Quality Assurance (QA)

Vocabulary flashcards defining fundamental concepts, roles, and primary objectives of software testing and quality assurance based on QA Day 1 notes.

Testing

The process within the software development lifecycle that evaluates the quality of a component or system and related work products.

Requirement

A provision that contains criteria to be fulfilled.

Quality Assurance (QA)

Activities focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled.

Quality Control (QC)

Activities designed to evaluate the quality of a component or system.

Debugging

The process of finding, analyzing and removing the causes of failures in a component or system.

Quality management

The process of establishing and directing a quality policy, quality objectives, quality planning, quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement for an organization.

Main aims of testing

1. Find defects (bugs) - To discover errors in the software before users do.

2. Verify requirements - To check that the software does what it is supposed to do according to the requirements.

3. Ensure quality - To make sure the product is reliable, stable, and performs well.

4. Reduce risk - To lower the chance of failures in production that could cause financial or reputational damage.

5. Build confidence - To give stakeholders confidence that the system is ready to be released.