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QA engineers play a pivotal role in the testing of software and are therefore expected to have a deep understanding of testing procedures. QA engineers are essential to any software development company, and they are highly paid because they are the ones in charge of verifying final decisions about software applications.

The objective of Software Quality Assurance is to ensure that the manufactured software meets the required requirements and quality standards. In this course, the process of producing high-quality products is discussed. As part of quality management, it checks to see if the quality requirements in the process are met in order to ensure the quality of the software. It is accomplished by following a set of previously established requirements and acting on a series of actions during this process.

Inspections, reviews, software testing, and, in certain circumstances, analysis, are among the QC responsibilities. The focus today will be on quality testing, or testing techniques used during the testing process. Software testing is one of the most important phases of the software life cycle process that allows us to move forward. Testing itself consists of several phases: 

Test analysis

Test planning

Preparation of test cases, test data, and test environment

Testing and error logging

Completion of testing by approval test conditions

The software product should meet a number of requirements to qualify as a high-quality product. The following are some important quality factors:

Performance — the capacity to perform transactions under a specified workload with the adequate response time

Extensibility — the ability to add functions to the existing system without damaging it

Usability — a simple and clear interface

Security — the ability to protect personal data via authorization and authentication techniques

1. Quality Assurance Saves Time

Depending on the phase of the software development cycle, errors or problems need to be fixed. A production error can take 150 times longer to correct than a similar error found during requirements design, according to the analysis.


2. Quality Assurance Saves Money

Several studies were conducted to calculate the relative cost of error correction, based on the stage of the software life cycle.We knew that neglecting that could result in losing money by scaring away potential project opportunities. We have already seen an increase in leads and traffic as a result. In the long run, fixing everything after release could endanger our reputation as a high-quality software provider.


3. Testing Increases Confidence in The Product

Due to the high quality of the software, the confidence in the product is increased. We can only be sure about the quality of our software and its compliance with the requirements by performing a sufficient number of tests. Software is value for users, and poor quality prevents us from delivering value.

4. QA Prevents Breakdowns

The testing process helps to avoid failures, allowing the company to avoid costly repair and maintenance work in the future. What is the cost of repair and maintenance in the future? Let’s take the example of NASA - they made mistakes in 1998, which caused the loss of the Mars orbiter. This error was caused by the orbiter's software sending all data in metric units, while the engineers interpreted this data as non-metric in English. A loss of $125 million resulted from this error!

5. Quality Assurance Increases Safety Level of the Application
 
When safety and performance tests are conducted, it is possible to find places where architecture errors have been made that are not visible to the user. By doing this, data leaks can be prevented and hacker attacks can be prevented.

6. Without QA, Your Reputation is in Danger

Software that is bug-free builds the reputation we expect. There are times when a small mistake can ruin it, like exposing internal user data. HSBC's IT failure resulted in millions of bank customers not being able to access their online accounts. Repairs took two days. Such mistakes certainly didn't help HSBC maintain its reputation as a trustworthy and reliable financial institution.

7. Well-done Quality Assurance Enhances User Experience
 
A very difficult task is creating an interface that meets both the needs of the user and helps a business achieve its goals. An optimised UX requires an innovative approach, because the user gets attached to an application through good UX.
 
8. QA Ensures Long Term Profit
 
These examples show how the quality of the software you use in your projects affects costs. By investing in quality assurance, we build our business on the foundation of quality and trust, allowing us to reinvest funds saved by early error detection. 

The examples above show how powerful a quality can be, in attracting customers and increasing sales. QA is at first viewed as an additional and unnecessary cost, but once its importance is understood, it becomes clear why it is so important. The goal of high quality is a very difficult process for both testers and developers, but in the long run, it seems to be an essential component of software development. Investing in a tester early in the process will only bear fruit after some time. 

During the early phases of the software life cycle, many customers believe they can test the application on their own, but that is a misconception. Invisible errors on the part of the user are the most frequent causes of further costly failures. It is important to have people check for defects and failures on a daily basis because these can cause serious business losses.

 

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