Base on the various tests that should be performed at different junctures of dev

Question

Base on the various tests that should be performed at different junctures of development and integration as well as software-related quality assurance tools answer the following:

Compare and contrast at least 4 tests that occur between the span of development and final integration into a production environment (description of each and how they support overall quality of the system or application).

Why is software quality assurance important in system development?

What are some of the software quality assurance methods that you would embrace for ensuring quality in the application that you are developing, and why?

Explanation / Answer

Answer - Role of Testing in development and final integration into a production environment

There are two basics of software testing: blackbox testing and whitebox testing.

Blackbox Testing

Black box testing is a testing technique that ignores the internal mechanism of the system and focuses on the output generated against any input and execution of the system. It is also called functional testing.

Whitebox Testing

White box testing is a testing technique that takes into account the internal mechanism of a system. It is also called structural testing and glass box testing.

Black box testing is often used for validation and white box testing is often used for verification.

Types of testing

There are many types of testing like

Few of avove mentioned testing techniques are explained below:

Unit Testing - Unit testing is the testing of an individual unit or group of related units. It falls under the class of white box testing. It is often done by the programmer to test that the unit he/she has implemented is producing expected output against given input.

Integration Testing - Integration testing is testing in which a group of components are combined to produce output. Also, the interaction between software and hardware is tested in integration testing if software and hardware components have any relation. It may fall under both white box testing and black box testing.

Functional Testing - Functional testing is the testing to ensure that the specified functionality required in the system requirements works. It falls under the class of black box testing.

System Testing - System testing is the testing to ensure that by putting the software in different environments (e.g., Operating Systems) it still works. System testing is done with full system implementation and environment. It falls under the class of black box testing.

Acceptance Testing - Acceptance testing is often done by the customer to ensure that the delivered product meets the requirements and works as the customer expected. It falls under the class of black box testing.

Answer - Importance of Quality Assurance in System development

Quality assurance is the planned and systematic set of activities that ensures that software processes and products conform to requirements, standards, and procedures. QA includes the process of assuring that standards and procedures are established and are followed throughout the software development lifecycle.

Compliance with established requirements, standards, and procedures is evaluated through process monitoring, product evaluation, audits, and testing. Quality Assurance ensures that the management and engineering efforts result in a product that meets all of its requirements.

GOALS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE
Software development, like any complex development activity, is a process full of risks. The risks are both technical and programmatic; that is, risks that the software or website will not perform as intended or will be too difficult to operate/browse, modify, or maintain are technical risks, whereas risks that the project will overrun cost or schedule are programmatic risks.

The goal of QA is to reduce these risks. For example, coding standards are established to ensure the delivery of quality code. If no standards are set, there exists a risk that the code will not meet the usability requirements, and that the code will need to be reworked. If standards are set but there is no explicit process for assuring that all code meets the standards, then there is a risk that the code base will not meet the standards. Similarly, the lack of an Error Management and Defect Life Cycle workflow increases the risk that problems in the software will be forgotten and not corrected, or that important problems will not get priority attention. The QA process is mandatory in a software development cycle to reduce these risks, and to assure quality in both the workflow and the final product. To have no QA activity is to increase the risk that unacceptable code will be released.

Answer - Software quality assurance methods

Quality Assurance (SQA) is a set of activities for ensuring quality in software engineering processes (that ultimately result in quality in software products). It includes the following activities:

Processes could be:

Once the processes have been defined and implemented, Quality Assurance has the following responsibilities:

The major technique that is used in System Quality Assurance is the audit. They are used to perform product evaluation and process monitoring. Audits are performed routinely throughout the software development process. Their job is to look at a process and/or a product in depth, comparing them to established procedures and standards. Audits are used to review management, technical, and assurance processes to provide an indication of the quality and status of the software product.

The purpose of using an audit is to assure that proper control procedures are being followed, that required documentation is maintained, and that the developer’s status reports accurately reflect the status of the activity. The SQA product is an audit report to management consisting of findings and recommendations to bring the development into conformance with standards and/or procedures

The quality management system under which the software system is created is normally based on one or more of the following models/standards:

Note: There are many other models/standards for quality management but the ones mentioned above are the most popular.

Software Quality Assurance encompasses the entire software development life cycle and the goal is to ensure that the development and/or maintenance processes are continuously improved to produce products that meet specifications/requirements. The process of Software Quality Control (SQC) is also governed by Software Quality Assurance (SQA).

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