The Complete Guide to Quality Assurance in Mobile and Web App Development

Staying competitive nowadays means always being one step ahead. Every aspect must be up to par with the client’s expectations, and quality assurance makes sure of that.

Quality assurance ensures that every detail meets high standards and aligns with client expectations. By integrating effective QA practices, you’re not just avoiding pitfalls—you’re setting the stage for superior performance and reliability. 

Dive into this article to discover how quality assurance can transform your processes and drive exceptional results. 

Any methodical approach to determining if a product or service meets specifications is encompassed in the quality assurance definition. The purpose of quality assurance (QA) is to establish and maintain criteria for making reliable products. 

A quality assurance system is designed to boost a business’s reputation and customer confidence, streamline operations, increase productivity, and make it more competitive.

Software quality assurance, or SQA, is a methodical process that identifies trends and takes the necessary steps to enhance development cycles. Identifying and resolving coding problems can have unforeseen implications; one thing could be fixed at the expense of other features and functionalities.

Because it can prevent errors before they arise and save development time and costs, developers know the importance of a software quality assurance program.

In a quality system, automated testing makes use of pre-defined tests written by computer programs, applications, or scripts and executed programmatically, in contrast to manual testing, which requires humans to interact with and test a product or application to find problems.

Manual testing is great for usability and exploratory testing because it is human-centred and adaptable, depending on the tester’s intuition to adjust to software changes.

Automated testing, however, is objective, repeatable, and scalable, offering faster execution and higher test coverage. While less prone to human error, it requires a significant upfront investment and may not capture user sentiment or subjective usability. 

The decision to use one over the other depends on timelines, budget, team expertise, and project requirements.

There are numerous quality assurance methods that developers employ for their software. Here are 11 types of quality assurance tests and what each of them is about:

When creating software, unit testing is an essential first step. Modules, functions, methods, and classes are examples of the individual parts of a program that must be tested. 

The application is made up of these discrete parts, and if any of them aren’t working correctly individually, they won’t operate well together either. Before integrating each component into the broader system, unit testing verifies that it functions as intended.

Software components are merged and tested collectively as part of the integration testing technique. Although these components have passed unit testing, problems may occur when they interact with one another. When modules are integrated, code conflicts can lead to faults that testers can find with integration testing.

During the functional testing phase, quality engineers verify that the functionalities of the tested application operate in accordance with their predetermined requirements. Using automated tools or performing it manually depends on the particular test scenarios.

E2E testing, short for “end-to-end,” is a way to test the software by simulating actual user scenarios and collecting data at every stage to ensure the program works as expected. 

Acceptance testing is a quality management process that establishes how much a program satisfies end users’ needs. Acceptance testing can be conducted as end-user, field, application, or beta testing, depending on the organisation.

Smoke testing in product quality assurance is a preliminary testing process used to verify the basic functionality of a software product. This approach helps identify major issues early, allowing the QA team to assess whether the software is stable enough for further testing.

Code coverage is a white-box testing method used to confirm how much of the code has been run. Static instrumentation, which inserts statements monitoring code execution at crucial points in the code, is used by code coverage tools.

Interoperability testing determines whether the program can communicate with other programs and systems. The goal is to verify that a software product can interact with other parts or devices without encountering any compatibility problems.

One branch of software testing, known as performance testing, looks at how well an app works in different environments. Its primary goal is to determine and quantify the behaviour of the system concerning speed, stability, scalability, and resource utilisation.

In load testing, a simulated workload approximates the average and peak number of concurrent users to evaluate a system’s performance. Testing the software’s ability to manage anticipated user traffic without performance degradation or failures is the main focus, which involves testing reaction times under different scenarios.

Regression testing in quality assurance involves making sure that no new bugs are introduced by a code update during software development. The reason is that code snippets can introduce new logic that conflicts with existing code, leading to mistakes. 

It is common practice for QA teams to establish a set of regression test cases for major features that they will rerun in the event that these code modifications occur. This helps to save time and improve test efficiency.

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is not a testing method but rather a process control technique used to monitor and improve quality in manufacturing and production processes. It uses statistical methods to monitor and control production processes. By analysing data from ongoing processes, SPC helps identify variations, detect trends, and prevent defects. 

Another name for test deliverables is test artefacts. These are the written reports or documentation produced during the testing process.

A software project’s test plan is an extensive document that describes the project’s testing strategy, goals, resources, timeline, and scope. It defines the testing approach, types of tests, responsibilities, and success criteria, ensuring thorough and structured quality assurance systems throughout the development process.

To ensure that a product or functionality performs as expected, software testers utilise test cases during the quality assurance process, which are detailed, documented situations. As part of quality assurance, testers are given a clear structure in the form of test cases that include conditions, inputs, processes, and expected outputs.  

Code quality measures the overall value of a codebase, program, or software. High-quality code is typically functional, consistent, easy to understand, and well-documented. It should meet client requirements, be testable, reusable, secure, and free of bugs. Clear documentation and readability are key indicators of its quality.

Code updates are automatically and often integrated into a shared source code repository; this process is known as continuous integration, or CI. Code updates are integrated, tested, and then delivered as part of a two-step process known as continuous delivery and/or deployment, or CD. 

In conclusion, integrating effective quality assurance practices is vital for delivering exceptional products and services. By focusing on process improvements and proactive defect prevention, you set a solid foundation for success. 
At EB Pearls, we’re dedicated to helping you build and enhance your quality assurance processes. Partner with us to elevate your standards and achieve outstanding results.