Difference between Quality Control and Assurance in Testing

Both QA and QC are focused on making sure that products and services meet the standards that are demanded by the customer. They do differentiate in their approaches and objectives but their end goal is good quality products. In the field of developing and delivering software, quality control and quality assurance are two important concepts. Understanding the difference between the two is important for software companies that want to make sure that their customers stick with them for longer periods of time and are satisfied.

In this topic, we will learn what is the difference between quality control and quality assurance in software testing.

What is Meant by Quality Assurance?

The goal of quality assurance in software testing is to prevent bugs and provide high quality products to customers. It is to make sure that the services meet specific standards.

Quality assurance is to prevent issues before they occur. This is achieved by following a specific set of actions such as:

1. Planned and systematic actions
2. Quality planning
3. Control
4. Improvement

These sets of instructions are followed to make sure that every product that is developed, manufactured and delivered is reliable and of high quality.

To achieve quality products we have to follow some standards such as: 

1. Inspection
2. Testing
3. Auditing
4. Certification

The end goal of quality assurance is to build trust with the customer by delivering products and services that meet their expectations.

What is Meant by Quality Control in Software Testing?

Unlike quality assurance (QA) which is used to fix bugs before production starts quality control (QC) is a reactive approach which means it is used to fix the product after it is manufactured but before it is delivered to the customer.

In QC we also have to follow some standards such as:

1. Inspections
2. Tests
3. Measurements

Quality control’s goal is to make sure that the end product is what was expected by the user. To achieve this goal QC has its own strategy that is followed such as:

1. Monitoring and analyzing the production process
2. Inspecting products for faults
3. Implementing corrective actions to remedy any issues that are discovered

Quality assurance and quality control are part of quality management and go hand in hand with each other so we can achieve optimal results.

Difference Between QA and QC in Software Testing

Both quality assurance and quality control are part of quality management and are very important in making sure that the product is of the highest quality but they differ from each other in their objectives and strategies. Here are some of the differences between qa and qc testing.

Definitions and Objectives

Quality assurance (QA) is a proactive strategy that tries to stop errors or other issues in applications and services before they happen, on the other hand in QC is a reactive method where flaws in products and services are found, which get fixed as they have been produced.

Approaches and Focus

Adding quality into the production or service delivery process is the goal of quality assurance (QA), a process focused strategy on the other hand QC is a product focused strategy that involves testing applications or services to make sure they meet quality requirements and client expectations.

Stage of Application

When developing and producing products, quality assurance is used whereas QC is implemented following the production of the application or service.

Goals and Benefits

Establishing policies, procedures, and guidelines that guarantee the regular supply of high quality applications and services that satisfy or exceed customer expectations is the aim of quality assurance (QA). Prior to the delivery of the application or services to the customer, quality control (QC) aims to locate and address any problems.

Integration and Relationship

A good quality management system whose goal is to produce quality applications and services must include both quality assurance QA and quality control QC. Delivering quality applications and services is the main objective of quality assurance and quality control, with QA preventing flaws and QC identifying and fixing them.

Importance of QA and QC?

So why is QA and QC important? As discussed above QA and QC are both part of the same process that is used by the companies to maintain the quality of their products. It not only maintains quality but also helps organizations reduce the cost of their development process. With good quality products and satisfied customers organizations get a chance to retain their customers and have an edge over their competitors which leads to long term projects and businesses.

Kualitatem is one of the leading software testing companies. We provide a range of QA and QC services. We have expertise in software testing, quality assurance, quality control, and software security testing which helps clients deliver high quality software products.