What Is the Difference Between Quality Control and Quality Assurance?
It is critical for an organization to agree on what Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) represent (QC). Both are part of the organization's quality management plan, and the efficacy of delivery teams is dependent on all stakeholders, including management, understanding the differences.
Effective quality systems can significantly contribute to project success, but when they are poorly understood, they are likely to be weak and ineffectual in guaranteeing that the supplied system is delivered on time, constructed by the team within their budget, and meets the customer's needs.
How many times have you noticed that many people working in the ICT area don't know the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control? Frequently, you will hear someone refer to 'QA' when what they really mean is 'QC.'
This uncertainty frequently causes issues and is a sure-fire way to derail a project. Projects suffer because of this, as it leads to tense discussions and makes reaching an agreement difficult.
QA and QC are closely similar concepts that are both parts of quality management, but their focus is fundamentally different:
- Quality control (QC) is used to ensure that the output is of high quality, whereas quality assurance (QA) is the process of ensuring that the output is of high quality.
- Both QA and QC are required for project success. If we merely use QA, we have a set of methods that we may use to verify that our delivered solution is of high quality, but the delivered solution is never truly quality-checked.
- Similarly, if we solely focus on QC, we are merely running tests without a clear vision for making our tests repeatable, for understanding and removing testing challenges, and for improving the methods we employ to offer our ICT solutions in general.
- QA is concerned with developing, documenting, and agreeing on a set of quality-control rules. QA planning begins at the start of a project and is based on software specifications as well as industry or corporate standards. Quality plans, inspection and test plans, defect tracking tool selection, and training of personnel in the selected procedures and processes are typical consequences of QA planning efforts.
- The goal of quality assurance is to keep faults out of the solution in the first place. In other terms, quality assurance (QA) is a proactive management strategy that is used to ensure that an IT endeavour meets a specified level of quality.
- Performing quality assurance (QA) at the start of a project is an important strategy for mitigating the risks identified during the specification phase. Communication is critical for achieving effective QA and is vital for minimising project risk. The clear communication of both the risks and their associated remedies to the project team or teams is an important part of any risk reduction approach.
- On the other hand, quality control encompasses all operations aimed at determining the level of quality of given ICT solutions. QC is a reactive method of gauging and monitoring quality, and it encompasses all operational procedures and activities needed to meet quality requirements. Before project work begins, these strategies and activities are discussed with clients and/or stakeholders.
- QC is the process of ensuring that the output meets the specified quality standards. This means that the ICT solution is validated against client requirements at various stages of the development lifecycle. Structured walkthroughs, testing, and code inspections will be used by teams to guarantee that the solution fits the agreed-upon set of requirements.
Benefits of Quality Management
In conjunction with the quality improvement effort, quality control is used to isolate and offer feedback on the sources of quality concerns. The feedback mechanism works towards identifying root-cause problems and then devising solutions to eliminate these problems by employing this methodology consistently across projects. Taking a holistic approach ensures that teams continue to improve their quality.
The following are some of the benefits that a company might expect because of developing and implementing a quality management plan:
- Increased levels of customer satisfaction, which will almost certainly result in both repeat and referral business.
- A motivated team that not only understands the quality management plan's policy objectives but also actively participates in its implementation.
- Elimination of waste through the elimination of rework caused by the need to fix problems or fill gaps in the solution's capacity to fulfill client requirements.
- Higher levels of planning confidence, as tasks stemming from unanticipated rework, will be eliminated.
- Financial incentives for the company as a result of new projects from existing and referral clients, as well as a reduction in the amount of money spent on rework assignments.
