What is Quality Assurance (QA) in Software Testing?

Quality Assurance (QA) in software testing is a crucial process to ensure that software products meet the highest quality requirements for flawless performance and customer satisfaction. It involves planning, executing, and monitoring testing operations to identify bugs, minimize risks, and optimize overall program quality. With robust QA operations, developers can confidently navigate complex software development, ensuring their products excel in the competitive digital market.

What is Quality Assurance?

Quality Assurance is the proactive process of ensuring that products, services, or processes meet or exceed predefined quality standards. It takes a systematic approach to prevent defects, errors, or inconsistencies throughout the development or production lifecycle. 

QA processes intend to ensure that all components are in place to deliver a product or service that consistently meets the highest quality, reliability, and customer satisfaction standards.

Importance of Quality Assurance in Testing

Quality assurance plays a vital role in various industries and sectors, especially software development. A few key reasons for its importance in the SDLC:

1. Ensuring Customer Satisfaction:

QA operations work to prevent bugs instead of just identifying them. It also validates that the software application works as expected across multiple devices, browsers, operating systems, and scenarios. By systematically checking and verifying quality standards, QA teams keep software operating at high levels across functional and non-functional parameters. 

A well-tested software product will naturally deliver better customer experiences, helping to build brand trust and long-term relationships. 

2. Minimizing Costs and Risks:

Implementing effective quality assurance processes helps identify and rectify defects or issues early on, reducing the costs associated with rework, product recalls, or customer complaints. It is much cheaper to fix bugs early on, instead of after deployments. Organizations can save time and resources by proactively reducing risks of system breaches and crashes. 

3. Enhancing Brand Reputation:

A strong focus on quality assurance translates into a reputable brand image. Consistently delivering high-quality products or services builds a positive reputation in the market, attracting more customers and fostering loyalty. A solid brand reputation is invaluable for long-term success and competitiveness.

4. Compliance with Standards and Regulations:

Many industries have strict regulations and quality standards that must be met. Common examples of regulations are HIPAA and GDPR. All software products associated with healthcare, for instance, must adhere to HIPAA guidelines in the US. In Europe, all apps must adhere to GDPR if they intend to operate with European citizens’ data. 

Quality assurance ensures that software aligns with all legal regulations and that companies can stay functional in their chosen locations. Since non-compliance can lead to penalties, legal issues, or reputational damage, this is one of the most integral functions of any Quality Assurance team.

5. Continuous Improvement:

It fosters a culture of continuous improvement within teams and organizations. By consistently monitoring processes, collecting data, and analyzing performance metrics, teams can identify areas for enhancement and implement corrective actions.

6. Increased Efficiency and Productivity:

Implementing QA practices streamlines workflows, identifies bottlenecks, and eliminates inefficiencies. Organizations can enhance productivity, reduce time-to-market, and gain a competitive edge by optimizing processes and reducing waste.

Stages of Quality Assurance in Software Testing

While the specifics of each stage will differ based on project, customer, and industry requirements, all QA pipelines cover the following stages or phases:

Test Planning and Strategy

At the test planning and strategy stage, teams create a comprehensive roadmap for testing activities. Testers define test objectives, identify test deliverables, determine test approaches, and allocate resources. Planning and strategizing set the foundation for efficient and effective testing, ensuring that the right tests are conducted at the right time.

Test Design and Execution

Here, QA teams create and execute the test cases ideated upon at the previous stage. QA engineers design test scenarios and create detailed test cases to verify the usability and accuracy of different software functions and UI elements. Teams run these tests, record the results, and use them to determine if the app behaves as expected. 

Defect Management

Defect management involves identifying, documenting, and tracking software defects, bugs, and issues. It involves capturing detailed information about each defect, prioritizing them based on severity, and mapping them to the responsible developer who will resolve them.

Configuration Management

Configuration management controls changes in software configuration throughout the SDLC. It covers version control and change management, to ensure that software quality and integrity remain intact. It helps maintain a stable and regulated environment, reducing risks associated with incorrect or unauthorized requirement-level or code-level modifications.

Metrics and Reporting

At this stage, testers gather and analyze software quality on the basis of pre-determined metrics. These metrics include test coverage, defect density, test execution progress, and other performance metrics. They provide visibility into the software’s quality, allowing for informed decision-making and continual development.

Quality Assurance Functions across Industries

Quality assurance functions can vary depending on the industry and organizational context. However, some common functions include:

1. Product QA:  Responsible for ensuring the quality of the final product or service. It sets processes, quality standards, and controls to meet most customer expectations before deploying to real-world markets.

2. Process QA:  Process QA creates and establishes necessary audits of the process itself. It intends to find and highlight areas for improvement to maximize efficiency and quality.

3. Compliance QA: Ensures that legal, regulatory, and industry-specific requirements are followed to prevent penalties, legal challenges, and reputational harm to the brand.

4. Supplier QA: Supplier QA manages the quality of goods or services delivered by third-party vendors. It evaluates vendors’ capabilities, conducts audits, and creates quality agreements.

5. Customer QA: Gathers client input, runs customer satisfaction surveys, and takes action to improve customer experience. This stage comes in after the software product has been released for real-world purchase and usage. 

Quality Assurance Principles

Quality assurance is guided by several key principles that form the foundation for effective quality management. The primary principles driving QA are:

1. Customer-First: Focus on what the customer wants. What features make their life easier? What aesthetics draw them to a site or app? Prioritize customer preferences, and your QA process has won half the battle.
   
2. Collaboration: The best and most effective QA pipelines involve stakeholders at all levels – business, sales, development, testing. Right from the brainstorming stage, all individuals with stake in the software’s success should collaborate on ideas, strategy and execution.
   
3. Lean, interconnected and efficient processes: All testing and QA processes should be highly efficient while consuming minimal system resources. Work in connection with other departments at all times – sales inputs must feed into the requirements gathering, which feed into determining customer expectations which feed into test strategy, and so on.
   
4. Data-driven decision making: All business decisions, whether pertaining to tests or project goals, should be made on the basis of quantifiable data points. For instance, conduct customer surveys to determine their primary preferences. Study test results to identify major problem areas that need re-testing (involving significant resources and effort).
   
5. Continual Improvement: As anyone with experience in an actual QA team will tell you, there is always room for improvement. Setup data metrics to identify any gaps in efficiency, covering the entire QA funnel. Build a team that always asks, “What can we do better?”  

Quality Assurance Methods

To verify that products or services meet the intended quality standards, quality assurance incorporates a variety of methodologies and approaches. A few of them are: 

Audits

Audits are systematic examinations of processes, systems, or products to identify errors, deviations, or non-compliance. They reveal functional gaps in the infrastructure, gaps that can be fulfilled by taking remedial steps.

Inspections

Inspection of work products or deliveries is essential to identify defects and prevent them from spreading. It can and should be done at various stages of the development or production lifecycle. Regular post-production of an app’s performance goes a long way in maintaining quality standards.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

SPC monitors and controls processes using statistical methods – control charts, process capability analysis, descriptive statistics, probability distributions, etc. It helps orgs find and understand any deviations from best practices, find causes, and run corrective measures for improved stability.

Risk Analysis

Risk analysis detects and analyzes possible quality, performance, or dependability risks. Testers use automation tools to analyze risks and evaluate their impact and likelihood. Based on this information, dev teams can code risk mitigation measures to manage quality standards.

Six Sigma Methodology

Six Sigma is a methodology and framework for finding and removing defects in processes. QA teams can use it to enhance the performance of their products and workflows. Six Sigma majorly uses two methodologies — DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) and DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify).

Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a problem-solving approach that studies symptoms and analyzes data to determine the root causes of problems. It helps organizations identify root causes, implement remedial measures, and prevent similar situations from recurring.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM is a QA method that focuses on creating a quality-first mindset throughout a company, at all levels. All departments and employees within the company will approach their tasks with product quality as a priority. Whether supply chain management or inventory management, all teams should work within a framework of continuous improvement towards specific quality standards. 

Failure Testing

This QA method puts products through extreme stress, such as a massive load of visitors to a website. By pushing the application to its limits, QA teams can expose flaws that only show up at edge case level. Data collected during such tests is used to fortify software stability. 

Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA)

PPQA, as a method, sets org-wide quality standards and frameworks to measure, analyze, and correct gaps in QA. Business processes are scanned for gaps related to quality assurance. It sets standards and guidelines that apply to all SDLC stages and operations. 

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)

CMMI uses a professional framework to gauge the maturity level of a business, in terms of Quality Assurance. QA teams generally aim to move from one level of the CMMI to another. The goal is to reach the highest possible maturity level, within reasonable budgets and resource constraints. 

Example of Quality Assurance in Practice

Let’s imagine a company that manufactures gaming apps. A new app is to be developed, tested, and released. In such a scenario, here’s how the Quality Assurance pipeline may proceed:

Requirements Gathering

Stakeholders from different teams gather the high-level requirements for the game. Common questions asked at this stage are:

• Who are we building for? 
• What is their demographic? 
• What are the primary preferences of our target audience?
• Who is most likely to buy the game and what are they looking for?

It is recommended that you create a Requirements Traceability Matrix to organize requirements and connect them to design elements, artifacts and test cases. The entire team will set project goals, and success metrics from the requirements, and map each one to one or more corresponding features and tests. 

The QA team should be involved from this stage to get the ground-up understanding of the final product as well as customer expectations. 

Design Phase

The design and blueprints for the gaming app are studied and verified by the QA team. They can point out any obvious flaws that might hinder development and/or integration of different system components. 

Testing Phase

Once developers start pushing code, QA engineers can initiate a series of manual and automated tests to verify software quality, usability and stability. The code base is put through automated tests at numerous stages along the CI/CD (Continuous Integration/ Continuous Development) pipeline. It will also require final verification through a set of manual tests. 

• Common automated tests at this stage: Unit tests, integration tests, regression tests, load tests, smoke tests, security tests, API tests, stress tests. 

• Common manual tests at this stage: Exploratory tests, usability tests, visual tests (can also be automated), acceptance tests, ad-hoc tests.

The goal is to scan for, find and eliminate all code, feature and UI-level bugs that can contribute to an undesirable user experience. Ideally, no bug should appear once the software hits the production stage. 

Post Production Stage

The QA team’s work isn’t over with software release. They must continue to monitor software performance in the hands of end-users. This post release validation is integral for maintaining quality and performance as the app functions in the real world. 

• Common tests conducted at this stage: A/B tests, user acceptance tests, smoke and health checks, monitoring and analysis, feedback loops, feature adoption scans, consistent bug tracking. 

Here are some more examples of quality assurance in practice:

In software development:

• Testing software to ensure it is free of bugs and defects.
• Writing clear and concise documentation that users can understand.
• Conducting user testing to ensure that the software is user-friendly.

In manufacturing:

• Inspecting products to ensure they meet quality standards.
• Testing materials to ensure they are safe and durable.
• Maintaining a clean and organized production environment.

In healthcare:

• Administering medications and treatments correctly.
• Monitoring patients for signs of complications.
• Maintaining a clean and sterile environment.

In education:

• Developing a curriculum that meets educational standards.
• Providing students with access to qualified teachers and resources.
• Assessing student learning to ensure they are meeting expectations.

These are just a few examples of how quality assurance is used in different industries. The specific techniques and tools will vary depending on the organization and the product or service being produced.

QA Used by the Industry

Different industries use different approaches to quality assurance, but the basic principles are the same. Here are some examples:

• Software Development: Unit testing, integration testing, system testing, acceptance testing.
• Manufacturing: Quality control inspections, statistical process control, defect tracking.
• Construction: Building inspections, code compliance checks, material testing.
• Healthcare: Medical record review, quality of care audits, infection control measures.

How to Implement a Quality Assurance Pipeline in Your Team/organization

Implementing a software quality assurance plan is crucial to software development. If you’re planning to establish a robust QA pipeline in your organization or team, here are the initial steps you need to take:

Define Goals and Standards

Start by deciding what “quality” means for the business. Bring all relevant stakeholders into this conversation, and pin down clear, quantifiable goals–defect rates, performance benchmarks, expected feature adoption rates, etc. 

Next, study and select industry standards most relevant to your product. Common examples of such standards are ISO and CMMI. If there are any technical stakeholders (like an experienced CFO or Head of Product), consider deciding on specific testing standards like Agile. 

Build Your Team

Recruit the right people for your team; people with expertise in QA, QC, and associated tools. Ensure that different roles (QA Manager, Test Analyst, Automation Engineer) have clearly outlined responsibilities with minimal overlap. 

Develop Your Strategy

In collaboration with your team, determine what tests to execute in your first project – unit tests, integration tests, system tests, user acceptance tests, regression tests, etc. You’ll need some expert input to make these decisions, which is where at least one experienced team member should come in.

Your strategy should also include a list of relevant tools for test automation, management, post-production monitoring, defect and change management, and other essential functions. This will be a somewhat time and effort intensive process, as it will require you to research and run free trials of multiple solutions. 

Create theQA Process

Build, shape, and detail each phase of the QA process–test planning, design, execution, and reporting. Start by ensuring that QA professionals are involved in the SDLC right from the brainstorming stage a.k.a shift-left testing. 

Figure out how many tests can be automated with your given budget and resources. Your automation pipeline will require a powerful CI/CD tool, as well as testers well-versed in coding and writing automation scripts. Implementing continuous testing is particularly important. 

You can also choose a tool like Testsigma, one that enables you to create entire test cases in plain English, without writing a line of code. 

Build Test Plans and Test Cases

Develop test plans outlining the scope, goals, structure, strategies, and resources for the project. Based on these plans and requirements, create test cases that scan through all essential functions. Often, test cases are built on the basis of formats like Given-When-Then (Gherkin) and Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). 

On Testsigma, you can simply build test cases by going to the target website/app and going through user steps. The steps are recorded and can be recreated across multiple browsers, OSes, and devices. 

Run Your First Set of Tests and Study Results

You’ll probably run into some problems with your first test run. Don’t be alarmed; it’s to be expected. Be sure to record all testing operations with text logs, video sessions, and analytics data–functions you should have with your chosen automation tool. 

Study the test results closely. Your tool should provide detailed reports with actionable insights for smarter testing. Refine and reorient the QA pipeline based on any apparent errors or inadequacies. 

Testsigma, for instance, provides customizable reports in multiple formats. It outlines build summaries and trends, details on each test case result, AI-suggested fixes, and integrates with popular collaboration tools like Slack. 

Run Periodic Reviews and Audits

As you execute test runs, closely assess results and pin down a system for analyzing defects as soon they come in. Start measuring software quality along the most relevant industry metrics. 

New Best Practices Emerge in the Market All the Time.

Conduct regular audits to ensure that your workflows are using these practices. You can also find and cover any existing gaps in efficiency. 

Continue to Train Your Team

Consistently train your team to keep them updated on the most recent QA technologies and methodologies. Conduct regular meetings and webinars. Invite team members to pick up a new skill and guide their teammates. Do as much as possible to enable team members to take ownership of product quality. 

Work with your team to foster a quality-first culture. Make quality a priority for the entire SDLC, right from the stakeholder input stage. 

Solicit Customer Feedback Regularly

As an app is used by customers, gather feedback from them through surveys and interviews. Get validation by asking the right questions. Study reviews and invite certain customers to share their feedback (with an incentive or two). 

These are ways to identify any areas for improvement, and detect any bugs that have  escaped the QA pipeline.

Essential Quality Assurance Metrics

There are many ways to measure the effectiveness of your quality assurance efforts. Here are a few common metrics:

• Defect rate: The number of defects found per unit of product or service.
• Customer satisfaction: How satisfied are your customers with the quality of your products or services?
• Return rate: The number of products or services returned due to defects.
• Warranty claims: The number of warranty claims against your products or services.

Benefits of Quality Assurance in Software Testing

• Ensures that all released software meets the requisite quality standards, in terms of functionality, UI, and compatibility. QA also reduces the likelihood of post-release bugs and patches.  
• Detects bugs and defects early in the SDLC. All bugs are cheaper to resolve at these stages, thereby reducing costs for each development project. 
• Higher customer satisfaction and trust due to improved software quality. QA processes verify that the software products closely align with end-users expectations. 
• Magnified and more comprehensive security mechanisms are implemented into software products. Every mature QA pipeline includes robust security tests since no app can be considered high-quality without providing seamless data security. 
• Ensures that apps and even the development process are compliant with local and international regulations. 
• Detects, eliminates, and manages major operational risks, disruptions, and failures. This is done by scanning for quality gaps at every stage of the SDLC. 
• Streamlines the development pipeline by implementing CI/CD principles. This accelerates the workflow and reduces bottlenecks.

Quality Assurance Roles and Responsibilities

Most QA teams include the following positions and corresponding responsibilities. Responsibilities can overlap between these roles, and often one person takes on multiple roles (at least partially).

Quality Assurance Manager/lead

They supervise the entire QA pipeline. Their tasks include defining strategy, setting goals, and managing team productivity. The QA Lead allocates resources, decides budgets, and creates reports on team performance and product quality. Additionally, they can also be responsible for some test planning and management decisions. 

Test Lead

They manage individual testing projects, and can sometimes manage multiple ones simultaneously. Major responsibilities include building test plans, running tests, monitoring for bugs, and meeting deadlines. They also communicate with developers, project managers, and clients. 

Test Analyst/test Engineer

The Test Engineer designs, develops, and runs test cases. They consult requirements, user stories and stakeholder input. Additionally, they must find, record, and trace defects—which they probably have to present at reviews and meetings. 

It is possible for individual engineers to specialize in certain forms of testing – security, performance, usability. Some may be specifically hired to create and run automated tests. 

Test Automation Engineer

They design and execute automated test cases in order to optimize the SDLC. Their responsibilities include selecting the right tool, crafting the test scripts, and integrating them into an Agile pipeline. 

Test automation engineers must have strong programming skills and deep technical expertise. 

Best Practices to Ensure Quality Assurance

To ensure that your software quality assurance (QA) processes yield the optimal results, consider these best practices:

Create a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)

The RTM is a tool or framework that collects, saves, and connects all project requirements with the right tests and design artifacts. It provides an updated overview of all project operations at a single glance. 

RTMs are key to keeping QA projects organized and accountable. It verifies if all requirements are being validated by tests, and red flags any missed requirements early on. 

Develop a QA Plan

The QA plan should start by defining the scope of a project. It should clearly underline the following factors:

• Role of each tester in the project
• The development stage at which QA starts it’s tasks (ideally, right from the start)
• Details on test strategy, test environment setup, resource allocation, timelines, and risk assessment.
• Detailed test plans and test cases
• Execution schedules
• Expected test coverage
• Expected test results
• Metrics for benchmarking team productivity and quality 

Define Clear Acceptance Criteria

When defining test cases, establish what counts as “success” and “failures”. Additionally, define the % of successful tests needed to declare the software as production-ready. 

Remember that the acceptance criteria should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).

Use a Version Control System (VCS)

The VCS is the repository for the main application codebase, including all test cases. It serves as the central dashboard from which all project personnel can access necessary data. All testers have access to updated code, and no one ends up working with an outdated version. 

VCS tools (like Git) track all test cases and let you roll back to previous versions. Multiple testers can collaborate on each test case, as the system saves all edits. All changes can be easily audited at any time. 

Due to version history, test cases can be reused across multiple projects to optimize productivity. 

Perform Regular Code Reviews

Regular code reviews bring many benefits to a QA project:

• Defect detection, early in the development lifecycle. 
• Improved code quality, in line with coding standards, style guides, and best practices. 
• Improved code readability, maintainability and testability. 
• Reduced testing efforts by early bug detection.
• Improved software security due to better oversight

UseAutomated Testing

Automated testing is essential for success of modern testing projects. By automating the bulk of software tests, it reduces testing time and effort by a huge margin. It also reduces the possibility of missed bugs due to human error and fatigue. 

Use Production-level Testing Environments

Test software within environments that closely mimic production. In other words, test your apps on real browsers, devices, and OSes. This ensures that no bug is missed because testers use the apps exactly as end-users do. 

To save resources otherwise needed to buy and manage a repository of real devices, use a cloud-based tool like Testsigma. Our servers grant you immediate access to 3000+ browsers and devices. You can easily build test cases and execute them on the exact devices used by your target audience. 

Incorporate AI Into QA Operations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can magnify the reach, efficacy, and speed of your QA workflows. It can automatically create test cases, adjust them to changes in the UI, analyze results, recommend improvements, and even flag possible issues before the test is run.

Copilot, Testsigma’s GenAI assistant does all the above and much more. Instantly generate automated test cases from multiple inputs, including user stories, Figma designs, screenshots, and existing test management systems. Copilot transforms these requirements into actionable tests in seconds, minimizing manual scripting efforts.

Use prompts and user actions such as selecting the suggested scenarios to interact with Testsigma Copilot and create auto-generated test cases for your desired scenarios.

Utilize the Agile Methodology Via CI/CD

CI/CD entails integrating code changes into the main codebase and automatically building, testing, and deploying the software. This helps ensure that changes are integrated and deployed quickly and efficiently.

The system incorporates the best practices of the Agile principles of software development. Better software is released faster, aiming to deliver nothing but the best customer experiences. 

Monitor and Improve

Regularly monitor the QA process and gather feedback from stakeholders to identify areas for improvement. Monitor app and team performance levels, average number of bugs identified and resolved with each project, and ROI on automation and management tools.

Document all operations for easy benchmarking and comparison. Maintain visibility of risk levels, and improve on all perceivable gaps in functionality to stay ahead of the competition. 

QA Automation Testing ToolsFor Effective Software QA

• Unit testing tools – Used for testing individual codes.
• Functional testing tools are used for error detection and giving it to the development team. Example – Testsigma, Selenium, Cucumber.
• API testing tools – Used for testing the service layers or API.
• Browser testing tools – Used for cross-browser testing.
• Test management tools – This helps you list all the requirements and write appropriate test cases. 
• Performance testing tools – These tools are used to test the reliability and scalability of a product because every product has a crucial point where its performance goes down. Example – Load Runner

Start Your Quality Assurance Journey withTestsigma

Quality assurance is critical for guaranteeing that products or services satisfy the necessary quality standards. Organizations can increase customer happiness, reduce risks and costs, develop a credible brand image, and drive continuous improvement by employing efficient quality assurance practices. By embracing QA concepts and employing relevant methodologies, businesses may attain excellence and offer high-quality results that match consumer expectations.

Testsigma enables QA teams to simplify and optimize their testing operations with its straightforward UI, powerful features, and efficient test management capabilities. QA professionals can write, perform, and manage tests with Testsigma’s user-friendly platform, allowing them to focus on providing higher software quality while saving time and effort.

Using Testsigma’s AI-driven test automation, QA teams can:

• Create test cases in plain English. No coding is required. 
• Create API test cases from JSON inputs. 
• Uncover edge cases by getting test coverage suggestions with minimal input, such as user stories, screenshots, etc.
• Reduce 70% of test maintenance effort with auto-healing tests that eliminate flaky tests by detecting issues with elements and automatically remapping them for reliable results.
• Convert test cases to data-driven tests in one tap.
• Run test cases on 3000+ real device combinations on the cloud. 
• Get detailed, granular reports on test results. 
• Receive AI-generated suggestions for improvements with test cases, strategy, and coverage. 

Curious yet? Why not try Testsigma for free?

Conclusion

Finally, quality assurance is critical for guaranteeing that products or services satisfy the necessary quality standards. Organizations may increase customer happiness, reduce risks and costs, develop a credible brand image, and drive continuous improvement by employing efficient quality assurance practices. By embracing QA concepts and employing relevant methodologies, businesses may attain excellence and offer high-quality results that match consumer expectations.

In terms of SQA, Testsigma is a unified platform for streamlining testing operations. 

Testsigma enables QA teams to simplify and optimize their testing operations with its straightforward UI, powerful features, and efficient test management capabilities. QA professionals can write, perform, and manage tests with Testsigma’s user-friendly platform, allowing them to focus on providing higher software quality while saving time and effort.