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Software QA – Guidelines to Manage Software Quality

If you are looking for Software QA to know what software QA is, software QA team, software quality control, SQA outsourcing, QA testing and how to become a QA tester, then you are in the right place. 

It all sounds so complicated! Plus, you probably think it’ll take years to learn all of this stuff and become a successful QA engineer! This is why I am writing a guide for you on software quality assurance.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive in!!

Summary of Software QA

Software QA is becoming more popular in the IT industry. So, I am writing this post to help you to learn software quality assurance. However, before we dive into the details, you maybe want to look at the summary software quality control.

Now, in this section, I’ve organized the key points into a chart to help you quickly learn software QA fundamentals.

Let’s take a moment to look at the summary of software quality assurance:

Testing LevelsIntegration Testing, System Testing, Unit Testing
MethodologyVerification and Validation, Agile software testing, Waterfall Methodology, Incremental Testing
Software ErrorsBoundary-related errors, User Interface errors, Control flow errors, Calculation errors, Load Conditions, Race Conditions, Testing Errors, Hardware
QA Testing ToolXray, Practitest, Testpad, Testmo, Avo Assure, Selenium, Watir, Testim, AppliTools, Browsershots
Table 01: Software QA Summary

What is Software?

Software is a command written in computer code language that tells a computer how to behave or perform a specific task. Computer programmers create software by using code. Softwares perform tasks physically separate from the hardware of a computer. Without software, computers would be useless. 

There are four main types of software given below:

  • Application software
  • System software
  • Programming software
  • Driver software

In this digital world, life is unthinkable without software. Every day you wake up by your alarm that is software. For your entertainment, you use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, which is also software. You are at work and need to set your document, and you are doing this by using the software. 

Since we use software for their daily work, the software needs to be quality-checked and updated. That’s why you need to know about software and software quality assurance.

What is QA? 

QA means quality assurance. Quality assurance is identifying and maintaining a product in developement and ensuring it works as it’s supposed to. A QA process can boost a company’s credibility and helps promote customer confidence in the products. 

Quality assurance in software testing provides the quality of software developments to the customers by an organization. So, the main idea of QA is to ensure that the product meets the standards. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has set these standards. All companies follow the standards set by ISO to ensure their QA results.

What is Software Quality Assurance?

Figure 01: What is Software Quality Assurance

You already know about software and QA. If you relate them all together, then you will understand what software quality assurance (SQA) is. 

SQA means ensuring all software engineering processes, methods, and activities and evaluating software’s proper quality. When you do QA testing of software, it also focuses on the functionality, performance, usability and Security of the software or app.

The software QA testers conducted QA tests on their products for quite some time. After building software, it may need to be updated after some time, or if it’s not user-friendly, then software qa testers will test the software. Therefore, the best software development companies provide and staff software QA testers.

Quality Assurance VS Quality Control

Before moving to the next part, it is important to say that QA differs from quality control (QC). Though both have to remove the software bugs, there are still some differences. While you need to outsource SQA, you must know the differences first.

In this part of the software quality assurance guide, I am giving the differences below:

Software Quality Assurance (SQA)Software Quality Control (SQC)
QA focuses on providing assurance that the quality requested will be achieved.QA focuses on fulfilling the quality request.
It is involved during the development phase.It is not included during the development phase.
It is a managerial tool.It is a corrective tool.
Quality assurance is process oriented.Quality control is product oriented.
Quality assurance aims to prevent defects.Software quality control aims to identify and improve defects.
It is a less time-consuming activity.It is a more time-consuming activity.
QA sets up a measurement program to evaluate processes.QC verified whether particular attributes exist, or do not exist, in an explicit product or service.
QA identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.QC identifies defects with the primary goal of correcting errors.
Verification is an example of QA.Validation is an example of QC.
Table 02: Quality Assurance VS Quality Control

What is Bug?

A bug is one kind of problem that you can find in a program. In technology, a bug is a coding error in a software program. And the process of finding a bug is called debugging. Software QA testers start debugging after the code is written and the system is running. 

In other words, when a program does not perform as intended, it is most likely a bug. In 2002, a study by the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized that “software bugs are so prevalent and damaging that they cost the US economy an estimated $59 billion annually or about 0.6 %”. Source: Wikipedia

However, minor bugs can create small problems like frozen screens or unexplained error messages. It doesn’t create any serious issues. Major bugs may affect software and hardware unintentionally. It can affect connected devices or integrated software and may damage data files.

Benefits of Software Quality Assurance

Figure 02: Benefits of Software QA

Software QA testing is one of the most important parts of app development. As a business owner, when you will do SQA outsourcing, you need to know about the benefits. You should learn about the benefits of a software quality assurance team for business and study purposes and also for software quality control. 

If your application has any glitches, it can lose credibility and hurt the customer experience. So your business should have software quality control on the product. 

So, take a look at the benefits of software QA testing:

  • Software QA Testing Enhance User Experience
  • Software QA Testing Increases Confidence
  • Increases Safety Level of the Application
  • SQA Outsource Prevents Breakdowns
  • S0ftware Quality Assurance Saves Time
  • SQA Ensures Long Term Profit
  • QA testing saves cost

Software QA Testing Enhance User Experience

How do you feel when a bug appears while your user visits a website or mobile application? Surely, it hurts your user experience and annoys you too. Isn’t it?

Recently, the importance of UX has been increasing. So you have to ensure that your software meets the high level of UX. If your software doesn’t meet the UX level, you cannot outsource SQA properly. So, to make your product bug free through good UX, you must need Software QA testing. 

Software QA Testing Increases Confidence

If you release a product without doing software QA testing, it will backfire and ruin your reputation. On the other hand, if your software QA testers test the product before releasing your UX will be great. It will help you to increase your confidence. 

Creating software is easy, but making software bug-free is tough. This is the reason why you need software QA testing. It will create value for users and increase confidence.

Increases Safety Level of the Application

QA can ensure the safety of the app. QA testing can work as software quality management. So, your software quality assurance team should know software quality control.

The Software QA team ensures the software QA testing of your product. It controls data leaks and increases security against hacking attacks. You can get a reliable product, security to the user’s personal information, and risk-free access. If you find any security gaps, you can fix them instantly before it turns out to be a disastrous attempt.

SQA Outsource Prevents Breakdowns

Suppose you are working on a software app and face a sudden breakdown. How do you feel about it? It will annoy you, right?

You can not predict errors while working on software. Software QA testing allows you to check its performance under various loads, devices, and architectures to avoid unexpected breakdowns.  

For example, NASA made mistakes in 1998, which caused the loss of the Mars orbiter. The error was trivial because the orbiter’s software sent all the data in metric units. At the same time, the engineers processed this data as non-metric in English. This error caused a loss of $125 million! Source: NASA

Software Quality Assurance Saves Time

Software QA testing can save time while removing bogs. If your software has more than one bug and you think it will take a long time. It’s wrong. By software QA testing, your software QA team can quickly remove the system’s bugs. So, SQA can save your time as well.

SQA Ensures Long Term Profit

If your software QA team knows the software quality control properly, then your client will be more reliable on you. It can bring your profit too. From one client, there will be more number of client. 

Investing in QA can build your business based on quality and trust. Which can help you to increase the number of clients and profit.

Software QA Testing Saves Cost

Software development involves different stages; each stage needs time for testing to avoid bugs. The longer a bug goes undetected, the more difficult and expensive it is to fix. 

Modern software QA testing strategies throughout the development process can help you find and resolve errors at an early stage. Therefore, executing software QA testing methods and finding and resolving errors from the beginning could save you millions of dollars. 

Market Research of Software QA

Figure 03: Market Research of Software QA

Software quality assurance vendors offer a wide portfolio of software testing services and solutions. These vendors also provide highly trained and qualified software QA testers who can have a hands-on, end-to-end understanding of the problems. The vendors use software QA testing methodologies and applications and software testing laboratories. They provide businesses with services such as quality engineering, quality assurance, digital assurance, and software testing.

Statistics show that the software QA testing market will be valued at USD 40 billion in 2021. It is looking forward to recording a CAGR of more than 6 percent between 2022 and 2030. The application testing segment accounted for nearly 50% of the SQA outsourcing market share in 2021 due to increased organizations’ investment in information security and product security. Since the application uses testing automation, it provides optimal test suite coverage. And the system integrator segment accounted for nearly 70% of the revenue share in 2021. Source: GMI

Below is a list of Software Testing Market report coverage:

Report CoverageDetails
Base Year2021
Market Size in 2021USD 40 billion
Forecast Period2022 to 2030
Forecast Period 2022 to 2030 CAGR6%
2030 Value ProjectionUSD 70 billion
Historical Data for2018 to 2021
Growth DriversNorth America
-Increased availability of high-end DevOps solution
Europe
-Rising adoption of agile development environment for quality assurance and testing
Asia Pacific
-Growing digitalization in developing economies
Latin America
-Increase in the consumption of mobile-based applications
MEA
-Increasing focus on autonomous driving technology from OEMs and government authorities
Pitfalls & Challenges-Lack of professionals
-High implementation cost prevailing manual testing over automation testing
Table 03: Market Research of Software QA

Importance of Maintaining Software Quality Control

Figure 04: Importance of Maintaining Software Quality Control

QA is a key part of software making process. Both software QA testers and developers help create software and meet the client’s requirements. So, you cannot think of developing software without QA testing and software quality control.

Not only QA testing but also you have to maintain software quality control. So that hackers or viruses cannot harm your system. Therefore, it is important to maintain your software quality control. Below I’m giving you a list of the importance of maintaining software quality control:

  • Saves Time and Money
  • Strengthen Security
  • Brand Reputation
  • User Satisfaction

Saves Time and Money

Usually, we need software QA testing to remove bugs for better UX. That’s why most software companies prefer a software QA team. But they think that it would be costly and takes more time. But the idea is wrong.

When the software locates any systemic problem, and if you don’t solve it in time, it will be a big loss for you later. Therefore, reviewing your software quality in software development is important, as you could save a lot of time and money.

Strengthen Security

You must maintain your software security. Otherwise, your data will be hacked by hackers. Just building software is not enough. Now you are thinking, what will you do?

First, you need to hire a software QA team or software QA tester. Secondly, you have to ensure they have enough knowledge about software quality control. If yes, you don’t need to think about software security anymore. They already know what they need to do.

Brand Reputation

Any problem with your company’s software can drastically affect the goodwill of your enterprise. If, by any chance, your software crash, your company’s reputation is at stake. It greatly reduces the market value of your brand.

Only software QA testing can help you from debugging. Your reputation will return when your UX and UI are in a good stage. So, it is important to have software QA testers.

User Satisfaction

You must ensure the client satisfaction while delivering your product. You can meet user satisfaction if your software is bug-free and easy to use. This is the reason why you need software QA testing. If your company has enough software QA testers, you can also outsource SQA. 

Software Quality Control Strategies

Figure 05: Software Quality Control Strategies

If your company has expert software QA team, you may want to outsource SQA. But before doing this, your team should know about SQA strategies. The success of your project relies on the software QA testing methodology you choose. 

Let’s look at the 4 different types of software QA testing strategies:

  • Verification and Validation Methodology
  • Agile software testing Methodology
  • Waterfall Methodology
  • Incremental Testing

Verification and Validation Methodology

Software development is divided into many stages to make the development process easy and effective.

As soon as a special stage of development finishes, the software application QA testing team validates that code and suggests necessary modifications. Relatively, V-model allows the development team to make modifications in the early stages and saves time & cost.

Agile software testing Methodology

Agile software development principles are called Agile software testing methodology. The Agile methodology is flexible and continuous.

In this methodology, the QA team need not wait until the previous phase is complete. In the Agile software application testing approach, every sprint ends with a review meeting consisting of progress and future sprint plans. It helps to maintain software quality control.

Waterfall Methodology

The Waterfall software testing methodology is the earliest software product testing model used in SDLC. This method illustrates that software testing happens in a linear sequential flow. 

In this model, first, the whole project is documented and planned. Then, a team of QA testers conducts small steps in sequential order. You can not skip any phase and do a random test.

Despite its clarity in execution, the waterfall software quality assurance testing takes more time to test and make changes accordingly.

Incremental Testing

Incremental testing is one of the best ways to test the integration of modules. In incremental testing, developers use various drivers to uncover defects. 

The incremental QA testing strategy consists of several iterations. It adds value to your product at every iteration as a new feature. This process consists of three stages: design & development, testing, and final implementation. 

Testing Levels of Software Quality Assurance

Figure 06: Testing Levels of Software Quality Assurance

This part of the software QA guidelines will help you know the testing level of SQA.

There are basically three levels of testing. Various types of testing come under these levels. Bellow, there is a list of testing levels:

  • Integration Testing 
  • System Testing 
  • Unit Testing

Integration Testing 

It is a type of testing where softwares are integrated logically and tested as teamed up. This testing level aims to defects in the interaction between these softwares when they integrate. Integration testing aims at checking data communication amongst these modules.

System Testing 

It validates fully integrated software products. The purpose of software system testing is to evaluate end-to-end system specifications. System Testing is done after Integration Testing. It plays an important role in delivering a high-quality product. 

Unit Testing

It is a type of software QA testing where each unit or component of the software is tested. Unit testing aims to validate that each unit of the software code performs as expected. It is commonly automated but may still be performed manually. Software QA testers do unit testing to try to save time.

Types of Software QA Testing

Figure 07: Types of Software QA Testing

Software QA testing is a process that identifies the bugs, faults, and quality of software. There are various types of Software QA testing. Each type of testing has its features, advantages, and disadvantages. 

Below I give a list of Software QA testing:

  • Glass Box/Open Box Testing
  • System Integration Testing
  • Recovery/Error Testing
  • Configuration Testing
  • Manual Testing
  • Automated Testing
  • Black box Testing
  • White box Testing
  • Functional Testing
  • End-to-end Testing
  • Sanity Testing
  • Regression Testing
  • Load Testing
  • Stress Testing
  • Performance Testing
  • Usability Testing
  • Installation Testing
  • Security Testing
  • Penetration Testing
  • Compatibility Testing
  • Exploratory Testing
  • Comparison Testing
  • Alpha Testing
  • Beta Testing
  • Gamma Testing
  • Smoke Testing

Glass Box/Open Box Testing

It works like white box testing. Glass box testing is a testing approach that analyzes the app’s program structure and derives test cases from its program logic.

Glass box testing uses to optimize the code for finding bugs. It can start early in the software development lifecycle, even before the graphical user interface is available. 

System Integration Testing

It means to be carried out in a hardware and software environment to verify the culture and environment of the complete system. This testing is a complete integrated system to evaluate system compliance with specified requirements.

System integration testing verified the interactions between the modules of a software system. It also verifies the high and low-level software requirements specified in the software requirements data and the software design document. In system integration testing, modules are first tested separately and then combined to make a system.

Recovery/Error Testing

Recovery Testing is a software testing technique that confirms software’s ability to recover from failures like software/hardware crashes, network failures etc. It decides where a software operation can be continued after a disaster or integrity loss. Recovery testing involves reverting software to the point where integrity was known and reprocessing transactions to the failure point.

Professional software QA testers do it. Your software QA team can back up the data in a secure location. It is done to ensure the operation for continued even after a disaster.

Configuration Testing

Configuration testing verifies the system’s performance against various combinations of software and hardware. It helps find the best configuration under the system that can work without flaws or issues while matching its functional requirements.

Your software QA testers can test under each configuration of the supported software and hardware. When we say different configurations of hardware & software, it is attributed to multiple operating system versions, browsers, supported drivers, memory sizes, hard drive types, CPUs, etc.

Manual Testing

Manual testing means testing the cases manually by a tester without using automated tools. It aims to identify the software application’s bugs, issues, and defects. It is the most primitive technique of all testing types and helps find critical bugs in the software application.

When you launch a software, you need to test it manually. Manual QA software testing requires more effort but is necessary to check automation feasibility.

Automated Testing

It is a standard modern software development practice. CI/CD depends on the automated test. Automation testing is validating the function properly and checking the requirement.

This software testing method uses scripted sequences that are executed by testing tools. Automated testing tools execute examinations of the software, report outcomes and compare results with earlier test runs.

Black box Testing

It is a powerful testing technique because it exercises a system end-to-end. Black-box testing is a software QA testing method that examines an application’s functionality without peering into its internal structures. This testing method can be applied virtually to every level of software testing.

Software QA testers provide input and observe the output generated by the system. Black box test cases are written from a definitive source, such as a specification or requirements document.

White box Testing

White box testing analyzes the internal structures of the used data structures, internal design, and code structure. It can be tested at system, integration, and unit levels while developing software. 

One of the basic goals of white-box testing is verifying an application’s working flow. A major white box testing technique is code coverage analysis.

Functional Testing

There must be something that defines what is acceptable behavior and what is not. It is a type of testing that proves the software system against the functional requirements. It mainly involves black box testing and is not concerned about the application’s source code. 

Functional testing is the process via which QAs allocate if a piece of software is acting by pre-determined requirements. Functional or behavioral testing generates an output based on the given inputs. It determines if the system is functioning correctly as per the specifications.

End-to-end Testing

End-to-end testing is also known as E2E testing. It is a process that assesses the working order of a complex product from the start-to-finish process. It also verifies that all system features can run and perform optimally under real-world scenarios.

E2E testing is a method of testing an application’s workflow from beginning to end. This method aims to replicate real user scenarios to validate the system for integration and data integrity.

Sanity Testing

It is a part of regression testing focusing on the application’s smaller section. It ensures the code changes are working as properly.

The Software QA team uses sanity testing to validate the app’s functionality. They are generally performed on a build where the production deployment is required immediately, like a critical bug fix.

Regression Testing

If you need to add some code to modify your software after building it, you must test your code first. In this case, you need to do regression testing. It confirms that the additional code is not affecting the existing features. 

Moreover, regression testing is necessary when new features are attached to a software application. It may also be performed when a functional or performance defect/issue is fixed.

Load Testing

It is non-functional testing. Load testing models a software program’s expected usage by adding multiple users accessing the program concurrently.

Moreover, it shows how the software application behaves while multiple users access it at a time. Load Testing aims to improve performance and ensure a software application’s stability and smooth functioning before deployment.

Stress Testing

Stress testing verifies the stability & reliability of software applications. It aims to measure software errors and handling capabilities under extremely heavy load conditions. It also ensures that software doesn’t crash under crunch situations. 

In software engineering, stress testing is also known as endurance testing. Stress testing tries to break the system with overwhelming data or resources. It is often performed using computer simulations, running different scenarios. 

Performance Testing

Performance testing is a non-functional software testing technique. It measures that estimate the speed, responsiveness and stability of a computer. However, this is not about finding software bugs or defects.

It will help ensure your software meets the expected service levels and provides a positive user experience. The motive of performance testing is to make software rapid.

Usability Testing

It refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it with expected users. The goal of usability is to identify any usability problems, collect qualitative and determine the client’s satisfaction with the product.

You will analyze the performance during a usability test to see if it meets your usability objectives. To run a useful usability test, you need to create a solid test plan, recruit participants and report your findings.

Installation Testing

It performs to check if the software has been correctly installed with all the features and that the product is working as expected. Installation Testing is also known as implementation testing. It is done in the last testing phase before interaction with the product.

Moreover, with the help of installation testing, the software QA team of testers can validate the quality and correctness of the installation process and ensure that the users receive an optimum user experience.

Security Testing

Security testing aims to locate any threats in the system and measure its potential exposures. It also helps detect all possible security risks in the system and helps developers fix the problems through coding. 

It ensures that the software applications are quit from any threats that can cause a loss. Security testing can solve the following testing:

  • Risk-driven test creation
  • Dependency attacks
  • User Interface attacks
  • File system attacks
  • Design attacks
  • Implementation attacks
  • Penetration testing
  • Static vulnerability scanning
  • Test coverage
  • Test depth analysis

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing tests how well the system is protected against unauthorized internal or external access or willful damage. This type of testing usually requires sophisticated testing techniques.

This simulated attack aims to identify any weak spots in a system’s defenses that attackers could take advantage of. Software QA testers use the same tools, techniques, and processes as attackers to find and demonstrate the business impacts of weaknesses in a system.

Compatibility Testing

It measures the capability of existing features. Compatibility Testing can run on different hardware, operating systems, applications, network environments or mobile devices.

Compatibility is non-functional testing that ensures customer satisfaction. It should always perform in a real environment instead of a virtual environment.

Exploratory Testing

Exploratory testing is widely used in Agile software testing models. It allows software QA testers to go beyond the limits of scripted testing. The focus of exploratory testing is the need to think creatively while testing. 

Comparison Testing

Comparison testing means comparing the contents of files and databases against actual results. It allows the determination of a product’s strengths and weaknesses in direct comparison with similar items. 

Alpha Testing

It is the initial phase of validating whether a new product will perform as expected. Homestead software QA engineers or software QA testers commonly perform it to maintain software quality control. It is the last testing stage before the software is released into the real world. 

Beta Testing

In software QA testing, a beta test is the second phase of testing in which a model of the intended audience tries the product out. The purpose is to uncover as many bugs or usability issues as possible in this controlled setting. Product managers can also run beta testing.

Gamma Testing

The Gamma Test phase is considered the trend of the past. It mainly focuses on security and Performance checks of the product and its usability. Gamma Testing is usually held after beta testing of the product.

Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is a confirmation for the software QA team to proceed with further software testing. In simple terms, a smoke test means verifying the important features are working and that there are no showstoppers in the build under testing. It ensures that all critical functionalities are working correctly or not.

What Does a Software QA Tester Do?

Figure 08: What Does a Software QA Tester Do?

Software QA testers are responsible for checking software products. They confirm that the program meets the program specification. A software QA tester does so many things to run the software smoothly. Let’s see the list below: 

  • A software QA team designs test plans, scenarios, scripts, or procedures.
  • They document software defects using a bug-tracking system and report defects to software developers.
  • A software QA tester identifies and analyzes a document’s problems with program function, output, and online screen content.
  • They also develop testing programs that address database impacts, software outlines, regression testing, negative testing, error or bug retests, or usability.
  • They join in product design reviews to provide input on functional needs, product designs, schedules, or potential problems.
  • A software QA team plan test schedules or strategies following project scope or delivery dates.
  • They conduct software compatibility tests with programs, hardware, operating systems, or network environments.
  • They also test the system changes to prepare for performance.
  • Monitor the bug resolution efforts and track successes.
  • Review software documentation to ensure technical accuracy.
  • Provide feedback and recommendations to developers.
  • Update automated test scripts to ensure a currency.
  • Create or maintain databases of known test defects.
  • Install and maintain software testing programs.
  • Configure recreations of software production environments.
  • Monitor the program performance to ensure efficient free operations.
  • Identify program standards, and suggest modifications.
  • Develop or specify standards, methods, or procedures.
  • Design or develop automated testing tools.
  • Investigate customer problems referred to by technical support.
  • Conduct historical analyses of test results.
  • Perform debugging procedures.
  • Evaluate software for testing or bug tracking.
  • Coordinate user or third-party testing.
  • Collaborate with field staff to evaluate problems and recommend possible solutions.
  • A software QA team assists developers with the design process, assesses risk, and resolves issues before the new software is complete. 

What Makes a Good Software QA Tester?

Figure 09: What Makes a Good Software QA Tester?

If you are already a software QA tester but don’t know how to be a good one, then I am here to help you. Since software engineering is now considered a technical engineering profession, software QA testers have qualities that set them apart, along with a relentless perspective. 

Here are some ideas below to help you be a good QA tester:

  • Sensitive, Diplomatic and Persuasive
  • Possess People Skills and Tenacity
  • Perfectionist and A Realist
  • Know The Technology
  • Defects are Valuable
  • An Explorer
  • Organized

Delicate, Diplomatic and Persuasive

A good software QA tester is delicate and knows how to break the info to the developers. They are diplomatic while convincing the developers of the bugs, persuading them when necessary, and having their bugs fixed. It is important to be informed of the issue and keep the person who developed the application from being taken aback by the findings. 

Possess People Skills and Tenacity

Software QA testers can face a lot of resistance from programmers. So, software QA testers must have enough skills than a developer. They need to be socially smart and diplomatic, but that doesn’t mean being indecisive. The best QA testers are both socially adept and determined where it matters.

Perfectionist and A Realist

Being a perfectionist will help QA testers spot the problem. A software quality assurance team should be realistic and know which problems are really important. If you are a QA tester, you should know which ones require a fix and which don’t.

Know The Technology

A software QA tester must know about the technology. They should know in which code language the application is developed. It helps design more powerful test cases based on the technology’s weaknesses or flaws. A good QA tester should know which support is needed while removing bugs.

Defects are Valuable

Good software quality assurance testers learn from them. Each defect is an opportunity to learn and improve. A defect found early substantially costs less when compared to the one found at a later stage. Defects can cause serious problems if not managed properly. Trying to learn from defects will help prevent future problems, track improvements, and improve prediction and estimation. 

An Explorer

A software QA tester always plays the role of an explorer. They take risks with creativity and attitude to find bugs.

Organized

Best software QA testers very well realize that they also can make mistakes and don’t take chances. They are very well organized and have checklists, use files, facts and figures to support their findings that can be used as evidence and double-check their findings. 

Why do Bugs Occur?

Figure 10: Why do Bugs Occur?

When a program does not perform as intended, it is most likely a bug. There are some bugs in software due to unclear or constantly changing conditions, software complexity, programming errors, timelines, errors in bug tracking, documentation errors, deviation from standards etc. 

But do you know why bugs occur? No, right? Let’s look at the causes of bugs: 

  •  In many circumstances, the customer may not be completely clear about how the product should ultimately function. It is especially true when the software is developed for a new product. Such cases usually lead to many misreadings from any or both sides. 
  • Continuously changing software requirements cause a lot of confusion while developing and testing software. Overlooking such issues causes bugs. 
  • Lack of foresight in predicting such issues can cause serious problems and increase bug count. 
  • Designing and re-designing, UI interfaces, integration of modules, and database management all add to the complexity of the software and the system as a whole. 
  • Fundamental problems with software design and architecture can cause problems in programming. As a tester, you can check for data reference/declaration errors, control flow errors, parameter errors, input/output errors etc. 
  • Assigning a new developer to the project midway can cause bugs. It is possible if proper coding standards are not followed, improper code documentation, ineffective knowledge transfer etc. 
  • Serious bugs can especially occur with larger projects, as it gets tougher to identify the problem area. 
  • Programmers usually tend to rush as the deadline comes closer. This is when most bugs occur. You may be able to spot bugs of all types and severity.
  • Complexity in keeping track of all the bugs can again cause bugs by themselves. It gets when the number of times it has been closed, re-opened, not accepted, ignored, etc., increases.

Guidelines for New QA Testers

Figure 11: Guidelines for New QA Testers

If you are interested in software QA testing, that means you want to be a software quality assurance tester. If yes, then I have some guidelines for you. Let’s see the guidelines below:

  • It is impossible to test a program 100%. 
  • You cannot test everything and are not responsible for the quality of the product.
  • No application is 100% bug-free. Sometimes you have to modify the bug into a feature.
  • Try to use the system as a lay user.
  • Your keys to building credibility are identifying your strengths and weaknesses, building good relations, demonstrating competency, and being willing to admit mistakes, re-assess and adjust.
  •  You must test what you can observe and have access to.
  • As a tester, your need to conform to the standards and guidelines set by the organization.

Top 10 Software QA Testing Tools

Figure 12: Top 10 Software QA Testing Tools

Software QA testing tools support various test activities of planning, requirement gathering, build creation, test execution, defect logging and test analysis. If you want to outsource SQA, you should know about the QA tools.

There are some software testing tools available in the market. These tools help organize the end-to-end test of the software. The following tools are listed below:

  • Xray
  • Practitest
  • Testpad
  • Testmo
  • Avo Assure
  • Selenium
  • Watir
  • Testim
  • AppliTools
  • Browsershots

1. Xray

You can test manually & automatically with the Xray App for QA. It’s a full-featured tool that continuously integrates with Jira software. It aims to help companies improve their products’ quality through effective testing.

The features of Xray software giving below:

  • Traceability between requirements, tests, defects, executions
  • Define reusable preconditions and associate them with tests
  • Integrates with test automation frameworks
  • Organize tests in folders and test sets
  • Test plans for tracking progress
  • Test environments
  • Built-in REST API
  • CI integrations
  • Built-in reports

2. Practitest

The Practitest tool or software is best for you if you want to test end-to-end. It allows full visibility into the testing process and a broader understanding of testing results.

The features of Practitest software giving below:

  • Combine with common bug trackers, automation tools, and robust API.  
  • Fully customizable and flexible for the ever-changing needs of software QA teams.
  • Reuse tests and correlate results across different products.
  • Unique filter trees for organizing everything and finding anything quickly.
  • Visualize data with developed dashboards and reports
  • Fast professional and methodological support

3. Testpad

It is a simpler and more accessible manual test tool that prioritizes pragmatism over the process. Testpad uses checklist-inspired test plans. 

The key features of Testpad software giving below:

  • Simple to use by non-testers; get everyone to help at release time
  • Guest testers can be invited by email who don’t need accounts
  • Lightweight integration with issue trackers, including JIRA
  • Add new tests while testing as you think of new ideas
  • Keyboard-driven editor with a javascript-powered UI
  • Drag’n’drop organization of test plans

4. Testmo

Testmo is the unified test management tool for modern software QA teams. All your test cases, identify testing and test automation in one powerful platform. It has lightning-fast, powerful UI & rich metrics. It has full integration with Jira, GitHub, GitLab & more.

The key features of Testmo software giving below:

  • Combine with any test automation tool, CI pipeline & DevOps tool
  • Fully customizable with fields, workflows and test assignments
  • Rich test cases, exploratory test sessions and test automation
  • Full integration with Jira, GitHub, GitLab etc.
  • Best-in-class reporting, metrics and real-time charts
  • Merge testing to track your entire QA in one tool

5. Avo Assure

Avo Assure is also a 100% no-code automation testing tool. It enables you to test end-to-end business processes with a few clicks of the buttons.

The features of Avo Assure software giving below:

  • Define test plans and design test cases via the Mindmaps feature
  • Achieve E2E test automation with over 90% coverage
  • Execute multiple scenarios through smart scheduling
  • Create and execute test cases without writing codes
  • Easily interpret the intuitive reports
  • Enable accessibility testing

6. Selenium

Selenium is the most popular software testing tool. It is designed to support automation testing of functional features of web-based applications, a wide range of platforms and browsers.

The features of Selenium software giving below:

  • It offers support for parallel test execution, reducing the time to execute parallel tests.
  • It supports many known programming languages like Java, Python, C#, Perl, PHP, and JavaScript.
  • Test cases prepared using the testing tool can be executed on any OS.

7. Watir

It is an open-source, cross-platform web testing tool. It is the most reliable and flexible automation tool of Ruby libraries for web browser automation. This cross-browser testing tool interacts with a browser.

The features of Waitr software giving below:

  • It is one of the best free


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