What is Quality Assurance (QA) Testing?
Be it software or any regular commodity, the Quality dictates its usability. The quality assures if it is fit for use. Every end-user expects quality assurance when he invests some money on it. The same holds for software as well. It is quintessential that the developed software meets the predefined set of guidelines to work effectively and efficiently. This Quality Assurance in Software Development is also popularly known as QA Testing or Software Quality Assurance (SQA). The SQA ensures the quality of software engineering processes.
SQA is essentially an iterative process in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) which is required to be performed at regular intervals to ensure the fitness of the software. Instead of checking for the fitment at the end, the SQA is carried out at every phase to avoid last-minute failures/disappointments. The software development progresses to the next phase only after the SQA is successful for that phase.
SQA Testing involves the following activities:
Creating an SQA Management Plan:
This is to assess and identify the budget, resources, etc.
Setting the checkpoints:
To place the checkpoints at which the SQA needs to be performed in the best interests of the project. Any Project Life Cycle is broadly divided into two phases – the development phase and the maintenance phase.
In the development phase, the SQA is performed to check for programming or designing errors.
In the maintenance phase, the SQA is performed to improve the functionality and maintenance of the developed product.
Applying Software Engineering Techniques:
These techniques are used by the project designer to procure the specifications of the product. This is attained by conducting interviews, implementing FAST( Functional Analysis System Technique).
Once the specifications of the product are gathered, the project designer then estimates the cost based on the techniques like WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), SLOC (Source Line of Code), and FP (Functional Point).
Implementing Formal Technical Reviews (FTR):
FTR is conducted to assess the quality standard and design of the model. Various meetings are conducted to understand the quality expectations. This step helps in identifying the errors in the early stage of the SDLC.
Implementation of multiple-testing strategy:
Multiple testing strategies are implemented to test the product in different angles for the best results.
Checking for process adherence:
This step is to ensure if the development is in line with the defined procedures.
Change Control:
A combination of manual and automated tests is used to control the change. At this stage, the change requests, nature of change, and the effects of change are evaluated.
Measure Change Impacts:
The changes made for improvement at times bring in new errors. These activities decide which errors can be tolerated for a positive shift and reset the changes in case of deviation.
Conducting SQA Audits:
In the QA audits, the auditing team compares the project results with the established processes. Moreover, they check if the documented project details are actually performed by the team and also address any non-compliance issues.
Maintenance of records, reports:
It is imperative to maintain documentation of the entire SDLC and share the same with the stakeholders. The reports, records, audit results, changes, etc should be maintained for future reference.
Maintain harmony:
Last but not least, the SQA team, Software testing, and the developers should maintain a healthy relationship among the teams for the overall quality of the project.
Like any QA check, SQA is also performed using PDCA Cycle:
Plan – This is the first step of the cycle where the various stages are assessed for problems based on their objectives and if they can meet the required quality guidelines. If not, they understand the root cause of the problem.
Do – Set a measurement and develop and execute the solution and compare the results alongside the measurement.
Check – Monitor the process after the execution of the solution to check if it meets the objectives of the process.
Act – Implement the improvements in case they fall short of the required standards, document the results, inform the others about the change and make a note of the further improvements to be made in the next PDCA cycle.
