Technology
Table of Contents
Quality assurance testing is the process of evaluating a system or its components to check whether it meets specified requirements or not. To put it simply, software QA is the execution of a sequence of actions to identify gaps, errors, and bugs that conflict with the requirements.
In this article, we outline the quality assurance process, overview QA procedures, and discover what does a quality assurance manager do.
Software quality assurance helps to check the fulfilment of all business scenarios and user requirements, as well as identify all possible problems and bugs in IT products.
Oftentimes, the terms “testing”, “quality assurance” and “quality control” are either confused or used interchangeably. However, these terms characterize quite distinct processes such as:
We asked quality assurance experts who work in our software development team to review in detail the QA software testing process and explain why the QA testing services are necessary for any software development project.
Stay tuned.
Indeed, can’t developers test products themselves?
Five to six years ago, this issue was widely debated in IT communities. But in 2022, it’s clear that a software testing services company will not be out of work. Testing in IT should be carried out by qualified specialists.
So, what is QA testing? What do quality assurance specialists do?
Testing at the right time reduces the cost and time to rework and create error-free software to be delivered to the client. In a software outsourcing company, the testing starts at the requirements gathering stage and continues till the software is deployed.
However, it also varies depending on the development model used. For example, in the Waterfall model, testing is performed during the testing phase. In an Agile model, testing is performed at the end of each iteration. The application is tested at the end of the project again.
Testing is conducted in different forms at each stage of the software development life cycle:
It’s challenging to determine when to stop testing as it might seem a never-ending process and no one can claim that a given software is 100% tested.
Consider and thoroughly analyze the following to realize the moment to stop the testing process:
For a better understanding of software testing approaches, it’s essential to know the types of software testing. Below you can have a look at the main types that we identify.
Any testing can be performed both manually and using automation tools. All quality testers are divided into various groups according to software security, performance, usability. But in the broad sense, they can be divided into those who perform manual and automated testing.
Мanual software testing is a type of software testing when a QA engineer manually runs tests without any automation.
Automated software testing is performed using frameworks such as Selenium, PHPUnit, Mockery. It aims to reduce the cost and risks related to the human factor. This type of testing is especially efficient on long-term projects with frequent releases and large-scale regression.
Each of the testing types has its area of application because 100% automation is unachievable. For example, usability testing always has to be done manually. So, what does a QA engineer do in each of these cases? The key differences between manual and automated testing are in the table below.
According to the test object, custom software testing is normally divided into functional and non-functional testing.
Software functional testing checks the part of the system that is particularly necessary for a user to complete a business scenario from start to finish. It is performed before non-functional testing. A good example of what is functional testing in software testing would be navigation through forum sections.
Software functional testing methods and techniques include:
All of these are pretty specific and are mostly talked about among QA specialists and developers.
Software non-functional testing is essential to validate the performance of a given system under various conditions that can impact user satisfaction. Here, we’re talking about reliability, usability, scalability.
By the way, to improve your Magento-based website performance, have a look at what NEKLO experts offer in this article on Magento speed optimization.
Software non-functional testing methods and techniques include:
Security testing is used to identify software vulnerability to various attacks, such as cross-site scripting (attacks in which malicious scripts are injected into websites) or SQL injection (a vulnerability that allows an attacker to interfere with the queries that an application makes to its database).
Learn more about computer security principles and practices that will help you protect your computer even if you work remotely.
Localization testing is the process of adapting a product for a specific country or region. Such a software application usually has already previously been translated into multiple languages.
Usability testing aims to test the user-friendliness of a software application and the clarity of the software application interface.
The list here is rather brief. It includes:
This type of software and app testing consists of entering invalid values and committing invalid actions so that to check if the given software or app behaves correctly. It doesn’t act improperly and issues a human-readable error message.
Positive testing includes checking if the program works correctly when proper data is entered. The result here is no errors are generated and the software behaves the way it is meant to.
Here we present the ways to describe the stages of software testing. We believe the best way to define what is a QA process is through the software testing life cycle.
The Software Testing Life Cycle model (STLC) consists of six main stages that include:
At this stage, testers examine the requirements from a software testing perspective and communicate with the client for a detailed understanding. Also, if necessary, they perform a feasibility study of automation.
QA specialists often have to deal with situations where requirements are missing or unclear. In those cases, a software tester has to utilize methods and tools to organize testing in the absence of ideal requirements on the project.
At this stage, it is necessary to:
All these points are recorded as a test plan and test strategy.
Writing a test case means creating a textual description of the testing process for a portion or feature of the project. Test cases are necessary for team members to check the program and get acquainted without reading the entire code.
This step is necessary to prepare all the conditions for an effective testing process. It includes setting up a test server, setting up a network, setting up test PCs and devices, and generating test data.
The QC team starts executing test cases according to the test plans and generates bug reports. Also, bugs are quite often validated at this stage.
The last step in the software testing life cycle involves kind of a meeting of the testing team members to evaluate the project performance.
Software quality assurance is a very significant part of software development. It can’t be underestimated as it helps to receive a good-looking and good-working software solution, a software that functions properly.
We hope the basics of quality assurance presented by the experts of our software development services company will guide you when developing your software solution.
In case you need a partner who would outsource software testing services, do not hesitate to contact us. NEKLO specialists provide consultation and can help you pick the testing type that will be the best fit for your requirements.
US-based and operating globally, NEKLO spearheads digital transformation initiatives for businesses worldwide. We deliver software solutions complying with your market and legislation.
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