Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) are two terms that are frequently used interchangeably. However, there are significant differences between the two terms and it's important to understand the role and value of each in the software development process.
Read the article below to explore the meaning of the terms QA and QC, as well as the similarities and differences between the two. This article will also demonstrate some relevant statistics and practical case uses that can help you to make informed and knowledgeable decisions for your business going forward.
Quality Assurance vs Quality Control
What Is Quality Assurance?
Quality Assurance is the practice that involves all of the activities and procedures for validation of a product or service for the compliance of predetermined standards and requirements. It involves using many techniques and activities such as designing tests, conducting inspections, analyzing performance metrics, verifying functionalities, etc. QA is essential for ensuring the quality and reliability of the product by proactively identifying issues before they become more costly to handle later after release. Furthermore, Quality Assurance also provides an outlet for continuous improvement wherein it tracks customer feedback and trends in order to improve the user’s experience. Hence, QA plays an integral role for maintaining high standards when developing products or services to meet specific needs.
What Is Quality Control?
Quality Control is an integral part of the overall Quality Assurance processes. Quality Control focuses on identifying and correcting defects, which helps to decrease the amount of time and financial resources wasted.
Quality Control measures can include reviews of design documents and specifications, inspections, tests and validation procedures on products or services. It also involves analyzing data from customer feedback and complaints, as well as ensuring that any corrective actions taken will be effective. By having these methods in place and adhering to established quality control standards throughout a project, organizations can realize the benefits associated with improved customer satisfaction, increased reliability of products and services delivered along with reduced project costs.
What is a Quality Management System?
Quality Management System - is a formalized system that seeks to document procedures, processes and responsibilities for reaching the desired product quality and customer satisfaction. A quality management system is made up of both Quality Assurance and Quality Control.
Having a quality management system in place is essential for any IT organization. It ensures that the required processes are followed, standards are met, and that customer expectations are met and even exceeded. A quality management system helps to ensure consistency in operations, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Additionally, it can help protect an IT organization from potential legal liabilities by having well-defined protocols and procedures in place. Implementing a quality management system can be challenging but the rewards of doing so make the effort worthwhile. With proper planning and implementation strategies, organizations can reap the benefits of having an effective quality management system in place while avoiding unnecessary delays or disruptions to their daily operations.
Potential consequences of neglecting QA and QC
What might happen if you decide to ignore QA and QC? Such a decision would have a lot of ‘painful’ consequences for your business.
Software Development Risks of Poor QA and QC:
System Malfunctions
Unstable Performance
Vulnerable Security Systems
Undetected Bugs and Code Errors
Business Risks of Poor QA and QC:
Dissatisfied Clients
Damage to Brand Image/reputation
Financial Losses
Missed Deadlines
Having poor quality software is a real disaster for businesses. Just have a look at the statistics below to see the magnitude of the situation.
620 million man hours are spent on debugging software failures.
$607 billion is spent on finding and fixing bugs (in just the United States alone)
40% of visitors leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
79% of users who are unsatisfied with a website’s quality are less likely to return.
44% of people will tell others about their negative experiences online.
QA and QC help prevent and detect issues before they can become problems. Of course, it’s difficult to quantify the exact cost of poor quality, and bugs, however, investments made in Quality Assurance and Quality Control can help you avoid unnecessary expenditures while also optimizing workflows.
Allocate at least 25% of your IT budget for QA and QC to ensure the best quality of the product and a high ROI.
What are the similarities between Quality Assurance and Quality Control?
Quality Assurance and Quality Control are interrelated terms with similar goals and objectives. They both
Focus on the Release of High-Quality Products and the Satisfaction of your Client’s Needs. QA helps businesses make strategic decisions in terms of quality. At the same time, QC allows ensuring that the final product meets expectations. QA and QC complement each other, playing a crucial role together by ultimately putting a good product in the hands of the clients.
Timely Realization of the Project. Both QA and QC focus on ensuring that bugs are detected early in the development stages. If a critical bug is found just before the product’s release, it’s very likely that the corrections needed will take a lot of extra time and effort. On the contrary, if the bug is detected early on by using QA and QC, you can finalize the project in a much more timely manner.
Cost Cutting. Creating a good quality product can be expensive, but bad quality costs much more in the long run. Thanks to QA and QC, you'll be able to avoid unnecessary expenditures, operational and reputational losses, as well as other risks and dangers caused by releasing a product that’s poor in quality.
Optimization of the Workflows. Implementing Quality Assurance and Quality Control shows organizations what can be improved (in terms of user experience, the gathering of requirements, test automation, bug detection, etc.).
It’s best to pay attention to both Quality Assurance and Quality Control so your digital project can succeed.
QA and QC: effective cooperation
It is difficult to manage the QA and QC processes efficiently and effectively. Take a look at our guidelines and best practices so we can help you to solve this challenge.
The QA and QC teams should maintain regular and effective communication with each other.
The teams should have individual chats for discussing internal issues and shared chats for meetings, reporting, and solving strategic issues. The specialists involved should use them productively to clarify questions, issues and problems.
Have a systematic approach, in which both proactive and non-active specialists do their job well and are motivated about the growth of the project and improvements of the QA processes.
Both teams should participate in the product development processes, cooperating together with the marketing, development, and design teams, as well as product managers, stakeholders and other involved parties.
QA vs QC in practice
Let’s see how QA and QC processes work in practice.
Roles of QA and QC in baking a birthday cake
| QA Team | QC Team | |
|---|---|---|
| Client comes to order a birthday cake. |
| Read the customer’s requirements for the cake. |
| Cooks prepare the ingredients for the birthday cake |
| QCs validate and check the ingredients that were selected by the cooks according to the recipe and the client’s needs. |
| Cooks combine the ingredients of the birthday cake |
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| The birthday cake is put in the oven for baking |
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| The birthday cake is ready, and is given to the client |
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We hope that the example with the birthday cake showed you the difference between QA and QC. Of course, please keep in mind that each project is unique. Thus, the processes can and should be constructed differently in order to adapt to the context and specifics of each and every situation.
How Solvd has helped our clients with QA/QС
At Solvd, we have a wide QA and QC portfolio with projects having many different sizes and scopes:
Industry-Leading Digital Staffing Platform Sabbar. The Solvd team set up and maintained a comprehensive QA process for Sabbar, providing testing services for their three applications. Our experienced specialists developed test documentation and used a combination of verification and validation techniques to improve the quality of the platform.
One of the World’s Most Popular Health and Fitness Apps MyFitnessPal. Solvd engineers secured the user growth for the client from 30 to 200 million by ensuring rigorous quality assurance practices and a prompt release cycle. To ensure a successful testing process and success in production, we created an automated environment for Mobile, WEB, and API testing that was backed up by complete regression tests.
A Leading Sports Equipment Manufacturer Under Armour. Solvd improved performance and load testing approach for the web resources of the client. Thanks to the efforts of our team, Under Armour managed to reduce costs and remove schedule restrictions that were imposed by a previous vendor.
Our extensive portfolio further showcases these achievements as well as many of our other services. We are proud to be able to provide some of the finest quality assurance services in the industry while bringing innovative products to market faster and for lower cost than ever before.
Conclusion
The concepts of Quality Assurance and Quality Control are often confused. It’s no wonder since both terms have similar objectives:
They both:
Focus on the Release of High-Quality Products and Satisfaction of Clients’ Needs
Reduction of Unnecessary Costs
Timely Realization of the Project
Cost Cutting
Optimization of Workflows
At the same time, there is a significant difference between QA and QC in terms of many aspects:
Focus
Approach
Duration
Responsibility
Standards
Methodologies
Tools
Measures
A project without QA and QC is like releasing a new car to the market without previously testing its safety and performance. So, don’t underestimate or neglect their important role in your project.
Need a QA/QC service provider for your digital solution? Solvd is ready, willing and able to help. Let’s make your project a success together.
