Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control vs. Testing – What’s the Difference?

Organizations throw around terms quite a bit and sometimes interchangeably, even if they aren’t really synonymous.

A prime example of this is with such terms like Quality Assurance (QA), Quality Control (QC) and Testing. Though they’re closely related, they are, ultimately, different.

If you work in the IT industry, you’ve probably come across them. You’ve also probably noticed that many executives – and customers – don’t understand the difference between these terms. They most likely go as far as referring to them as the same processes, which they’re definitely not. Let’s figure out the difference.

Quality assurance

Quality assurance is process oriented. It is all about preventing defects by ensuring the processes used to manage and create deliverables works. Not only does it work, but is consistently followed by the team. Moreover, QA is about engineering processes that assure quality is achieved in an effective and efficient way.

For instance, if a defect is found and fixed, there is no guaranteeing it won’t pop back up. The role of QA is to identify the process that allowed the error to occur and re-engineer the system so that these defects won’t appear for the second time. The QA process verifies that the product will continue to function as the customer expects.

Though QC is absolutely necessary, QA is perhaps more important. By the time you reach the QC stage, for instance, fixing bugs becomes an expensive issue. Because of that, focusing efforts on improved QA processes is one of the best investments an organization can make.

Examples of QA include process definition and implementation, training, audits and selection of tools.

Quality control‍

Quality control, alternatively, is product oriented. It is the function of software quality that determines the ending result is what was expected. Whereas QA is proactive, QC is reactive. QC detects bugs by inspecting and testing the product. This involves checking the product against a predetermined set of requirements and validating that the product meets those requirements.

Examples of QC include technical reviews, software testing and code inspections.

Testing

Testing is a subset of QC. It is the process of executing a system in order to detect bugs in the product so that they get fixed. Testing is an integral part of QC as it helps demonstrate that the product runs the way it is expected and designed for.

To summarize, think of everything as an assembly line. QA can be thought of as the process to ensure the assembly line actually works, while QC is when the products coming off the assembly line are checked to verify they meet the required specifications.

Ultimately, both QA and QC are required for ensuring a successful product. When used together, they can help detect inefficient processes and identify bugs in the product. Moreover, QA and QC can help to develop and deliver a consistently high-quality product to your customers.

Please check our ultimate guide for all the related QA questions: "Selective QA Interview Questions for Managers to Ask".