Quality Assurance vs Quality Control: What’s the Difference?

Today, with users who get more and more demanding, you don’t even have to think twice about one ‘little’ one thing when building your app or other software product — it needs to be free of bugs and errors. Let alone crashes. So, obviously the quality of an app or service is an inevitable requirement. But in order for a software product to be flawless, a lot of work needs to be put into testing it. This is where one special team of experts steps in. And that’s why today, we’ll be talking about Quality Assurance vs Quality Control, a.k.a. QA vs QC.

What are the differences? Why are they both important? How do they work together? Let’s find out.

What is Software Testing & Quality Assurance?

Software Testing

First, let’s start with a thing called software testing. Software testing is a broad term that aims to find out and check whether the software — product or service — works as it should. Software testing is here so that through checks and analyses, potential errors can be found and be solved so that the end product can function as smoothly as possible. Below you can see the four main items that fall under software testing. From unit testing and integration testing, through system and acceptance settings.

• Unit Testing: Testing individual parts or components of the software.


• Integration Testing: Making sure different components work well together.


• System Testing: Verifying that the entire software system functions as expected.


• Acceptance Testing: Confirming that the software meets user requirements and is ready for release.

To avoid confusion with QA, software testing is usually performed by developers or automation engineers.

The idea is simply to make sure that your product is free from any errors, faults or bugs and ready for the end-user. It shouldn’t be so complicated, right? Well, QAs are here to make it all much easier, even if it is.

Quality Assurance (QA)

As far as Quality Assurance is concerned, it is responsible for establishing and implementing the set-up processes that will help the entire software development cycle run smoothly from the very beginning with as few potential errors or defects as possible.

So, a proactive approach and prevention are what characterise QA. Here is what QA involves:

• Defining coding standards and best practices.


• Having regular process audits.


• Providing continuous training for the team.


• Continuously improving development practices to avoid mistakes.

QA is the foundation in the development testing process. And it’s here to set up the right processes to prevent issues before they even arise.

Quality Control (QC) vs Quality Assurance (QA)

This is where things might get a bit confusing. Terms ‘QA’ and ‘QC’ are often used as synonyms, but this is not the case.

Let’s have a closer look and see what QC stands for and involves as an area of expertise.

Quality Control (QC)

QC is in charge of the finished product — right before it gets into the hands of future users. Hence, QC is reactive. If there are existing errors in the product, a QC Engineer will fix these errors for the product to be fully ready before the public launch.

Some of the main activities in QC are:

• Testing the software to catch bugs.


• Reviewing code to pinpoint potential weak spots.


• Conducting performance and usability tests to ensure the product works as intended.

So, in brief, what is the main goal of QC? To inspect the product, find errors, and resolve any issue before the software goes live to the public.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Compared to QC, which takes a reactive approach, QA is proactive. In short, QA works with the development team to establish standards and guidelines right from the start that will ensure that the beginning of the development process has a well-trodden path. And in an ideal scenario, it will ensure that there will be no errors at all. These are very rare cases, but hey, you never know.

Some of the main tasks QA Engineers do involve:

• Setting up guidelines and standards for the product development process


• Making audits of the product development process regularly.


• Giving regular training to boost skills of the team.


• Promoting ways for constant improvement.

So, if QC is the one who finds errors in a product that’s finished, what does the QA do? They make sure that at the beginning or during the process, errors don’t appear at all.

Quality Assurance vs Quality Control: Key Differences

The Importance of Integrating Both QA & QC

Is your product really ‘done’ when it’s ‘done’? By using the methods of both QA and QC experts, the result is a more efficient development process, and ultimately, a product that will be better for the end user. And the end user is the ‘target audience’ of this entire process and the one for whom we build the new product or service.

As we mentioned above in the article, QC and QA have different roles at different stages of the development cycle. But why does integrating both of them matter and why is it important for the best possible delivery of the product?

Let’s see how this integration works:

Catching Problems Right off the Start

The advantage of using Quality Assurance and Quality Control methods is that initial errors can be detected at the very beginning and reduce the chance that these errors, maybe only small, will become a big burden at the end of development. As the first line of defense, there is QA. So, at the beginning, it is the QA Engineer who can spot errors early on with his methods, while the QC Engineer is the one who tests the final end product at the end.

Reducing Costs in the Long Run

The cost of developing a product or service is probably the biggest pain point of any project. That is why the role of both the reactive QC and the proactive QA is extremely important. More precisely, the integration of both of these fields, so that any initial fault can be resolved by QA, and for it to not become a large, costly problem in the final phase that would wait for QC to try to solve it.

Gaining Trust with Users

Glitch? Crash? Problems with performance? Forget about it, modern-day users of any app or other software would say. This is why the integration of both QAs and QCs is important as it delivers a more successful product. Which in turn has users, customers feel they can trust you as the company who made the app. This can only result in them gaining trust towards you and the app and continuing using it in the future as well.

Encouraging a Culture of Quality

Quality, of course, is the main goal when making any software. This is another example why the integration of both QA and QC brings more value and quality. Why? Because QA makes sure that ongoing processes are constantly improved, and QC is in charge of the final product and that it meets user expectations. After all, users are the ones the software is made for.

All in all, both roles are vital from a testing point of view during the development cycle. And they both help build a high-quality and reliable end product.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, the difference between software testing, QA and QC comes down to the focus and approach of each of these three areas of expertise. While software testing incorporates a broad set of tasks mainly developers and automation engineers do, Quality Assurance takes a proactive approach and makes sure to establish processes that will prevent errors during the development process.

On the other hand, Quality Control, with its reactive approach, steps in at the end of the process, and does audits and testing the final product before it is launched and released to users. With each of these methods involved in the development process, the chance of having the end result in the form of a reliable and bug-free software is increased multifold.

Feel free to reach out if you’re in search of experts who can help you build a strong QA and QC strategy. Our team knows how to ensure the quality of your product at every step. Let’s talk!