- Zmitser Hryhoryeu
- QA & testing
One of the key functions of project management is to set up workflow and stages of the QA process in software testing correctly.
How to Set Up QA Process in Software Testing Workflow
Human error is always possible, but sometimes a mistake or oversight can be very costly. This rule works in all areas of our life, and it also applies to software development. There may be human-induced flaws in software products, but when these errors remain unidentified, they lead to undesirable and costly consequences. This is why good code, testing, quality control, and assurance are so important.
In this article, we will consider such points as:
✔️ Why QA Process in Software Development Should be Implemented?
✔️ Main Stages of QA Process in Software Testing
✔️ Types of Quality Assurance Process
✔️ Consider Fideware Your Trusted Partner in Developing Your Startup
Why QA Process in Software Development Should be Implemented?
Quality assurance is essential not only for identifying product errors but also for many other aspects of business, such as customer relations and goodwill in the market. It’s hard to underestimate the benefits of the QA process in software testing. Let’s take a look at some of the top reasons why quality assurance is essential for every project.
Saving time and money
A consistent software QA process is essential if you want to save time and money. It will be very expensive if bugs go unrecognized until the last stages of the development process, because fixing bugs in an already developed and coded product is time-consuming and therefore costs more money.
At every step of the development process through testing and quality assurance, errors can be identified and corrected at an early stage. A well-thought-out quality assurance strategy ensures that no mistakes are carried over to the final stages to prevent any heavy losses for the company and the customer.
Security
Security is always a big issue for software products. While a software application may meet its functional requirements and perform exactly as intended, it may not be completely secure. Software security vulnerabilities can compromise user data and the reliability of software.
This is one of the main reasons why software quality assurance is so important. It helps identify software security vulnerabilities and create a product that is completely secure and reliable.
Image and business reputation
As discussed above, quality assurance is crucial to avoid wasting time, money, and the competitiveness of software products. But software quality assurance is also highly important in protecting business reputation. Inconveniences and, in some cases, legal problems and disputes caused by faulty software systems can negatively affect your reputation. Moreover, it can jeopardize the relationship between the company and its customers.
User satisfaction
The software development approach is always focused on the end-user of a product, and it is necessary to ensure the best possible user experience. A buggy software system can cause inconvenience to users and ruin their experience.
Quality assurance in software testing guarantees that a product is designed error-free and performs its expected functions as expected. As a result, users receive a quality product that they enjoy using.
Main Stages of Quality Assurance Process in Software Testing
Of course, the QA process may differ from company to company. However, generally, the main stages and steps of the QA process in software testing are the same.
Requirements analysis
In modern companies, the quality assurance process begins at the early stages of the software development lifecycle — right at the requirements analysis phase. Testers review requirements and functional specifications to ensure they are clear, consistent, complete, feasible, and testable.
Test planning
Once testers have understood the requirements, they can begin developing a testing strategy and planning quality control procedures. At this stage, they determine the scope of work and budget, decide which approach to use at each stage of software development, what types and types of testing will be required, which tools are better to use.
Test development
Armed with a clear road map, it’s time to develop test scripts or test cases, create checklists, prepare an environment for running tests, and create scripts for automated testing.
Software testing
At this stage, everything is ready to search for errors and defects. SQA team begins to perform various types of tests. Testers report any bugs they find.
Retesting
Completion of testing
After all scheduled tests have been completed and all fixes have been rechecked, it is time to prepare a test report. The documentation describes all tests performed during the software development lifecycle.
Types of QA Process
There are many different types of QA processes in software testing that you can use to ensure that changes made to your code work as expected. However, not all tests are the same, and in this part of the article, we will see how the basic testing techniques differ from each other.
Manual testing
Manual testing is managed by a person who checks the operation of all the functionality of the application manually or by interacting with the software and API using the appropriate tools. This method is really expensive because it requires setting up the environment and running the tests by a technician. In addition, the human factor should be taken into account since the tester can make a typo or skip any stage of the test script.
Automated testing
Automated tests are performed by a machine that uses a pre-written test script. Such tests can vary significantly in complexity, from testing a single method in a classroom to ensuring that a series of complex actions in the user interface produces the same results. This approach is much more stable and reliable compared to manual tests. The quality of automatic testing will depend on the quality of the test scripts.
Consider Fideware Your Trusted Partner in Developing Your Startup
Fideware is a software development company for startups. We help young companies translate their courageous ideas into market-ready software products.
Our company offers such services as full-stack development, mobile development, software integration and consolidation services, QA and testing services, and many others. Testing startup projects of various complexity levels we’ve developed our QA testing best practices in:
✔️ Manual product testing;
✔️ QA testing automation solutions development;
✔️ Integrations testing;
✔️ AI-based solutions testing;
✔️ Cloud QA testing and many more.
We provide quality IT consultancy including business analyst and tech lead services; end-to-end software development — full-cycle development from MVP design to QA testing services; dedicated or augmented team of highly qualified IT specialists.
Final Thoughts
As with any product, quality is crucial to software systems. Whether it is a simple internal system intended to be used by several people, or a software product intended to serve millions of users, it is the responsibility of the software company to provide a quality software product that is well tested for flaws and vulnerabilities.
Quality assurance helps you identify and fix bugs and flaws in your code and design throughout the whole development process to prevent the loss of time and money. This ensures that the final product is competitive, safe, and correctly fulfills its expected functions. From a business perspective, rigorous software development quality assurance practices can help a business’s reputation and ensure user and customer satisfaction.
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FAQ
You are planning to outsource QA, but you still have doubts. How useful is it? How to avoid communication problems, build processes correctly? We have tried to answer the questions most often asked by our specialists.
What if we already have a QA department?
You already have testers and we do not doubt that they are doing a great job. Nevertheless, when testers work on one project for a long time, the so-called blur-of-the-eye effect occurs. It lies in the fact that the tester a priori believes that a module that has always worked will continue to work even after a new version is released. Unfortunately, this is not always the case.
Attracting external resources will eliminate this problem, bring a fresh look at the product and give an objective assessment of not only the quality of software but also business processes in general.
Why is outsourcing QA more profitable than in-house QA?
Quality assurance is our core business. We work every day to provide a smooth workflow of the QA process in software testing and make it more effective. We regularly participate in conferences, seminars, training related to testing and organize events ourselves. Over the years of testing, we’ve got hard knocks in search of the correct organization of testing processes and are ready to share our experience.
What if interaction with the development team will be opaque?
To achieve high-quality communication within the project team, we use text, audio, and video means of communication. Experience shows that a personal meeting of participants is important at the start and during the delivery of a project, as well as in emergencies – we organize meetings on your or our territory. In other cases, employees are comfortable communicating and carrying out all quality assurance activities in software testing using online means.
