What is the difference between Testing and Quality Assurance?

There’s no point in building software if you don’t plan on quality. The IT industry is actively developing, so only those projects that provide only high-quality and in-demand services can be successful. Many do not see the difference between testing and quality assurance, which can lead to big problems. Nevertheless, there is a difference between them, and they are quite large, which is what we want to discuss today.

Contents

Quality assurance

If you want your product to be liked by users, be competitive, and actively develop, you need to monitor the quality constantly. Quality assurance is a broader topic than testing, as it covers not only the operation of the software but also the input data, which will increase the likelihood of a positive result.

If testing reveals existing errors, then QA allows you to prevent their occurrence in creating and operating software. It must be integrated into the software development life cycle and requires collaboration with professionals, testers, business analysts, and developers. Who will be ready to make all changes on the project in a short time. The dedicated TestFort team of specialists in testing are ready to take on testing a project of any complexity, as well as accompany not only testing, but also the software development of an application, eliminating the possibility of making mistakes even before the project is launched. This will also help to further reduce the cost of the entire testing cycle phase of the application after it has been launched.

You need to plan a quality assurance strategy, which should include the following:

Financial management;
Evaluation of the team’s skills;
Test environments;
Coding standards;
Methodology;
Requirements gathering process.

Quality control

Quality control is a set of activities used to ensure the quality of the software and services you provide. Here, special attention is paid to how your product meets the requirements of the specification and customer requirements. When you find errors or flaws before your product gets into a customer’s or potential customer’s hands. It allows you to ensure that your product works well and performs the functions it was created for. Quality control activities should include the following:

Testing;
Inspection;
Overview and more.

Quality control is a systematic process, not a one-time event. It would be best if you thought beforehand about what tools and techniques you will use to control the service quality.

Software testing

Automated testing for QA is a guarantee that you will be able to provide high-quality software. It is necessary to carry out this both at the stage of developing the code and after releasing it to the world.

For testing to be most effective, such activities should include the following:

Planning;
Test execution;
Test report.

Each of these stages is important enough that it is necessary to discuss them in more detail.

Planning

Test planning usually begins at the start of software development, as soon as the experts select the tools. The better you think about how testing will be organized, how many specialists you need, and what tools to use, the better the result you can get.

Testing

Today there are 2 main types of testing – manual and automatic. Each has its advantages and is performed at different stages of software development. So, manual tests allow you to identify problems with the interface and navigation, and automatic tests will find performance, vulnerability, and functionality errors.

The creation of software involves the involvement of several specialists. Each of them creates different modules. After work on a particular module is completed, it needs to be tested. After you combine all the modules into one software, many errors occur, as some models may need to be compatible. At this stage, you need to conduct comprehensive testing.

While testing, you need to follow a well-thought-out plan so that all tests are systemic, but it’s good if you use spontaneous tests to model user behavior. In this case, it is better to use manual tests since the computer cannot understand what a person needs.

Test Report

After completing all the tests, specialists should systematize them and report how your product meets all the requirements, what errors were identified and how they can be fixed. After that, specialists must correct the mistakes, and it is necessary to conduct testing again to ensure that the corrections do not lead to new errors.

Conclusion

Testing is only part of quality assurance. To get a high-quality product, you need more than just conducting various tests; you should also pay attention to other aspects of your organization. With good software, you will only get great results if you consider the requirements of business analysts and other professionals.

However, with testing, you will be able to ensure the excellent quality of your product. Testing and QA use different methods and tools, but they have the same goal – to create a high-quality product that will perform the necessary functions, be competitive, and the main thing is to generate income.