QA and QC : Definition ,Examples and difference
Quality Assurance (QA):
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- Quality Assurance is the set of activities that ensures the approaches, techniques, methods and standards to develop a product with less defects and mistakes.
- A pro-active quality process controlled and determined at management level.
- Its focus is on process checklists, process standards, project audits, methodology and procedures for development to provide a quality conducive environment to the product being developed.
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Quality Control (QC):
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- Quality Control is the set of activities that control the quality of software being developed by identifying defects.
- Quality control is a corrective process that falls under the quality assurance with the aim to find the bugs present in the software which are reported to developers to fix.
- It focuses on the quality of the end software and the final output rather than the processes used to create a product. Eg.: QC activities include inspection, peer reviews and the software testing process.
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Differences between QA and QC
The main difference between QA Vs QC is that the quality assurance activities are conducted during the software development whereas Quality control activities are performed after the software has been developed.
| Parameters | Quality Assurance | Quality Control |
| Target | Focus is on process improvement and methodologies used to develop products. | Focuses on product improvement by identifying the bugs and issues. |
| Orientation | It is process oriented. | It is product oriented. |
| Nature of process | QA is a preventive process as it establishes processes which prevent bugs. | QC is a corrective process as its focus is on identifying the bugs and getting them fixed. |
| Measure | It is a proactive measure | It is a reactive measure |
| Verification vs Validation | Quality Assurance is a verification activity that verifies you are doing the right thing in the right manner. | Quality assurances is a validation activity that validates the product against requirements. |
| Person Responsible | All the persons involved in the project starting from the requirement. | Responsibility of Quality Control inspector or the testing team that finds the issues. |
| Tools and Techniques | Defining Processes, Quality Audit, Selection of Tools, Training. | Defining Processes, Quality Audit, Selection of Tools, Training. |
| Examples | Examples of quality assurance activities include process checklists, process standards, process documentation and project audit. | Examples of quality control activities include inspection, deliverable peer reviews and the software testing process. |