Definition “Quality Assurance” What is Software Quality Assurance?
Quality assurance is important for software providers as well as their products, developers and clients. The procedures and standards prescribed by a QA – ie quality assurance program prevent product defects before they arise.
Companies on the topic
In contrast to downstream quality control, quality assurance is intended to prevent possible errors before they arise.
(Picture: John Schnobrich)
The term quality assurance (QA) is generally associated with systematic processes. The focus of the consideration is on the question: Does a product to be created meet the requirements placed on it? Corresponding security practices have existed for generations.
Today, ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, deals with the mapping and certification of quality assurance practices. In formalized form, QS has its origins in the manufacturing industry, where the quality assurance processes are described in the ISO 9000 family of standards. In the meantime, corresponding security concepts determine the processes in most industries and quite explicitly in software development.
Quality: Assurance versus control
A basic definition serves to distinguish the terms “quality assurance” and “quality control”. There is no doubt that the two terms have functional similarities, but there are notable differences in content:
- Quality control is a production-oriented process. This includes processes such as testing and troubleshooting.
- Quality assurance refers to a systematic process for ensuring a specified requirement profile. It is about preventing faulty program code and thus delivering error-free products.
The software developer and QA models
Quality assurance is central to software developers. After all, it is about avoiding errors in software products before errors manifest themselves. On the one hand, this approach reduces development time, on the other hand it has a cost-reducing effect. Strategies for ensuring software quality are correspondingly diverse.
A performance optimization-oriented model has the short name “CMMI” for Capability Maturity Model Integration. This is an evaluation scheme that is based on maturity levels that are ranked with the aim of optimization. Other models, all of which have the goal of increasing work efficiency, are named:
Waterfall model: traditional, linear development approach. In the classic step-by-step approach, functional processes such as program design, code implementation, test phase, corrections and final approval are lined up.
Agile: Team-oriented development methodology; the so-called “sprint” represents a step in the work process.
Scrum: A combination of waterfall and agile model, where development teams are formed for specific tasks. In this model, each task is divided into several sprints.
Tools and methodology in quality assurance
How can the software developer ensure that a high-quality end product is delivered to the customer? Testing the software program is an elementary part of software quality assurance. Today, the developer has at his disposal numerous modern tools and working platforms that ensure a high degree of automation of test procedures. Proven tools commonly used in software houses are (listed in alphabetical order):
Jenkins: This open source quality assurance program provides the ability to run and test code in real time. Thanks to its degree of automation, Jenkins is predestined for use in fast-moving program environments.
Selenium: another open source product. It allows to perform tests in numerous languages such as” C#”,”Java” or “Python”.
Postman: Tool specially designed for web applications. This test tool is available for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. It supports editors and description formats such as Swagger and RAML formatting.
Conclusion: Quality assurance as a distinguishing feature
Quality Assurance (QA) is different from the actual test routine. Rather, it defines the standards to be specified for testing. This is ultimately done with the aim of ensuring the suitability of a software product for the requirement profiles specified in the order. Quality assurance teams make a valuable contribution to product quality-a distinguishing feature in the competition that should not be underestimated.
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