Software development consists of different stages that optimize software for usage. These processes are necessary for its overall completion before the users use the software. There are two critical processes whose importance can not be neglected: Quality assurance and testing in software development. Both methodologies are used to serve the primary purpose of creating optimized and high-quality software. The executive and overall performance are checked with the help of software testing, while quality assurance is needed to protect the software from any kind of defect so that all the quality standards can be fulfilled to satisfy the customers.
This blog will discuss the importance of QA and testing in software development and their principles, types, and best practices, which will help you optimize your software and make it consumer-centric.
QA in software development
Quality assurance is critical to software development. It helps align the software’s quality with a pre-decided set of standards that will be needed to meet the user’s expectations. Under this, the software undergoes various stages and strategic activities to ensure the product’s quality. Let’s have a brief of those stages:
- Evaluation of requirements
- Strategic planning for test
- Structure of the test
- Creating a background
- Implementing the test
- Tracing any suspected defect
- Reporting the test
- User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
- Managing the outcome
- Post-management of the release
Why is QA important in software development?
The quality assurance process can only succeed when there is an efficient system for ensuring the quality. The benefits that add to the creation of the process make QA necessary in software development. Let’s discover why QA as a software development stage is so much needed:
Reduce cost and save time: While creating the software, quality assurance helps to ensure no bugs, defects, or errors. If you analyze the defects at an early stage, this will help you rectify them on time and also save you money. If those defects are discovered later, fixing them will cost a considerable amount.
Ensures the product’s safety: Safety is a significant concern for software development companies. So, the QA process must consider safety as the main aspect while analyzing quality. Efficiency is of no use if the app is not secure, as the company’s data needs to be personalized so that no one can access it easily. Security processes are also installed while developing to ensure their validity when reaching the Quality Control team after completion.
Maintain the quality of the product: The QA outsourcing ensures the product’s quality. This process helps to analyze issues before they occur so they do not pass on to the developed software. The fewer problems, the more quality the content will be. Quality Control works as a higher authority for the quality assurance team. They conduct tests for the product’s implications, usage, and safety.
Enhance the usage and accessibility: After undergoing all the stages of Quality assurance, the software is optimized enough for usage and enhances accessibility. In addition to this, consumer expectations are also met.
Mobile app or web app development company can provide you with proper assistance regarding the quality assurance process.
Principles of quality assurance
To execute the software quality assurance efficiently, you need to follow the basic principles. Let’s understand those principles while using the QA software:
Implementing a risk-centric strategy: Quality assurance must focus on analyzing the software’s risks. This principal’s main motive is checking the software’s suspected future risks and possible outcomes.
Engaging stakeholders: All stakeholders, whether users, developers, testers, or the project manager, must be included in the software development process. This principle primarily emphasizes the importance of communication among all stakeholders.
Prevention of defect: It is well said that prevention is better than cure; these words also apply to software development. Under this principle, the main priority is recognizing the suspected defects and rectifying them through roots.
Improving continuously: Quality assurance is not a one-time process; software requires continuous monitoring to correct defects.
IT consulting companies can help you stick to these principles for your strategy.
Main QA standards
The QA tester needs to adhere to some primary SQA standards. Let’s have a look at those primary QA standards.
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI): It aims to enhance performance by understanding an organization’s maturity levels and offering enhancement stances. You can hire a QA testing company to adhere to this standard. The following maturity levels are considered:
- Initial: Under this, the software is not progressing.
- Repeatable. Some of the working methodologies are repeated to maintain efficiency.
- Defined: Many methodologies are working correctly, so they need improvement.
- Managed: There is no issue in the software, yet some of the performance factors need some kind of modifications.
- Optimizing: The software is good, developed, and ready for customers to use, but its features can be optimized.
ISO 9001: The ISO (International Organization of Standards) has set seven factors that must be adhered to to meet the user’s needs.
- Consumer-centric
- Relationship management
- Leadership
- Engagement
- Objective of the process
- Enhancement
- Decisions based on data analytics
TMM (Testing Maturity Model): The testing maturity sets up specific particular accomplishments that need to be achieved by the software to keep up with the consumer’s needs. That needs several tests to be passed at each maturity level for quality assurance in software testing:
- Under initial, there are no tests.
- Under repeatable, policy and strategy, planning, monitoring, control, design and implementation, and environmental testing are some of the tests that need to be conducted.
- Under defined are tests for organization, training programs, lifecycle, integration, nonfunctional testing, and fellow mates’ reviews.
- Under measurement, there must be test measurement, the analysis of product quality, and advanced reviews.
- Last but not least, under optimization, defects are prevented, the process is optimized, and quality is controlled.
What is testing in software development?
The software development lifecycle consists of testing that prepares the software for final approval. It ensures that your software is fully optimized, has no bugs and errors, and is technically developed based on the aspects it was designed with. It primarily measures a software program’s specification, implementation, or performance. Verification and validation are two parts of software testing. Under verification, you get the answer to the question,” Is the product structuring right?” this means the software is precisely operating a particular function. Then comes validation, which ensures that the software fulfills consumer requirements and the tasks are aligned with the software.
What are the benefits of software testing?
Software testing software development benefits companies in many ways. So let’s discuss those benefits in detail:
- Identification of defects at an early stage: Testing in software development helps analyze bugs or errors before properly delivering the software to the consumers.
- Provides scalability: Nonfunctional testing helps analyze the software’s scalability, the point where it stops working.
- Enhances customer satisfaction: Software testing helps to increase efficiency, reliability, and safety and optimize the software’s performance, which in turn satisfies the consumer.
- Optimize the software: Testing aids in realizing the software’s defects and mending them from the root, then improving the software’s quality.
- Cost efficiency: Software testing at regular intervals during the software development procedure helps decrease costs and save time by analyzing mistakes at the initial stage.
The testing process can be applied to any software, whether it is mobile application testing or web application testing.
Principles of software testing
From the implementation process to the evaluation, following these principles is a must to maintain the quality of the software. After the importance of software testing, let’s understand these principles for undertaking testing in software development:
No exhaustive testing: Exhaustive testing mainly tests your software in every possible way, input, or scenario. Checking the software in every scenario is challenging as it would cost much money and time. So, despite checking all cases, we check some cases and predict it will work correctly in all the other scenarios.
Mistake of assuming no errors means perfection: What if the software is 99 percent error-free but does not fulfill the customer’s requirements? It is of no use. The most crucial part of the software is being user-friendly and satisfying the customer in every aspect. So, some errors can be compromised if it is satisfying the consumer. A software development company can help you ensure your software is user-friendly.
Testing is situation-dependent. Software testing is influenced by the context in which the site is being tested. Testing for iPhone software would be different from testing for Android software.
Pesticide paradox: If you test the software with the same test repeatedly, it is in vain, as it will not help you discover new bugs. Instead, to discover new errors, test them differently.
Testing identifies existing defects: Software testing in software development recognizes the existing defects, but it cannot ensure that your software is 100 percent bug-free.
Concentration of defects: It is indicated by the Pareto principle that 80 percent of the defects come from 20 percent of modules.
What are the different software quality assurance approaches?
Software quality assurance is divided into two sections under which some approaches are used in the process of QA:
Widely there are two different approaches to quality assurance:
- Software quality defect management approach: This approach aims to analyze the number of defects and then manage them with the help of the best test case management tools, such as defect leakage matrices or concise control charts.
- Software quality attributes approach: This approach aids the software engineers by recognizing their overall performance. The main focus is on the quality aspects: reliability, usability, efficiency, portability, and maintainability.
In addition, here are some approaches that organizations can use, according to the nature of their software, to create the best quality assurance software.
- Traditional approach
- Six Sigma approach
- Lean approach
- Risk-based approach
- Agile approach
- DevOps approach
- Test-driven development (TDD) approach
- Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) approach
Types of software testing
Here are different types of testing in software development that help to ensure that your software is optimized in both structural and functional aspects so that it can quickly satisfy the consumer’s needs:
- Manual testing: As the name suggests, this type of testing is conducted by humans using pre-decided scenarios and aspects.
- Automation testing: In this method, the tester uses a pre-decided script and automated tools to test the software.
- Functional testing: Under this method, the particular implications and specific requirements are the basis of testing.
- Non-functional testing: It deals with all the nonfunctional aspects, such as the software’s readiness or behavior for the customer.
How to implement software testing?
Software testing is a little complex task to carry on; some best practices can be used while implementing software testing in software development strategy:
- Analyze the needs and set goals: The foremost and first step is extracting the project’s requirements and then deciding some primary objectives you need to consider while testing in software development. Conduct a comprehensive inspection of the software, such as the behavior, and then create a full-fledges test.
- Strategies for the test: Now, decide the tools and techniques you will employ to get the suspected errors recognized easily.
- Structuring the test case: Now it is time to structure the tests as per the inspection and analysis; make sure that your tests include the possibilities of the scenarios.
- Modern processes for early technologies: AI in software development is a trend, so it is very important to conduct testing at the early stages of software development to recognize errors or bugs only at the initial stage.
- Merge different testing: High QA software needs to merge different levels and types of testing to ensure that all the aspects of the software are covered.
- Identify bugs efficiently: The only objective of testing is not discovering the bugs, but you need to solve them promptly so that it can become capable of delivering to the users.
- Handle testing using platforms: You can use various platforms to test the software per your objectives, needs, and budget. For instance, we have Practitest.
These were the software testing best practices that will optimize your software.
Key differences between QA vs testing
Software testing and quality assurance are two processes in software development that serve the primary purpose. To avoid any type of confusion, let’s understand the difference between them:
Purpose: The main purpose of software testing in software development is to analyze and then solve the problems in the software, while quality assurance focuses on maintaining the software according to the standards set by the companies during their formation.
Methodologies: Under testing, methods such as unit testing, integrated testing, and functional, nonfunctional, or QA automated testing are used. While under quality assurance, the methodologies are used for planning, management, preventive measures, enhancement, review, or audit.
Results: After conducting the successful testing in software development process, you will get to know about metrics, plans, papers, audits & reports on process and product quality, while under quality assurance, you will get information about errors, test plans, and outcomes
Time required: Quality assurance is undertaken continuously throughout the software development program, while testing is mostly considered after the coding is done.
Quality assurance and testing in software development are the major processes used to analyze the bugs or errors in your software. These are different from each other yet crucial for the whole software development process. Discover what you need and develop a proper strategy for conducting the testing or ensuring the quality of the test.
Fastcurve, the leading IT service provider, provides IT solutions for software testing and quality assurance along with management services.
