the quality assurance process. Functional testing, black box testing, usability testing, exploratory testing, compatibility testing, and regression testing are all examples of software testing approaches.
Recap
We’ve looked at the huge distinction between quality assurance and quality control in this article. Quality assurance is the application of standardized methods, whereas quality control is the application of such procedures and techniques in order to ensure that the deliverable meets the specified standards.
The larger process of Quality Management is made up of the processes of quality assurance, quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. We’ve also gone over some of the tools and procedures that may be utilized to establish quality assurance and quality control.
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