Though it exists in other areas, in software engineering, this process is designed to make sure that the results of a process are as high-quality as possible – in other words, that the software produced is in the best shape it can be in. The process of software development is quite complex and prone to errors – quality assurance aims to catch as many of them as possible.
Technipages Explains Quality Assurance
One of the major obstacles of software quality is lack of or failures in communication, both between programmers and clients, and between workers on the project. In the case of clients, there are often issues with how well the client is able to communicate what they need – or even just knows what they want. Either way, in an ideal process, all potential flaws of the software are addressed and weeded out.
Quality assurance is a needed part of the overall process. In an established team, it’s made of explicit, formal processes that include things like prototyping, repeated technical reviews, compliance checks, documentation and documentation checks, formal reporting and objective measuring tools. Quality assurance is part of any good software development lifecycle.
The exact measures and steps in a quality control process are unique to each group or program – as different types of software have different problems, they also need different steps for their resolution. This is in contrast to quality control, which checks for actual defects in products or services produced and is a reactive process.
Common Uses of Quality Assurance
- The goal of QA is to improve the development processes so that defects do not happen while the product is being developed.
- QA is a managerial tool that aims to prevent quality problems through planned and systematic activities.
- Quality control is used to verify that software is of acceptable quality.
Common Misuses of Quality Assurance
- The goal of QA is to identify defects after a product is developed and before it’s released.
