Why Quality Assurance is Crucial for Software Development

In the software development life cycle, quality assurance has a very important role to play. This is because innumerable software applications are being developed by tech companies to cater to the rising demand. Developing software is only one part of the story. The other part is ensuring that the application performs as expected.

Actually, customers are not after software application choices. They are looking for high-quality software applications. As such, the aim of this post is to understand what software quality assurance is and why it is important. We will also examine various software quality assurance approaches and how they are different from software testing.

Software Quality Assurance – What Is It?

 Software quality assurance, a methodology to ensure the quality of a software application, is all about complying with a set of predetermined standards. Furthermore, software quality assurance is not part of the web application development process. It functions in tandem with the software design and development process.

Developers and businesses must ascertain that each module of the software application, both internal and external, complies with the predefined standard. Quality assurance tests help identify and rectify issues before they become major problems.

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While external quality tests evaluate reliability, efficiency, and maintenance cost, the internal characteristics that are tested as part of quality assurance include structure, readability, flexibility, complexity, the coding practices followed by developers, and testability.

Software Quality Assurance – Different Approaches

Basically, two different approaches are employed for software quality assurance. They are the Defect Management and Attributes approaches. In the case of the former approach, the focus is on counting the number of defects, categorizing them according to severity level, and managing them. Developers make use of tools such as defect leakage matrices and control charts to assess and enhance their software development capabilities. On the other hand, the attribute approach involves enabling software engineers to analyze a software product’s performance and focus on several quality factors. Having said that, the five essential quality attributes that developers should consider are:

Reliability: It reflects the ability of the system to operate under various working conditions and environments and return correct results consistently. 

Usability: It should be easy for clients to learn and use software applications. The user-friendliness and effectiveness of a software product are referred to as usability.

Efficiency: This attribute gives an indication as to how well the system is making use of all the resources that are available. Efficiency is assessed based on the time taken by the system to complete a task.

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Maintainability: It indicates the ease with which support and version changes can be managed. Furthermore, upgrades should be cost-effective.

Portability: This attribute demonstrates the ability of the system to function effectively on different platforms (data portability, hosting, viewing, etc.).

Importance of Quality Assurance in Software Development

It helps to save both time and money. A well-planned software quality assurance process enables developers to identify bugs and errors quickly and during the initial stages of software application development. This means the time and money spent on fixing them will be less.

It helps developers create a stable and robust software product and vet each module of the software application against industry standards. As it also enables granular testing for reliability, functionality, portability, usability, etc., quality assurance is helpful in ensuring that the final product is of very high quality.

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Furthermore, it helps you protect the reputation of your company. Your clients have to ascertain that the software product works as per their requirements before they launch it in the market. If their customers happen to identify errors in the product before them, their reputation and brand image will be significantly impacted.

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Besides, adherence to software quality assurance procedures helps organizations ensure the efficiency, security, and trustworthiness of their applications.

Customer satisfaction is of prime importance for any business. A company’s software application is expected to fulfill the needs of its customers. In addition to running smoothly, the application has to perform operations efficiently. If a software quality assurance process is in place, your organization can easily satisfy the expectations of your audience.

Final thoughts

Quality assurance of software applications is a set of processes employed by software development companies to ensure that the solutions deliver desired results. It is by far the best way businesses can make sure that all modules of the applications have been tested and ascertain adherence to the quality standards before launching a product in the market. However, it is important to hire the right talent capable of building high-quality products before implementing software quality assurance procedures.

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