Quality Assurance. Does QA Help Your Project Save Money, Time, and Nerves?

Quality Assurance is one of the most important parts of the user application development process.

After all, as an IT-entrepreneur, you want your software to be not only beautifully designed, well-coded and liked by your target audience, but also free of bugs and errors.

That’s a “Bigfoot”, no less. Sometimes, even tech giants are struggling to provide quality for their end users. The disaster with Apple and iOS 8 updates in 2014 clearly shows this.

After the update was released, Apple had to recall it a few hours after its release, because it blocked calls and disabled the touch ID function. Disappointing, isn’t it?

In this article, we’d like to explain to you the matter and importance of Quality Assurance in software development. So that the next time you get the idea to “save money and not test the application,” you’ll think twice, is it really worth risking time, nerves, and budget just to cut corners?

You don’t need the risk. Especially when you work in industries such as finance, healthcare or food technology, where every failure can lead to the loss of your customers, money, or, even worse, bring harm to the well-being of your patients.

What Is quality assurance in the software development life cycle (SDLC)?

Software Quality Assurance is a process that ensures the manufactured software meets defined software product quality standards and project-specific requirements.

It focuses on the underlying processes used in software development to produce a high-quality, reliable product.

It represents the part of Quality Management that is mainly responsible for getting an assurance to the software by checking if the quality requirements in the process are met.

This is achieved by implementing a predefined set of actions aligned with the QA process steps to verify the development process itself, not just the final product.
 

Quality Control (QC), on the other hand, is responsible for direct software testing activities—validating whether the product meets specific quality requirements.

QC is considered a subset of QA, including activities and software testing techniques used to detect bugs and functional errors.

The scope of QC typically includes inspections, reviews, and execution of functional testing, performance testing, and security testing. In some cases, it also involves root cause analyses if required by the project.

Let us focus on quality testing, i.e. testing techniques carried out during the testing process.

Software testing is one of the critical phases in the software life cycle, helping the product progress through later stages more confidently and efficiently.

Testing itself consists of several phases:

• Test analysis
• Test planning
• Preparation of test cases, test data, and test environment
• Testing and error logging
• Completion of testing by approval test conditions

The testing process consists of many techniques.

The choice depends on the stage in the software life cycle, as well as the area of the application.

The main software testing techniques can be divided into 3 groups: functional, performance, and security tests.

A software product should correspond to a certain set of requirements to be considered a high-grade product.

The following are some important quality factors:

• Performance — the capacity to perform transactions under a specified workload with the adequate response time
• Extensibility — the ability to add functions to the existing system without damaging it
• Usability — a simple and clear interface
• Security — the ability to protect personal data via authorization and authentication techniques

QA and QC are the two main practices that ensure software quality.

They have different functions but are closely related and should be inseparable in each project. With QA, you will ensure the correct process. Using only QC, you will not see the source of the problem and the software development process will not be improved.

This is why many companies follow both practices to succeed.

With the right testing strategy, choosing between QC and QA shouldn’t even be a question. The best results come when both work hand in hand. That’s the mindset we follow at Kernelics, building our process to ensure stability, scalability, and confidence in the software product.

The cost of poor software testing: Real-world QA failures

It happens that some people may not see the full picture as well as comprehend the benefits of QA. This may result in trimming the number of resources allocated to software testing or even full dismissal of it during software development.

This is an extremely important process that indirectly saves time and money.

However, the time limitations on testing and neglecting it has a direct impact on the final product.

There are many real-world QA failure examples in history that show how important this process is:

• One of the most indicative software disasters was a bug in a radiotherapy device at the National Cancer Institute. The radiotherapy machine miscalculated the radiation dose during therapy so that the dose was even 100 times higher than it should be
• The error was also committed by Airbus, and the consequences were even more tragic as the software error contributed to the death. The faulty programming project of the engine control in the A400M airbus was the consequence of the failure
• The problem did not spare Yahoo either, when in 2016, 500 million credentials from 4 years were revealed through a gap in software
• In 1996, a system error at a major U.S. bank (First National Bank of Chicago) caused $920 million to be credited to 823 clients accounts

A few examples listed above remind us how important testing is in software development, regardless of the field and type of software. It also shows how this particular development element has a direct business impact and affects customer feedback.

The ambiguity and complexity of the systems make it impossible to be sure that the software is error-free in most cases. Only a structured software testing strategy and a sufficient number of test cases can increase confidence in the product.

Testing efforts should start as early as possible, because the cost of not testing software or repairing a defect depends on the phase in the software life cycle. Literally speaking, the sooner we find a bug, the cheaper it will be to fix it.

The benefits of quality assurance

Summary: Why investing in quality assurance is critical for software success

All in all considered, our major message is that QA (Quality Assurance), when properly and timely applied, is sure to become your most effective tool in enhancing the product performance and, thus, winning your customers’ loyalty. What may be initially seen as additional expenditure turns out to be a priceless asset in creating a valuable software solution in the long term.

Just think of how much invisible software bugs may cost you once your actual users get their unsuccessful experience. Yes, the profits from investing your funds in software quality assurance services may not be seen immediately. But they are sure to eliminate huge losses on a daily basis once the app or website is deployed.

When it comes to custom software development, there is no such term as too much QA. On the contrary, the sooner it is engaged, the better your chances for success are and the more time and money resources you are sure to save.

The matter is, QA should not be perceived as a single stage in the software development life cycle (SDLC) but as a continuous quality process that guarantees the stability of the whole idea.

Also, involving QA specialists does not mean lack of trust, experience, or skills. It means giving your project a fresh perspective, discovering both faults and new possibilities. However, only a strong and skillful QA team is capable of choosing the best QA strategy, tools, and methods for each particular project to ensure exceptional product quality.

Our Kernelics team has built QA expertise across dozens of projects. We test not just to find bugs, but to help you deliver a smooth, respectful experience to users.

To get more details on Quality Assurance for your next software project, contact us.