QA

QA or Quality Assurance is a systematic process of determining whether products meet customers' expectations. It is a way of preventing mistakes and defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering solutions or services to customers.

Definition

Quality Assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes or defects in manufactured products and avoiding problems when delivering products or services to customers. QA is applied to physical products in pre-production to verify what will be made meets specifications and requirements, and during manufacturing production runs by validating lot samples meet specified quality controls. QA is also applied to software to verify features and functions work as expected and to prevent bugs, issues, and defects from entering the software code in the software development lifecycle.

History

The history of QA can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when craftsmen began organizing into unions called guilds that made the control of quality easier. In the early 20th century, manufacturers began to include quality processes in quality practices. During World War II, quality became a crucial component of military production. Manufacturers began to use statistical methods for quality control, and later, following the work of W. Edwards Deming, companies began to use quality circles, then Six Sigma, and then lean methodologies in quality assurance.

QA in Healthcare

In healthcare, QA refers to the process of ensuring that patient care is delivered according to established standards. It involves the systematic review of healthcare services and the results of this review are used to create benchmarks that help in improving the delivery of healthcare services.

QA in Software Development

In software development, QA practices are designed to ensure that the software meets the business and technical requirements that guided its design and development. QA practices are employed throughout the entire software development life cycle, from initial design to implementation, through testing and deployment.

See Also

• Quality Control
• Software Testing
• Healthcare Quality

References

QA Resources
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