Time to shift from Quality Assurance to Quality Engineering!

In this digital world, technological advancements come thick and fast. Similarly, the world of software testing is experiencing shifts and transformations in ideologies and work processes, with the focus moving from Quality Assurance (QA) to a more a holistic approach, with Quality Engineering (QE). For a considerable amount of time, the software testing experts have focused on delivering quality assurance. However, as we move into the new age of software development and testing influenced by artificial intelligence, open source tools and other major factors, there is a need of shift to a more comprehensive dynamic such as Quality Engineering (QE) to produce better quality of work at faster rates. The new set timelines for tests, their delivery and the possibility of run time modifications and coding has led us to the brink of another revolution in technology.In this article, we will discuss the role Quality Assurance has played so far in testing, and why it is the right time to start moving towards the wholesome advantages of Quality Engineering.

Why has there been a deep focus on Quality Assurance?

Quality assurance is, as the term suggests, a process where testing of a product is conducted to check whether it is suitable for the market or not. Similarly, QA in the digital world signifies the activities used to check the implementation of the processes and standards in context of the verification of software. It checks for the intended requirements and delivers a report on the necessary changes to improve the efficiency of the software. QA includes process-oriented activities with no real world testing done.

Customer satisfaction is the most important thing for any company or individual. Therefore, QA was and still is the top criteria to fulfil before rolling out a product or software. A QA tester tests the product, detects the problems early and lets the software development team make the necessary fixes. This has been the norm from quite a long time now.

What are the traditional practices for QA?

Functional testing, Compatibility testing, Database testing and Systems Integration testing are few of the major testing methods practiced for quality assurance. These tests help in checking the data operations, searches, durability, scalability, compatibility on different devices and various other parameters. However, the traditional practices involved in the field of QA in digital world are fast getting outdated due to the new challenges digital transformation is throwing at us. There is a need for on the go services and faster results. The conventional testing methods are lacking speed and flexibility when challenged by current trends in digital world. There is a need for automation, quicker tests, continuous integration, code coverages and emphasis on testing right from the inception of the product. This has led to the need for a new approach, Quality Engineering.

How things are moving towards Quality Engineering (QE)?

The continuous digital transformation in the digital technology field across all the platforms has put the existing technological procedures and process in jeopardy. They are causing some specific challenges to existing system of Quality Assurance and need improvements.

With the advent of interactive development or Agile Development, the situation has completely changed now with new parameters for software development timelines and its delivery. It has led developers to ditch the longer, fewer releases and produce smaller multiple releases. This has started to catalyse a shift in how the testing ensues. In such cases, QA has to churn out results every two to three weeks and this has made the QA processes weaker to adapt. The tests worked well when the product was less complex but is now failing to perform and keep up with the interactive developments.

We just cannot assure quality. We have to increase our boundaries and look to engineer with quality in mind. There is a need to move quality upstream, adopt automation and automated testing devices. The role of the QA team has risen above the expected needs and have to perform in a new manner. The birth of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery pipelines ask for better and faster QA tests. This scenario has made it important to bring about necessary changes to the existing quality assurance methods and make the shift to Quality Engineering. This is the digital revolution in store for everyone.

Benefits of Quality Engineering (QE)

The need of the hour is to shift from the existing practices of Quality Assurance to the new ideologies of Quality Engineering. There are many benefits of it as it quickly adopts to the digital transformations taking place.

Automation – To achieve seamless quality, automation is the key and it has moved to a completely new level with the development of Continuous Integration (CI). CI makes the automation process unattended and works as a scheduled job as soon as it gets the build. Integrating it with Test Management solutions helps in producing results on the dashboard automatically without the need of a human trigger. As the release cycles get shorter, time for guaranteeing quality lessens. In Quality Engineering, engineers can write small pieces of codes to enable easy integration with framework and tools. This is a significant shift from traditional methods as one can create custom automation solutions during run time.

Improvements in TDD & BDD – Test Driven Development and Behaviour Driven Development are two important aspects of any digital testing and QA processes. Quality Engineering can help achieve better results in this field by ensuring faster quality checks with API validation against the UI driven tests. BDD and TDD demands better integration of Quality Engineering with other departments such as development and business.

Better user experience – In the end, the most important thing is enhancing customer satisfaction by giving them a user-friendly experience. QE can help achieve that with continuous alterations and improvements required and to enhance the quality of the product. With improvements in application UI, application flow, device capabilities and networks, QE will ensure a better user-friendly interface.

What does the future hold for QE?

With a better knowledge of the product and domain along with the right coding and software development skills, QE can play a crucial role in future in the field of digital transformation. It is important to have new ideologies and methodologies to tackle the growing concerns in the digital environment.

Quality Engineering (QE) is undoubtedly the next big thing in the market and possibly the reason for the next digital revolution. The capabilities are infinite and the need for quality engineers with good knowledge of coding and software development skills during the run time is already on rise. QE ensures uncompromised quality in the fastest possible manner by eradicating all the new problems arising due to digital transformation.

How TestUnity is at the forefront of this shift in ideology?

At TestUnity, we understand the requirements to provide a better and faster experience to the users with no compromise in quality. We are promoting and using Quality Engineering tools and plans to execute the quality check processes and procedures. Our team of experts understands the lapses occurring in QA departments due to digital transformations and thus we have strengthened our QE team to produce the best possible software and applications that meets the intended requirements of our clients.

TestUnity

Testunity is a SaaS-based technology platform driven by a vast community of testers & QAs spread around the world, powered by technology & testing experts to create the dedicated testing hub. Which is capable of providing almost all kind of testing services for almost all the platforms exists in software word.