With a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.6 percent, the global software quality assurance market is expected to clock in at $14 billion by 2025. The steady growth has come on the back of increasing demand for agile software solutions that meet industry standards and clients’ expectations.
Software development companies such as Vates understand that a superior-quality product will warrant enhanced customer experience, stronger brand reputation, and augment growth for their clients. This is why software testing and quality assurance services like Vates provide a state-of-the-art software quality assurance framework.
But as a non-tech business or a beginner in the SDCL domain, you may be unaware of the benefits of a rigorous quality assurance protocol. This is why this blog is meant for you!
Read below to find out everything you need to know about software quality assurance and how you can go about it in your organization. But first, let’s crack some terminologies.
What is Software Quality Assurance?
Software quality assurance is a set of guidelines or frameworks that test a software product’s quality against predefined standards. A quality assurance plan is devised and implemented through various software development life cycle stages.
The purpose of SQA activity is to determine whether the product is in-line with the client’s requirements and in accordance with the industry quality standard such as ISO 9000, CMMI, or TMMI.
Components of Software Quality Assurance Plan
Software development companies like Vates have well-sought SQA plans. These plans include:
- Purpose
- Reference
- Software configuration management
- Problem, reporting, and actions
- Tools and technologies
- Code assessment
- Data recording
- Software testing methodology
Software Quality Assurance Activity
When carrying out a software quality assurance activity known as SQA activity, here are the steps that software testing services such as Vates follow:
Create a Plan
The first step to every activity in SDCL is planning. Software development life cycles are bound to fail without proper planning, and SQA activity is no different. A strategic plan is developed comprising the components discussed above.
Set Checkpoints
At Vates, highly experienced software testing professionals implement checkpoints at the first stage of SQA activity. These checkpoints are criteria against which the performance and functioning of the software are measured. The testers implement various checkpoints throughout the SDCL to ensure consistent quality output.
Gather Information
To determine the functioning and performance of the software, software engineers apply various techniques. However, to find out which techniques will be a better fit to test a product, software testers conduct interviews with the technical team.
Apply Techniques
Based on the gathered data, software engineer techniques of testing are applied. The purpose is to assess the product’s performance in the initial stage and make changes to the prototype.
Technical Reviews
During the SDCL, software testers seek a review of the prototype from the technical experts. The review is meant to determine the gap between the expectations and outcome of the product in its prototype stage. This also helps in identifying early errors and eliminating them.
Multi-Testing Strategy
Once the data is gathered, and opinions are gauged, software testing and quality assurance professionals implement a multi-testing strategy. There are numerous software quality tests including but not limited to functional testing, integration testing, and performance testing. Testers decide upon multi-tests to effectively test the software quality.
Process Adherence
While software’s outcome may be in question during the testing stage, it’s the process that matters the most to quality assurance experts. This is why process adherence is verified through multiple means. This is what the testers check while determining process adherence:
Process Check
It’s to ensure that all the steps, as included in the SDCL planning, were followed to the letter and no discrepancy is seen in terms of short-term fixes.
Product Check
Another aspect of determining process adherence is by verifying the product’s end results. If the product is in-line with the predefined guidelines, it will be reflected in the final outcome.
Change Management
In case of detection of errors, software testing and QA services such as Vates effectively manage the changes. A protocol is launched to make changes to the product and ensure that there are no haphazard steps taken.
Assessing Change Impact
Once the change has been made, the impact is assessed. There are two things checked in this process:
- Whether the bug has been fixed and the product is in proper working order.
- Whether the change has made any difference to the product’s functioning or performance.
Records and Relationships
The last stage of SQA activity is maintaining records and managing relationships. Record maintenance is one of the most important tasks as it determines the future course of action for SQA planning and implementation in an organization.
On the other hand, relationship management is imperative to ensure no communication gaps or sore spots between the software developers and testers. However, many businesses prefer nearshore outsourcing development and testing to avoid conflict within their organization.
SQA Standards
Like all the industries in the world, software quality assurance is also compliance-bound and is meant to fall in line with these standardized industry guidelines:
ISO 9000
ISO 9000 is a set of global standard guidelines that are not restricted to any specific industry. Agile software development companies such as Vates rely on ISO 9000 guidelines to gauge the quality of a software product.
Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
CMMI is a quality assurance test that determines the quality of processes. This industry-standard guideline is devised to check business and development processes, identify the weaknesses, and confirm strengths.
Test Maturity Model Integration (TMMI)
TMMI is another set of guidelines that helps software development firms improve their SDCL practices. The approach aims to help developers and professionals increase the efficiency of their business processes by implementing the right steps during all phases of SDCL.
Benefits of Software Quality Assurance
Now that we have understood the basics of SQA, here are some of the benefits that will tempt you to incorporate rigorous SQA protocols in your development process:
Time-Saving
While SQA isn’t a one-time job and is carried out multiple times during the course of SDCL, it’s still time-saving than testing once at the end of the development cycle. This is because during the process of software testing and quality control, professionals can quickly detect and fix errors without spending a long time going back and forth on the codes.
Cost Saving
Likewise, early detection and timely fixes of the errors help businesses market their products within timelines. This saves the extra cost businesses must incur on the back of delays and mismanaged timelines. Additionally, professional software testers and quality assurance experts such as Vates have affordable packages that offer end-to-end development solutions.
Consistent Quality
In addition to saving time and costs, your company will have consistent quality products across the diverse categories. This is because you have standardized software quality assurance protocols, expert professionals such as Vates, and high regard for ensuring the quality of your software.
Brand Reputation
As a result of consistent software that functions optimally and in accordance with the expectation, your business will enjoy a stronger brand reputation. After all, in this era when most businesses are spending heftily on software development, having a cutting-edge product is the only way to cut it through.
Higher Productivity
As a result of streamlined development processes, your business processes will also witness improvement. Businesses with stringent software quality assurance protocols for their developers also enjoy a higher productivity level of employees with tailored software solutions, efficient planning, and predefined strategies. Your IT department can free itself of the quality control and focus on issues that bring value to your core business.
Increased Efficiency
Gone are the days when developers spent countless hours going back and forth on detecting bugs, fixing them, and repeating the vicious cycle all over again. With preset software quality assurance plans in place, developers can become more efficient by relying on testers to follow the protocols and resolve issues on their own.
Improve Customer Experience
Lastly, at the end of every successful development phase is a customer who likes the product he’s gotten. An effective software quality assurance framework will guarantee an improved customer experience by offering a product that’s robust, reliable, and reflects the hard work developers and testers have put in before marketing it.
Efficient Software Testing and Quality Assurance
For businesses in the U.S., finding the right skill for software testing and quality assurance may have been a challenge in the past. But now, with the South American software development company Vates offering services to the U.S market, you can put those days behind you.
You can outsource nearshore development to Vates, who are based out of Argentina with an office in Atlanta as well. The software development firm also offers Big Data analytics, quality control, and a wide range of IoT consultancy services.
Get in touch with Vates to learn more about their software testing and quality assurance services.
