One of the most challenging aspects of the software development lifecycle is testing. It’s easy to write code that does something; it’s often much trickier to ensure that it does the right thing in all relevant use cases. As systems grow and expand, the number of test cases also increases, and there typically needs to be a plan to ensure that the system is behaving as expected. That plan is called a quality assurance plan, and with it, companies of all sizes can ensure their apps are of the highest quality.

Let’s see what a quality assurance plan includes and how it helps create the best apps possible.

What Is a Quality Assurance Plan?

In software, a quality assurance plan is the set of procedures, tools, and techniques that testers can use to ensure that an app or service meets the software requirements.

These plans typically include some or all of the following sections:

• Purpose: Defines the reasoning behind the document, the scope of the testing, and what stages of the software lifecycle it covers.
• Reference: Any references or other materials used to create this plan can go in here.
• Management: In this section, outline (broadly) the organizational structure and personnel necessary to implement the quality assurance plan.
• Problem Reporting: Define what happens when testers encounter issues (are they tracked as bugs, is it an email that gets sent, or does the tester report it in some other manner?).
• Tools, Technologies, and Methodologies: What will the testers use to carry out the plan?
• Code Control: How will this plan ensure that harmful code doesn’t make it to production (perhaps the testers check it out on an integration system before pushing it to prod).
• Records Maintenance: What records will testers maintain, and will they ever destroy them? This section is often critical for government software quality assurance plans.
• Testing Methodology: What methods will the testers themselves employ? Will they run through a rubric of test cases once a day? Or will they perform continuous testing on the prod system?

The idea is to outlay a comprehensive set of rules and procedures that will ensure all the code written, checked in, and the resulting systems are of the highest quality.

How Does This Type of Plan Create Better Apps?

Having this type of plan results in better apps for two primary reasons.

First, defining this level of testing forces businesses to think about allocating proper testing resources, and it establishes a protocol that, when followed right, shouldn’t result in bugs making it to production. With this plan in place, companies can allocate the right amount of time and money to testing.

Second, these plans create clear accountability. It’s evident from such a plan who should test what and when. Therefore, you won’t have a situation where a developer is saying that they thought the QA person would try the feature, and the QA person is saying that they thought the dev would try it. Instead, the quality assurance plan makes sure these mix-ups don’t happen.

With these two enhancements to the software development lifecycle, the product should be of high quality. Also, it will have significantly fewer bugs!

Better Testing Means Better Apps

With better testing and better overall quality, you can have confidence in the system. Indeed, it will meet the original software specifications and perform as expected. At INVID Group, we can create quality assurance plans. These will ensure that all developed software does what it’s supposed to do. If you’re looking to ensure your software is of the highest quality, please contact us!