Quality assurance is a process that ensures the perfect functioning of the software after its development. Quality assurance processes help improve the quality of software. If you’re in the process of purchasing a quality assurance online course and would love to understand a bit of what your role will be, you’re in the right spot.
In this article, we’ll be looking at the processes involved in quality assurance and how it helps the software get better.
Let’s get started.
Unit testing
Unit testing is the first process involved in quality assurance. At this stage, all the components of the software are tested to check for lapses and malfunctions of each part. For example, let’s liken a phone to the software that needs to be tested. Each of the parts will be disconnected and tested individually (from the most visible to the tiniest). For this stage, the white box and functional testing methods are used to check each unit.
One of the major advantages of this stage of software testing is the opportunity testers have to quickly debug each unit. It also works effectively using simpler test codes. Lastly, unit testing is very cost-effective.
Integration testing
After the unit testing is completed, each unit is grouped to pass through another testing process. This is called integration testing. It’s majorly to ensure the units work well with their body without any issues. For this stage, the white box, black box, and functional testing processes are used.
As mentioned earlier, an advantage of integration testing is the clearing of any issues that may occur after each unit is coupled together. More so, integration testing can be carried out at any stage including the initial stage.
System testing
After the integration testing, the system is tested as a whole. This testing is done to check the compatibility of all the integrated units and also to ensure the system meets the development requirement. For this stage, the black box testing is used and it thoroughly checks the end-to-end approval of the software.
One advantage of system testing is the opportunity it gives testers to easily detect bugs in the integrated software. Even when each unit has been debugged, the whole software could have some hidden bugs affecting its general functioning. Also, it checks the software in all aspects and boosts the experts’ confidence in the quality of their testing.
Acceptance testing
This is the last stage of the quality assurance process. At this stage, the conditions of the developed software are analyzed effectively and placed alongside the requirements to ensure it effectively meets them. For the quality assurance process, each software has to meet some standards and models which could be CMMI, SPICE, ISO/IEC 9126, etc.
A cogent advantage of this testing stage is the last chance testers have to identify the remaining bugs left out earlier. With this, the software has a bug-free guarantee and would essentially meet the objectives.
Now that we have identified the processes involved in quality assurance, let’s see some of the advantages of quality assurance.
The first advantage will be that it removes all bugs present in the software. The identification of bugs and documentation process will help eradicate the tiniest bugs that are present in the software.
From the first advantage, we can as well draw the fact that quality assurance saves money. Each debugging stage for a company requires money, but once a thorough check is done, the quality will be up to standard.
Quality assurance boosts a company’s reputation. Yes, it does. No one wants to be known for poor quality production, not to mention companies. But with a quality assurance process carried out effectively, the company can boast of perfect software with examples and draw more projects to handle from other people.
Quality assurance also reduces the maintenance process and cost attached. With a perfect job delivered, you’ll be able to focus on other impending projects without going back and forth on the previous one.
Lastly, quality assurance ensures your products are safe to use. The internet is a porous space and users ensure their data is safe every time. If any issue is found, the number of users will be reduced drastically.
Conclusion
From this article, you can draw that the quality assurance process works all around in improving the quality of software, ensuring they are free from bugs, and lessening your financial burden on maintenance. One sure way to boost your quality assurance process is by hiring experts trained in quality assurance classes. These professionals will ensure the testing process is carried out without any hitch.
