Have you ever wondered how a software company ensures that its products are of high quality, durable, and stable? The answer can be found in the Quality Assurance (QA) process. As one of the most significant stages in Custom Software Development, a QA team is in charge of evaluating the products’ functionality, usability, compatibility, security, and performance as well. If any business saves money by eliminating the Software Quality Assurance, they are likely to face various unfavorable and costly outcomes. A finished product that has not been thoroughly tested prior to launch may contain errors in code and UI/UX design, which may disappoint digital users and result in the loss of those customers. So now, let’s equip yourself with more information about this complicated yet important process by checking the blog below!
1. What Is Software Quality Assurance?
As a stage before, during, and after the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Quality Assurance is a mechanism for testing whether projects comply with a stated set of standards. It will identify the flaws and alert the frontend, backend, or UI/ UX designers to fix them. Software Quality Assurance's ultimate goal is to improve consumer confidence and a firm's credibility while also improving work procedures and efficiency, allowing a company to compete more effectively.
Software Quality Assurance finds out bugs and errors for developers to fix.
To ensure Software Quality Assurance, a QA team can utilize manual or automated testing methods. In the Manual Testing process, QA analysts perform tests one by one in a manual manner. In the Automation Testing process, tools and scripts will be used to automate testing activities. If you're wondering “Which is better Manual or Automated Testing”, Automated Testing can be more outstanding thanks to its efficiency, time, and cost-saving. However, in some circumstances, such as Usability Testing, Ad-hoc Testing, and Exploratory Testing, QA specialists should employ Manual Testing.
2. Why Is Quality Assurance Required In Software Development?
It can't be argued that Quality Assurance is a reliable way to ensure that items are of the greatest possible quality. Because defects and errors might occur during the development process, it is critical to involve the QA team from the start. If you don't, the expense of correcting the errors might be up to 100 times higher, not to mention the loss of confidence, reputation, and consumers.
Many examples of software failures have occurred throughout history, ranging from errors that cost businesses billions of pounds to errors that resulted in human casualties. For instance, when a well-known trading firm lost $440 million in 45 minutes due to improper software deployment, it caused havoc on Wall Street. This occurred when an old and unused internal system was incorrectly configured during trading, resulting in stock trades being executed at incorrect prices. Besides, Starbucks lost millions of dollars in sales in 2015 as a result of a flaw during their daily system refresh, which caused the shutdown of point-of-sale registers in the US and Canada. This brand then had to provide free drinks as a sorry for their customers.
3. Some Common Testing Approaches For Quality Assurance
a. Functional Testing
Rather than focusing on the internal components, the purpose of Functional Testing is to ensure that the products are running smoothly and in accordance with the company's specifications. The QA Professionals will test each function of the software application by providing appropriate input and then comparing the output to the Functional requirements. Functional testing is primarily concerned with black-box testing and is unconcerned with the application's source code. Some main functions to be tested are User Interface, APIs, Database, Security, Client/Server communication, etc. Testing can be performed manually or automatically.
b. Usability Testing
In case you don’t know “What is Usability Testing?”, here is the answer. It refers to determining how simple and user-friendly an application is. This type of testing focuses heavily on the ease with which end users can access and use the services and software. A QA team can predict potential issues and ensure a seamless experience by deeply understanding customers' behaviors.
c. Compatibility Testing
Many businesses and brands expect their software to run smoothly on a variety of devices, allowing them to reach as many customers as possible. As a result, Compatibility Testing, a type of non-functional testing, is required. It is used to determine whether your software application or product is capable of running in a variety of browsers, databases, hardware, operating systems, mobile devices, and networks.
Compatibility Testing ensures the software runs smoothly on different devices and platforms.
d. Security Testing
Security testing is a type of software testing that identifies vulnerabilities, threats, and risks in the Software Development Process and protects against malicious attacks from intruders. Here are a few examples of security testing:
- Penetration testing: Check a system and its features (usually through automated means) to see if vulnerabilities exist and are exploited.
- Secure coding: Ensure that all security information (including passwords) is encrypted, not stored in plain text, and appropriately hashed.
e. Performance Testing
As the name implies, performance testing is the process of identifying how a Web Development or Mobile App Development works under a given workload. Simply put, the final products will be evaluated in terms of speed, stability, reliability, and responsiveness. For example, it could be observing response times when accomplishing a large number of requests, or it could be observing how the system behaves with a large amount of data.
4. Final Thoughts
To sum up, Quality Assurance is an indispensable part of any Software Development, be it Web or Mobile App. This process makes the final products meet the strict requirements, hence helping to grow the reputation of brands as well as guarantee user and client satisfaction.
If you're looking for answers to queries like “Which is the best company for software testing?” or “How can I find the Software Testing Outsourcing?”, SotaTek is the place to go. Whether you desire to hire IT developers to follow the SLDC with the strict testing process or just want to find independent Software Testing and QA services, our 700+ employees can all offer. We can improve the quality of your product while decreasing time-to-market, management risks, and operating expenses by utilizing our testing facilities, extensive QA knowledge, and team flexibility. With both Automated and Manual Testing options, we are committed to giving the most optimized Testing Processes, ensuring customization and efficient pricing. So don't be hesitant to get in touch with us right now!
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