Software Quality Assurance (also abbreviated as SQA), can be defined as a systematic process which ensures that the developed software meets and complies with the standardized quality specifications. It keenly checks the adherence to the software product standards, procedures and processes all throughout the software development life cycle and also the test cycle. The evaluation is done through product evaluation, process monitoring, project management, and more.
Software quality assurance mainly focuses on eliminating the bugs, enhancing performance, improving application security, improving performance tuning, protecting data and finding minimum hardware requirements. It encompasses the whole of software development process, including processes like coding, requirements definition, testing, software design, source code control, product integration, code reviews, release management, and software configuration management. SQA is typically organized into goals, abilities, commitments, measurements, activities, and verifications.
SQA practices are usually implemented in many types of software development, regardless of the type of underlying software development models being used. It incorporates and also implements various software testing methodologies. Instead of checking for software quality after completion, it processes the tests for quality in each single phase of the development cycle untill the software is fully complete. With SQA, the software development process will only move into the next step when the current phase fully complies with the required quality standards.
The two main areas of focus include functional quality assurance and structural quality assurance.
• Functional Quality Assurance
This shows just how well a software product conforms to or complies with the basic design, based on the functional requirements.
• Structural Quality Assurance
The structural quality of a software product is usually determined by keen analysis of the software’s source code and inner structure. This reflects just how well a project meets the non-functional requirements like security, usability and accessibility, which helps properly deliver functional requirements.
Structural quality assurance is done so as to check the compliance of a product with the set software architecture specifications. It’s done by the project developer. On the other hand, functional quality assurance is about checking the overall functionality compliance with the set requirement specifications, and is normally measured through software product testing.
Basically, the main reason of involving SQA in the software product development process is to ensure that the final product meets the required specifications, and complies with the set standards. It ensures the development of a high quality software. A quality assurance system can actually increase a company’s credibility and customer confidence, improve the work processes, increase efficiency, and enable a company to compete with the others much better.
Knowing that the quality of the software you have has met the required standards is essential. Studies have revealed that many installations are not always done right for the first time; this normally results in damages and repair expenses. You can actually avoid this by contracting a professional software testing company which will professionally test your software, and give the software quality assurance. The SQA company will also thoroughly check your website for compliance with the required specifications, and give you a detailed report about out the findings. Getting a SQA test done before going live with your website will greatly help you avoid plugging into loopholes, which could lead to massive losses.
