Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality assurance and quality control are two terms commonly used interchangeably. Despite being similar, there are distinctive differences between both concepts. Quality assurance is all about prevention; it's a planned activity that is carried out before anything goes wrong. On the other hand, quality control is more reactionary and focuses on identifying and correcting defects or problems after they have arisen.

A quality assurance program includes gathering requirements, design reviews, code reviews, peer testing etc. Quality control tasks include testing, debugging etc.

Do you know the difference between quality assurance and quality control?

Quality assurance is all about prevention. It's a planned activity that is carried out before anything goes wrong. On the other hand, quality control focuses on identifying and correcting defects or problems after they have arisen. If you're not sure which one to use in your business, read this article to find out more!

Businesses can't afford for their customers to be disappointed with the purchase that they make. Therefore, significant budgets are spent on hiring professionals who know what each term means and how it applies to various businesses. If you are looking for projects where companies are looking to guarantee compliance with the latest safety standards, Geolance provides you access to many projects and clients in the field with just a few clicks.

What Does Quality Assurance and Quality Control entail?

According to the ISTQB Glossary, "Quality assurance is about product quality whereas quality control is concerned with process quality." This means that quality assurance focuses on the result of a development effort (i.e. does it meet the needs of the business/client? Is it fit for purpose?). In contrast, quality control is more about statistical process control, including how that result was achieved (i.e. is it built well, is it built right?).

Quality control activities should only be carried out once quality assurance has been completed and signed off.

Quality management standards

ISO 9000 family of standards, in general, helps organizations ensure that they comply with stakeholder requirements for regulatory and statutory guidelines. Various quality assurance protocols are defined within this framework, and it is an internationally recognized set of standards to ensure quality in mass production.

The ISO 9000 series was first published in 1987 and has since undergone significant transformations to implement process and operational guidelines for modernizing industries. The most recent versions of the ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 standards were published in September 2015. The quality requirements described in them outline how the management of high-level product delivery needs to be managed in terms of technology and labour resources.

The ISO 9000 family contains these standards:

• ISO 9001:2015: Quality Management Systems—Requirements
• ISO 9000:2015: Quality Management Systems—Fundamentals and Vocabulary (definitions)
• ISO 9004:2009: Quality Management Systems—Managing for the Sustained Success of an Organization (continuous improvement)
• ISO 19011:2011: Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems

What is the role of quality assurance?

The role of quality assurance is to prevent defects and mistakes by managing and controlling quality throughout the entire product life cycle.

A significant aspect of quality assurance is for the organization to establish clear checks and balances for all stakeholders, especially employees. These control mechanisms involve standardization for production as well as failure testing. Through adequate quality assurance, manufacturing entities limit their margin for errors through resource allocation at every process stage.

Quality assurance ensures that the products or services your company produces meet customer requirements and expectations. This includes preventing damages or oversight concerning manufacturing and verifying that the products and services have been made according to the design specifications.

The main aim of quality control is to eliminate or reduce problems and defects, thereby improving the overall quality of products. Modern organizations use software quality assurance to provide extensive product delivery in their manufacturing processes.

Examples of quality assurance

There is much different quality assurance (QA) examples, but some of the most common ones include process audits, product audits, system audits, and supplier audits.

Process audits involve inspecting and evaluating, based on quality assurance standards, the processes used to manufacture and deliver a product or service. This includes examining how the functions are controlled and how they conform to the

What to expect from a career increasing and monitoring quality

Quality control plays a pivotal role in a company's processes for preparing products and managing services. This job category is lucrative and provides an extensive range of experience and handsome payouts depending on the extent of criteria that an organization is trying to meet.

There are various quality control and quality assurance training courses to gain the skills and knowledge needed for developing quality policies and objectives. However, the best way to get started in Quality Control is by incorporating methodical thought into a good quality assurance work/profession.

Average pay scale for Quality Assurance Analysts

An entry-level Quality Assurance Analyst having less than one year of experience could expect to earn about $48,120 in salary. An early career Quality Audit Analyst with 4-year experience makes an average of $52,799.

Mid-career Quality Control Analyst with 10-19 years of experience earns a median of $72,000. So what can you expect from a quality assurance or quality control position?

Conclusion

• Quality assurance and quality control are professional responsibilities that will remain relevant as long as consumers worldwide desire physical goods. Organizations that look to trade locally and globally maintain compliance with various quality management standards and protocols. This practice allows them to provide high-quality products to customers with consistency.