What is quality assurance and why is it important?

Some may have heard about the failed launch of Cyberpunk 2077 (a video game developed and published by CD Projekt) that caused a huge amount of struggle and frustration among console users. As a result, the company stocks dropped causing a huge loss for the developer and distributor, as well as impacting the brand and its reputation. 

This is why every website or app development lifecycle must include a quality assurance process to ensure the product performs as expected before it goes live. 

With the shifting technology landscape, the software testing industry rapidly grows and evolves. Codeless Automated Testing, QAOps, and mobile app automation testing are just a few among many testing trends to keep an eye on and consider in 2021. At Convergine, we are always on top of the latest industry trends in order to anticipate and adopt changes in the product development process. Very often it depends on the nature and complexity of the product.  

This introductory post on quality assurance will help you understand the meaning of quality assurance, why it is important, and showcase our generalized and simplified take on the quality assurance process when it comes to website or application development.  

What is quality assurance? 

Quality assurance, also known as QA testing, is a set of activities carried out to ensure the website or app meets the client’s quality requirements, works flawlessly on the first try, and meets the best industry practices. It is a part of the product development process that checks the website or application for any weakness, errors, incompatibilities, or potential problems before it is launched or becomes available to the end-user.   

QA testing involves running the website or app under every possible scenario and double-checking to ensure that its functionality and performance meet the specified requirements. It also helps in uncovering bugs and fixing them before your product goes live. At Convergine, we use QA testing to monitor the whole product development process and ensure all bugs are identified and fixed before delivering the website or application to our clients for the user acceptance testing (UAT) stage, before deploying to production.  

We incorporate quality assurance in our work to uncover any flaws that might have been overlooked during the development process. This way, we have been able to develop high-performing websites or app that have helped our clients provide a great user experience for their customers and gain more traction in their business.  

The importance of quality assurance in website  or application

There is no doubt that quality assurance is an essential part of the website or app development process. Here are some of the reasons why QA testing is important: 

It gives you the confidence that your website or application  is working perfectly 

Our testers will thoroughly check the functionality of your product during the quality assurance process. With Convergine, you can enjoy the peace of mind that your website will serve the desired purpose and won’t disappoint your customers. 

It reduces website development costs 

You will save more money when you work with website agencies that incorporate quality assurance in their development process. You won’t have to spend money fixing buggy codes after your website or app has been launched. 

Quality assurance helps your brand achieve faster growth 

You will lose customers and your brand will appear inept when your website or product isn’t functioning properly. Conducting QA testing on all your products before they go live will strengthen your brand and improve your credibility. 
 

How we undertake quality assurance

QA testing is part of our website or application development process. Our QA testers work alongside our developers and designers to guarantee products’ quality and ensure our customers are 100% satisfied with our services. What is even more important is to ensure a seamless and outstanding user experience for the target audience of the website or application using our products. Below is a summary of our quality assurance process. 

Analyzing client’s requirements 

The first step for the quality assurance team is to identify and analyze the functional and non-functional requirements of the client’s product from the project’s scope of work and meeting with development team. Then, QA testers will review the web design, specification, use cases and user stories and make a list of bugs and improvements that are related to the particular project. 

Planning the QA testing 

The planning phase includes determining the scope of the QA testing, the resources needed, testing environments, the objectives of the test and deliverables, test schedule, bug reporting procedures, and more.  

Running the test 

We start running the test once the scope of the test and checklist of deliverables are ready. At Convergine, we undertake two major types of tests, which are design and functionality testing. The design testing involves checking whether the look and feel of the product meet the proposed overall layout while the functionality test involves meticulously checking the website or application to ensure everything is working as it should. 

Our testers will check each button, link, form, and other features on the product to ensure it is working perfectly. Furthermore, we’ll test the product across various platforms to make sure the end-user does not encounter any problems while using the website we developed. We use multiple tools such as Browser Stack to test the product in different browsers, browser versions, mobile devices and operating systems. 

Detecting and fixing bugs 

As discussed earlier, the goal of quality assurance is to catch any bugs in the product and resolve the issues before the website or application goes live. While running the test, any flaws identified are reported and fixed. Subsequently, we’ll carry out a regression test to make sure everything is working perfectly and the changes made have not affected the functionality of the product. 

Reporting 

After completing the test, we’ll prepare a report detailing all the tests carried out, bugs identified, and the actions we have taken to fix the bugs. If needed, we will furnish our clients with this report so they can get a feel of the website current quality and make an informed decision on when to go live. 
 

In summary 

Quality assurance is a crucial part of the website or app development lifecycle. QA testing is important to ensure bugs are uncovered and fixed early before they cause costly problems for your brand. At Convergine, we carry out quality assurance on all our websites and applications to ensure they work perfectly from the first try.  

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