Tag: qualityassurance

bookmark_borderQA manager responsibilities in software testing

Posted on by BIanca

QA manager has a lot of responsibilities in software testing. This includes working with the development team to create test plans, and coordinating the execution of those plans. You will also be responsible for tracking and reporting on the progress of the testing. As well as identifying and resolving any issues that arise.

QA manager responsibilities in software testing

The QA manager’s job

The QA manager is responsible for ensuring that the quality of the software product meets the customer’s expectations. They work with the development team to ensure that the software is designed and built correctly. And, of course, it functions as expected.

They also create and maintain the test plans and test cases, and execute the tests to ensure that the software meets the quality standards. The QA manager will also be responsible for coordinating the work of the QA team.

This may include scheduling the work of the testers, providing feedback to them on their work, and addressing challenges that arise. The QA manager should have great interpersonal and organizational skills. As well as knowledge of software testing principles and techniques, to carry out their responsibilities successfully.

QA Manager Skills

You must possess the necessary abilities to become a QA manager; otherwise, your ability to perform your duties will be jeopardized. Additionally, having the right abilities gives a candidate the confidence and ability to execute well.

Management Skills

A QA manager ought to be familiar with management strategies. He is responsible for coordinating between the testing and development teams. Additionally, it is up to him to guarantee that a project is delivered without hiccups.

The QA manager needs to have the mental capacity to deal with crises that occasionally arise between the development and QA teams. A QA manager must also handle numerous projects according to their priority.

As a result, the management approach is the set of skills that is essential for becoming a competent QA manager.

Basic understanding of database design and code

The success of the program is aided by the QA manager’s understanding of code and database structure. The QA manager may quickly find coding errors with a rudimentary understanding of coding, and additional developers also gain from this.

Good Communication

Good communication boosts output. Therefore, a QA manager needs to be a great communicator to ensure the application is of high quality. Interaction also makes it easy to identify problems. If you want to be a QA manager, improve your communication skills.

User Experience

Businesses create applications for the general public, and a QA manager needs creative thinking to evaluate the user experience. He ought to consider the needs of the customer to make a product successful.

Multitasking skills

The role of a QA manager deals with a variety of processes. Testing, documentation, analysis, project estimation, coordination, and reporting are among his duties. Thus, a QA manager who can handle multiple tasks will always be successful.

QA manager responsibilities in software testing

When organizations switch to an agile software development methodology, QA job roles combine.

Sometimes, they test the code and sometimes they write the code. However, all quality tasks still fall in the hands of one or two individuals. As a result, testers often lose control of critical parts of the product.

Let’s look at how a QA manager can help with quality assurance:

Defining the rules

Agile teams are given independence and responsibility to manage their task. But the organization must still function as a part of a larger overarching group.

QA managers should establish fundamental basic rules. Like which testing tools are used, which methodologies must be used, how to specify defect status, and so on.

To keep quality at the frontline all across the development phase, QA managers should cooperate with R&D managers to identify norms. They should do that as they establish how methods are presented to teams. How they have received training, and how their improvement is managed.

These rules assist R&D managers in implementing QA procedures inside of their teams and motivating them by guiding them in the proper direction.

Putting Together a Group

All development teams have developers with specialties, and the roles of each development team will vary. One team may focus on improving the UI set of an application. While another might have the responsibility for back-end services and databases.

A quality manager plays an important role in the overall project team by building a solid team base. This includes defining roles and responsibilities for all the team members. And also making sure each team member has the right tools, like the test management software, to ensure successful project delivery.

Quality Metrics are carefully chosen

Before you can start measuring the quality of your product, you have to define the types of metrics you will use. A QA manager can help development teams by helping them define your quality and performance goals.

Managers must also monitor metrics trends among all teams, not only to ensure the quality of work produced but also to identify teams that are not working sincerely and proficiently.

There are many reasons why a team may underperform. They may not have the right testing methodologies or may have released code with more defects, which means it is likely the business won’t meet its goals.

Regardless of the reason, it’s the job of a QA manager to identify and correct issues in the team’s testing methodologies that would decrease code and application quality.

Improve quality overall

Depending on your organization, cross-functional teams may have a hard time communicating because they are working on separate projects and tasks that require different skills. This is where automation tools come into play.

Teams can automate the testing of new features and functionalities. This way each step of the journey is performed consistently and in the same way across all features.

That way, both Development and Quality Assurance have the necessary buy-in from stakeholders and end-users to ensure that the quality of the product is never compromised.

Quality assurance manager plays a crucial role in the systems to ensure optimal function.

When they recognize system-level issues, they must act as a liaison among developers, QA testers, and architects. As they receive input on their current application status, these bots can identify potential bottlenecks and timely status.

Finding the Perfect Balance

A quality assurance manager takes proactive measures to help their team manage to test internally and seek out any additional testing support needed with their perspective development teams.

QA managers may change the developers or testers working on a particular project to address requirements.

Tools for Project Management

Proofhub

Because it provides scalable solutions to complete project management tasks, Proofhub is actively used throughout the business. Furthermore, the application contains useful features that work regardless of the number of projects.

Basecamp

Basecamp is another well-known project management application that is favored by the top sectors of many different industries. The tool’s components are appealing and adapting, which further facilitates all partnerships.

Basecamp is also a popular option because there are no per-user fees and it is free for both teachers and students.

Scoro

It represents the most demanding and complete project management solution that supports both works in the creative and professional spheres. Scoro is a great tool to use if you want to structure your project management process.

Trello

Trello is also favored when it involves project management software. It is even preferred by several startups to organize their tasks effectively. The features are basic and straightforward. Team members can share files and comments using these facilities, which are offered in the form of cards.

QA Manager Salary

As a QA manager, one of your primary responsibilities in software testing is to ensure the quality of the software being developed by your team. To do this, you must be intimately familiar with the software development process and the various tools and techniques used to test software.

In addition, you must be able to effectively communicate with developers and other stakeholders to ensure that everyone is on the same page about the quality of the software. Of course, all of this requires a significant amount of time and effort, so you should be compensated accordingly. Depending on the size and scope of the project, your salary as a QA manager can range from $50,000 to $100,000 per year.

Conclusion

As a QA manager, your responsibilities in software testing will vary depending on the size and scope of the project. However, some of your main responsibilities will include creating and maintaining test plans, coordinating with developers to ensure the timely delivery of features, and overseeing the execution of test cases.

In addition, you will also need to be able to report on the progress of the project and identify any areas that need improvement.

Read about “QA test case management tools” too

bookmark_borderWhat is functional testing in QA

Posted on by BIanca

Every project creates a document listing functional or necessity specifications during the planning phase. It is a list of what the app/system/website is meant to do from the user’s point of view. In this article, we will talk about functional testing in QA, types, and how to perform one.

 

What is functional testing in QA?

Functional testing is a type of black-box testing that you can use to ensure that an application’s or system’s functionality is as intended.

You can perform it to ensure that an application’s functionality is complete.

There must be a standard that describes what is and is not proper behavior.

A functional or necessity specification specifies this. It is a document that specifies what a user can do so that he can establish the application’s or system’s compliance with it.

Functional Testing Types

You can use many functional testing categories depending on the situation.

Unit Testing

Unit testing is typically performed by a developer who writes various code units that may or may not be related to achieving specific functionality.

Typically, this involves writing unit tests that call the methods for each unit and confirm them when you carry out the necessary parameters and the return value is as anticipated.

Sanity Testing

Testing to make sure that all of the application’s/major systems and critical functionalities are working properly. This is usually done following a smoke test.

Smoke Testing

After each build release, you can perform testing to ensure the build’s stability. Build verification testing is another name for it.

Regression Testing

If you need to modify any component, module, or function, you must ensure that the entire system works properly after the changes. Regression testing is the process of testing the entire system after such adjustments.

Integration Testing

After integrating the modules, you must determine whether the combined modules function properly. This is integration testing. This type of testing requires fewer resources than unit testing.

Beta Testing

A small number of actual users or clients conduct it in a real-world user environment to ensure that the software is error-free and runs fine. You can make some modifications to improve the software after gathering constructive criticism and feedback from those users.

Usability testing

Usability testing is the process of determining how user-friendly an app is. It entails determining how functional or user-friendly the app is. It is determined whether or not any user can use your software without getting tangled.

Functional System Testing

System Testing

Is a type of testing that you can carry out on an entire system to ensure that it functions as anticipated after you incorporated all modules or elements.

End-to-end Testing

End-to-end testing refers to the functional testing of the entire software system. It refers to the process of testing the entire software system.

End-to-end tests require fewer resources than integration tests.

The process

This testing procedure consists of three major steps:

  • Create test data
  • Execute test cases
  • Comparing the actual and expected results

The involved steps

The following are the various stages required in this testing:

→Establish the functionality

The first step is to establish the functionality of the product that must you must test. It includes testing the basic functionality, error conditions, and messages, as well as usability testing, which determines if the product is user-friendly or not.

→Generate the input data

The next step is to generate the input data for the specifications to test the functionality.

→Determined result

The outcome of the functionality under test is eventually determined based on the requirement.

→Comparing the actual and expected results

You can compare actual output and desired outputs to establish the extent to which functionality is functioning as expected.

How to approach functional testing in QA

It is divided into four sections:

  1. Test summary
  2. Pre-requisites
  3. Test Steps and
  4. Expected results.

Trying to write every type of test is not only inconceivable but also time-consuming and costly.

Generally, we would want to find as many bugs as possible while avoiding any escapes from existing tests. As a result, the QA must employ optimization techniques and plan their approach to testing.

Functional Test Automation

Manual effort can be lowered, saved time, bug slippage prevented, and efficiency can be improved with automation.

However, it is impossible to automate everything. This testing can be automated, but the user must create test cases for the automation to operate. It’s critical to select the right test cases to automate, as well as a suitable tool.

The disadvantage of automating functional cases is that if the number of test cases is large and must be regressed repeatedly, the developer may have difficulty ready to commit changes to the code.

When doing defect escape analysis, the most common and persistent cause of escapes appears to be a lack of test coverage in a specific function.

Aspects for Automation

→Choose the appropriate Automation Tool

There are numerous tools available on the market; selecting an automation tool is a difficult challenge! You could, even so, create a list of specifications from which you can choose which automation tool to use.

Some of the best functional test tools are listed below:

  • Selenium
  • QTP
  • Junit
  • Loadrunner
  • SoapUI
  • TestComplete

→Select the appropriate test cases to automate

If you want to make the most of automation, you must be selective about the tests you choose to automate.

You can automate tests that must be run repeatedly, with different types of data, with errors, and so on.

→Automation Specialists

Each team member has a unique set of expertise, technical skills, interests, and bandwidth to support automation. Some people may be better at performing manual tests, while others may be familiar with scripting and automation tools.

In scenarios like this, it’s a good idea to conduct an audit of the entire team and devote some members solely to automation.

→Data-Driven Tests

Automated test cases require various sets of data must be well written to be reused.

As to the data source, generating well-structured automation data simplifies framework maintenance and allows established test scripts to be utilized to their maximum potential.

→Changes to the user interface must not break tests

The test cases you write with the chosen tool must be adaptable to potential Updates. As a result, it’s essential to recognize the tool’s shortcomings ahead of time and write test cases so that UI changes require only minor changes.

→Regular Testing

Once you’ve created a basic automation test bucket, plan on running it more frequently.

Advantages of functional testing in QA

This testing replicates or is a replica of the actual system, — in other words, it is a replica of the product in the live environment. Testing is centered on requirements based on customer utilization, such as system specifications, operating systems, browsers, and so on.

It makes sure that a high-quality product is delivered that fulfills the customer’s requirements and that the customer is pleased with the outcome.

It guarantees the delivery of a bug-free product with all functionalities functioning as expected by the customer.

Conclusion

Functional testing in QA is an essential testing process because it validates a product’s functionality, as this is the most essential part of any product or application.

bookmark_borderWhat is a test script in QA

Posted on by BIanca

In this article, we will talk about what is a test script in QA, its benefits and why should you use it.

What is a test script in QA

What is a test script in QA?

A test script is a set of written instructions that are used to automate a test or series of tests. It generally includes a set of test cases, which are individual tests that are designed to exercise a specific functionality of the application.

In addition to the test cases, a test script may also include other supporting information such as expected results, setup and cleanup procedures, and environmental variables.

What is the Purpose of a Test Script in QA?

The purpose of a test script in QA is to exercise a particular feature or functionality of a software application to ensure that is working as expected.

Writing a good test script is essential to the success of any software testing effort. A well-written test script will help to ensure that all the necessary test cases are executed while reducing the need to re-write test scripts.

How to write a test script

A test script is a set of instructions that a tester will follow to validate the functionality of a software application.

There are many ways to write a test script, but the most important thing is to make sure that the script is clear and easy to follow. The following tips will help you write a good test script:

  1. Keep the script simple and concise.
  2. Make sure the script is easy to understand and follow.
  3. Include all the necessary steps to test the functionality.
  4. Make sure the script is error-free.
  5. Test the script thoroughly before using it.

Following these tips will help you write a good test script that will be easy to follow and help the tester perform their job efficiently.

What Are the Steps to Writing a Test Script?

There are a few steps to writing a test script.

You need to understand what a test script is and what its purpose is

A test script is a set of instructions that are executed to test a particular software application. The purpose of a test script is to ensure that the software application behaves as expected.

Determine what you want to test

This includes identifying the functionality that you want to test and the inputs and outputs that you expect. Once you have this information, you can start writing the actual script.

The script should be written clearly and concisely so that it is easy to follow.

Run the script and verify the results

This involves running the test script using the software application and/or the mockup and verifying that the result matches what you expected. If the test script is complete and if not, you need to go back and revise it.

What are the benefits of test scripts in QA?

There are many benefits to using test scripts in QA. They can help to ensure that all testing is carried out correctly and consistently. It can also help to improve the efficiency of the testing process.

1. Ensuring all test cases are executed

One of the benefits of test scripts is that they can help to ensure that all test cases are executed. When testers use written instructions to run tests, they’re more likely to skip tests or miss steps when they’ve run tests manually.

When tests are scripted, testers are more likely to run all tests, ensuring that all areas of the product have been properly tested.

2. Automation testing

As well as helping to ensure all testing is carried out, test scripts can also help to automate testing. The process of scripting tests involves thinking like a user and trying out different test scenarios.

When these scripts are then used by other testers, or even by the same tester at a different time, the repetition of these steps can help to find bugs before they become a problem for customers.

Scripting tests also help to ensure that everything that needs to be tested is done once, saving testers time in the future.

3. Improved communication

Writing test scripts helps to improve the communication between QA testers and developers. When developers and testers work together to script test cases, they’re able to discuss how a developer would encounter the software, and how it would fail.

Test scripts also allow testers to note down notes and comments for each step. It helps them to convey the nature of bugs that are discovered. This allows developers to understand the nature of the bug and make it easier for them to fix it.

4. Creating documentation

Test scripts can also be used to create documentation for the product. Because scripts contain the steps and commands that were used to test, they can be reused as documentation or reference material.

This can be useful for both customers and the team themselves. Customers can use these test scripts to gain a better project. Meanwhile, having these scripts available also helps the team to reflect on how the product functions. It will help them to improve it further.

5. Risk management

By writing down test scripts, QA testers are also to document some of the risks of the product in written form. These can be potential risks to the projects, as well as potential issues that could arise for the customers.

Having this documentation available can help to inform decisions later on in the process. It will make it easier for other teams to consume this information.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a test script in QA is a set of instructions that a tester will follow to carry out tests on a software application. A test script will usually contain a test case. Is a specific set of steps that the tester will take to execute a test.

Test scripts are typically written in a scripting language, such as Perl or Ruby, which can be executed by a testing tool.

bookmark_borderQA test case management tools

Posted on by BIanca

If the activities from a typical day for a tester, like case creation, case execution, document creation, and so on, are not handled and monitored, situations can become messy. QA test case management tools can help you prevent such scenarios.

QA test case management tools
 

What are QA test case management tools?

A test management tool aids in the management of all testing-related operations in one place. The market offers both free and paid tools that are simple to use and convenient.

These tools aid in reducing manual test coverage. As the company grows, it becomes more challenging to keep track of and sustain the tracking of all the data on an excel spreadsheet.

Here is where the QA test case management tools come in. Automation is increasingly important these days, so the tool should sustain it. Companies should use tools that facilitate agile and constant testing.

How to choose a QA test case management tool

When selecting a QA test case management tool, take into account that the tool should handle the test cases in such a manner that it decreases the team’s manual operations, saves money, and effectively track the test cases.

Take into account factors such as budget when selecting the tool. In aspects of tracking and reporting, the tool should be capable of handling data.

The tool you pick should include a support feature that allows tickets to be elevated and problems to be remedied for any issues or integrations that are needed.

QA test case management tools

Testiny

It is intended to be highly responsive and simple to use. It allows testers to operate tests without having to add bulky expenses to the testing process.

The features:

  • REST API with great power
  • Immediate updates ensure that all browser sessions remain in sync
  • Build and maintain your test cases, test runs, steps, preconditions, and so on with ease
  • Handle your test cases in a tree-like structure it’s simple and intuitive
  • Outstanding test case change-tracking in the history view with Test Case Editor
  • Check to see if a colleague has made some changes, finished a test, etc.
  • Strong integration with other tools (e.g., Jira,…) for linking necessities and faults

The price:

  • All features are available for a 30-day free trial
  • Open-source projects and a small team of up to three people are free
  • Test runs, test cases, and projects are all unlimited
  • Each user pays $17/€15
  • Volume discounts are available for larger groups

Tuskr

  • Simplicity to use
  • Its enterprise-class features
  • Affordable pricing

It has features that compete with the majority of the big players in the test management room.

The features:

  • Allows you to add custom fields based on the needs of your project
  • You can create test cases quickly with its WYSWYG editor, which allows you to straight-insert tables, copy-paste images, and bulk modify
  • You can build a customized dashboard based on the needs of the user. It also has special burndown charts that allow you to track improvements
  • After creating test cases, you can allocate them depending on the number of test cases or the amount of effort needed
  • Utilizing webhooks, it can easily integrate over 400 applications

The price:

  • The advanced plan begins at $12 per user/per month
  • The basic plan starts at $9 per user/per month
  • Less than five users are free

TestCaseLab

The TestCaseLab management tool is very easy to use, making users feel at ease while working on it.

It allows users to easily prepare projects, test suites, test runs, and test cases. The best part is that allows users to create an unrestricted number of projects and users in the tool.

It is simple to incorporate with any project management tool.

The features:

  • Integrations
  • Test plans
  • Test cases
  • Test runs

The price:

  • Basic: $48/month for 500 test cases/Unlimited Projects/Unlimited Users
  • Essential: $99/month for 1000 test cases/Unlimited Projects/Unlimited Users
  • Advanced: $149/month for 3000 test cases/Unlimited Projects/Unlimited Users
  • Ultimate: $199/month for 9000 test cases/Unlimited Projects/Unlimited Users

PlusQA

The PlusQA tool consolidates all data in one location, making it more efficient and demanding. The ability to create test cases, execute them, find bugs and track bugs in one tool, simplifies access and work for the user.

The features:

  • Enable users to report and track bugs. It allows the user to take priority on the tool’s bugs as well
  • Test cases enable users to create, modify, and perform test cases
  • Users can handle the Android and iOS application builds
  • A dashboard provides users with data in a visual way. This will allow them to effectively understand and enhance the application
  • Device Lab features, which allow users to add and modify devices

The price:

  • Users should contact PlusQA via their website for pricing information.

QACoverage

QACoverage is an agile collaboration tool that can assist you with managing projects. It includes features for managing the software project life cycle.

It will improve quality acceleration, increase visibility and assist you in work process consolidation. Is a solution for test planning, test execution, requirement analysis, ticket management, and other functions.

The features:

  • It includes features for tracking the thoroughness of specifications’ traceability
  • It allows you to import a large number of test cases from an Excel spreadsheet
  • The Test Design module allows you to create manual test cases for various categories and different kinds of testing
  • It includes a test case execution module that allows you to track progress, and record the specific actual outcome for every test case.
  • You can connect test data to pre-and-post conditions, as well as specific steps for test instructions to expected outputs

The price:

A 14-day free trial for a cloud-based solution is accessible.

  • Case Manager – $19 per user/month
  • Application Lifecycle Manager – $29 per user/month

A self-managed solution with pricing plans is also available.

  • Test Case Manager – $99 per user/month
  • Application LifeCycle Manager – $199 per user/month

Kualitee

Kualitee is a versatile tool with numerous functions. It also includes Defect Management, Project Management, third-party implementations, and other features in addition to Test Management.

Everything, including requirements, projects, tasks, defects, and test cases, can be handled under one roof.

The features:

  • Allows users to export data in any format they desire
  • Allows users to attach links or screenshots to supply all essential data
  • Allows users to build test reports based on their needs, including the condition and coverage of the test
  • Allows users to create reusable test cases formats

The price:

  • By signing up on the website, you can get a 15-day trial
  • $7/month per user with an unlimited number of Projects

Test Collab

This tool is simple to use and can be incorporated with bug-tracking and automation tools. It adheres to agile methodology, manages requirements and test cases, tracks time, and thoroughly test plans.

The features:

  • Test cases can be linked to demands
  • Custom reports are possible
  • Problems can be reported using the built-in bug tracker
  • Test cases can be classified and handled in a single location

The price:

  • $0/month for 200 test cases/400 executed test cases/3 users
  • Startups: $25 per month for unlimited cases/executions, unlimited projects/hosted versions
  • Enterprise: Need to contact Test Collab via their website

TestRail

TestRail has a unified test management process that allows testers, developers, and other stakeholders to easily access QA-related information. It helps manage and track that information.

The features:

  • The test plan enables the user to structure all test plans in a single location
  • The test case writing features enable the user to document all data needed. Such as prerequisites, test data, anticipated and actual outcomes, and more
  • You incorporate it with bug-tracking applications
  • The user can organize and prioritize test cases using QA Software features
  • The QA Reports feature enables the user to see the current state of testing progress from reports

The price:

  • $34/month per user
  • $351/year per user

qTest

The qTest test case management tool is utilized to create, run and manage test cases. It is capable of automatically creating the defect document.

It facilities agile testing tools by following the most recent trend.

The features:

  • Support for popular processes such as Agile, DevOps, and BDD
  • Controls the execution of tests. It is very simple to create test plans that can be reused
  • It can be incorporated with other tools, such as JIRA, making it easier and faster to use
  • You can schedule both test automation and test cases

The price:

The pricing of qTest is determined by whether the licenses are named or concurrent. Contact Tricentis for present pricing information.

TestLodge

It is strongly advisable for beginners because it has all of the important components and it is simple to use.

All of the reports are in chronological order and can be downloaded in PDF format.

The features:

  • It is adaptable enough to work with both traditional project management tools and agile methodologies
  • Assists in determining which cases should be marked pass, fail, or not to run
  • The templates can be used to generate test plans
  • Importing test cases from Excel can be used to build a testing suite
  • The dashboard provides a graphical representation of the testing progress. Reports can be obtained from the tool as needed

The price:

  • Premium: $199/month includes 1500 plans, 10,000 test cases, 3000 test runs, and unlimited users and test suites
  • Plus: for $99 per month, you get 500 test plans, 3000 test cases, 1000 test runs, and unlimited users and test suites
  • Basic: $49/month includes 150 test plans, 600 test cases, 300 test runs, and unlimited users and test suites
  • Personal: $24/month includes 50 test plans, 200 cases, 100 test runs, and unlimited users and test suites

 

 

bookmark_borderQA analyst vs QA tester – What are the differences?

Posted on by BIanca

When it comes to quality assurance in the software development process, there are two key roles: the QA analyst and the QA tester. In this article, we will talk about a QA analyst vs QA tester, what those two job title means, and their responsibilities and skills.

 

 

Both roles are essential to ensuring that the final product meets all quality standards.

QA analyst vs QA tester

So, what’s the difference between a QA analyst and a QA tester? A QA analyst is responsible for developing and implementing the quality assurance plan. This plan outline all the steps that you need to take to ensure that the software meets all quality standards.

The QA tester, on the other hand, is responsible for executing the tests that the QA analyst had designed.

Let’s separate them and look at their responsibilities and skills.

QA Analyst

A QA analyst is responsible for ensuring the quality of a software product or service. They may be involved in the development process, or they may be independent of the development team.

QA analysts typically create and execute test plans, track and report defects, and verify that fixes are properly implemented.

They may also participate in reviews of requirements, design, and code. In some cases, QA analysts may also be responsible for training and mentoring other members of the team.

QA Analyst Skills

Firstly, a QA analyst is more focused on the quality of the software itself. Secondly, a QA analyst is more involved in the development process, working closely with developers to ensure the quality of the software.

Finally, him/she is typically more experienced and qualified than a QA tester, as the role requires a deep understanding of quality assurance principles and practices.

QA Analyst Salary

As of July 26, 2022, the typical QA analyst salary in the USA is $63,230, with a usual range of $55,450 to $70,420. Salary ranges can vary considerably based on a wide range of factors, such as education, certifications, acquired skills, and the amount of time you have worked in your field.

QA Tester

A QA tester is someone responsible for testing the quality of a product before it is released to customers. This includes ensuring that the product meets all required specifications and standards and that it is free of any defects or errors.

A QA tester is responsible for carrying out quality assurance tests, as opposed to a QA analyst, who is responsible for developing and implementing quality assurance plans and procedures.

QA Tester Skills

As a QA tester, you need to have strong attention to detail and be able to spot even the smallest of errors.

Secondly, you need to be patient and able to methodically work through each test case. Thirdly, you need to be able to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems. Finally, a QA tester needs to be able to communicate effectively with developers and other testers.

QA Tester Salary

As of, the ordinary Software QA Tester salary in the USA was $71,733, with a salary range of $64,149 to $78,840. Salary ranges can vary greatly based on a variety of factors, such as education, certifications, acquired skills, and the amount of time working in this field.

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the roles of a QA analyst and a QA tester can vary depending on the company and project.

However, in general, a QA analyst is responsible for more strategic tasks, such as planning and designing test cases, while a QA tester is responsible for more executional tasks, such as running test cases and reporting bugs.

bookmark_borderQA Testing Resources – Guide for the best QA testing resources

Posted on by BIanca

There are many QA testing resources available online to help software create better-quality products. However, it can be difficult to find the right resources for your specific needs. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best QA testing resources available. Whether you’re looking for tools, tutorials, or general information, these resources will help you get started with QA testing.

QA testing resources books

One of the best of the best books you need to check is “The art of Readable Code” by Dustin Boswell and Trevor Foucher.

This book does an excellent job of explaining the importance of readable code and how can it impact the overall quality of your software. In addition, the book provides plenty of tips and tricks for making your code more readable.

If you’re serious about improving your QA testing skills, then this is one book you need to read.

There are other great books out there on testing QA resources:

  • “The Art Of Software Testing” by Glenford J. Myers
  • “Effective Software Testing” by Elfriede Dustin
  • “Introduction to software testing” by Paul Ammann and Jeff Offutt

Each of these books provides great insights and tips on how to QA test effectively. They each cover different areas of testing, so it’s a good idea to have all of them accessible for reference.

QA testing resources online courses

There are many online courses available that can help people learn about QA testing. These courses can be a great resource for people who want to learn more about this topic.

They can help people learn about the different types of tests that are available, and how to use the.

What are the best online courses for QA testing resources?

There are a few key factors to consider when choosing an online course for QA testing.

First, the course should be comprehensive and cover all aspects of QA testing.

Second, the course should be taught by experienced professionals who are experts in the field.

Third, the course should be interactive and provide opportunities for hands-on learning.

Some of the best online courses for QA testing include the following:

  • QA Testing Fundamentals from Udemy
  • Learn QA Testing from TestLodge
  • QA Testing Training from QA Mentor

These courses all meet the criteria listed above and can help people learn more about QA testing. Those who have an interest in QA testing should be able to find a great online course that meets their needs.

Online courses can be a great resource for professionals who want to learn more about QA testing or improve their existing skills.

Websites

There are many QA testing resources websites available online. Some are better than others, and some are more comprehensive than others.

When choosing a QA testing resource website, it is important to consider the quality of the information, the ease of use, and the overall reputation of the website.

Google Testing Blog

The Google Testing Blog is a great resource for information on QA testing. They provide a top 10 list of QA testing resources websites that can be very helpful for those in the field.

The list includes websites that provide information on various aspects of QA testing, such as test automation, performance testing, and more.

This can be a great starting point for anyone looking to learn more about QA testing.

Software Testing Help

Software Testing Help is a community-driven website with a mission to spread the knowledge of software testing and help students, professionals, and anyone interested in software testing to learn and share their knowledge.

Quora

Quora is a great resource for QA testing. With over 10,000 questions and answers, it’s a wealth of information.

Check out Stack Overflow if you’re looking for quality QA testing information.

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is one of the best websites for QA testing resources. With its vast array of questions and answers, it’s a great place to start when looking for testing information. In addition, the community is very active and always willing to help with any questions you may have.

GeeksforGeeks

This website has everything you need to know about QA testing, including tutorials, articles, and forums. You can also find the job posting and get advice from other QA testers.

edureka!

edureka is an India-based online training and software development company. They provide high-quality learning solutions for professionals across the world in different technologies.

Their QA testing resources website is very helpful for beginners. The content is well-structured and easy to navigate.

Test bytes

This website is a great resource for QA testers, with a wealth of information on various testing tools and techniques.

It includes tutorials and articles on Boted, Java, JavaScript, Python, Ruby on Rails, Apache, Jenkins, JUnit, and more.

Club UAT

Club UAT is one of the top 10 QA testing resources websites. It is a website that is dedicated to helping software testers and developers improve their skills and knowledge.

This website provides a wealth of resources, including articles, tutorials, webinars, and more. Club UAT is a great resource for anyone who wants to improve their QA testing skills.

SQAforums

This website is a great resource for software quality assurance professionals, providing forums for discussion and collaboration, as well as a huge range of resources and information.

QA testing resources blogs

There are many QA testing resources blogs available online. Some of those are written by software testing experts, while others are written by software developers.

However, all of these blogs provide valuable information for those who are interested in learning more about QA testing.

Quality Assurance for the Everyman

This blog provides quality assurance tips and tricks for the everyman. The post is easy to follow and provides everyday tips you can use in your daily life.

Cameron Philipp-Edmonds

Is a quality assurance testing expert and has a great blog that covers a wide range of topics related to quality assurance testing. He covers everything from the basics of quality assurance testing to more advanced topics such as automation and continuous integration.

His blog is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn more about quality assurance testing.

The Testing Planet

This blog is a great resource for all things testing, with a focus on test automation.

Testing Excellence

This blog covers a wide range of testing topics and features articles from some of the top testing experts in the industry.

You will find in-depth tutorials and articles on multiple platforms (Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook), which makes it easy to follow related documents.

Software Testing Help

It provides helpful tips and tutorials on a variety of software testing topics. You will find posts on mobile testing, cross-platform testing, software testing trends, bug reporting, and more.

QA testing resources tools

QA testing resources tools can be used to automate tests, manage test cases and test data, and report on test results.

Some of the most popular QA testing tools include:

  • Test management tools: These tools help with the creation, execution, and management of test cases. They can also be used on test results.
  • Test automation tools: These tools can be used to automate the execution of test cases. They can also be used to generate reports on test results.
  • Test data management tools: These tools can be used to automate the execution of test cases. They can also be used to generate reports on test results.

These tools can help you segment and store your test data, manage and version test data sets, and organize and centralize all of your test assets.

JUnit

JUnit is a popular open-source tool for writing and running Java unit tests. It is widely used in the Java development community and is a key part of the Eclipse IDE.

JUnit can be used to test both Classes and methods and provides several features to make writing and running tests easier.

Is an excellent tool for QA testing resources and tools. It is easy to use and provides a lot of features to make writing and running tests easier.

Additionally, JUnit is widely used in the Java development community, so there is a lot of support and documentation available.

Selenium

Selenium is a great tool for QA testing resources tools. It is open-source, so it is free to use, and it has a wide range of features that make it very versatile.

It can be used for both web and mobile applications, and it can be easily integrated with other tools and frameworks. Selenium is also very user-friendly, so it is easy to get started with.

SoapUI

SoapUI is a great QA testing resource and tool. It allows you to test web services and API’s easily and efficiently. SoapUI also has a wide range of features that make it a valuable resource for QA testers.

Some of these features include the ability to create and run test cases, the ability to create and run load tests, and the ability to create and run functional tests.

Conclusion

There are a lot of QA testing resources out there, and it can be difficult to know where to start.

Hopefully, this article has given you a good overview of some of the most popular resources.

Remember, the most important thing is to find the resources that work best for you and your team.

bookmark_borderQA testing types

Posted on by BIanca

The primary objectives of software testing are to remove bugs and improve various features of the software, such as performance, user experience, safety, and so on. A significant amount of testing can dramatically boost the overall quality of the software, resulting in high customer satisfaction. We created a list with different QA testing types and what they mean.

Let’s check them together!

QA testing types

There are two main categories of software testing: functional testing and non-functional testing.

Besides those two, there is another type of general testing named maintenance testing.

1. Functional Testing

Functional testing is the process of testing a software application’s functional properties.

When conducting functional tests, you must test every feature. You must determine whether or not you are getting the result you wanted.

Various types of functional testing:

  • Integration testing
  • End-to-end testing
  • Smoke testing
  • Unit testing
  • Sanity testing
  • Black box testing
  • White box testing
  • Interface testing
  • Acceptance testing

You can use manual and automation tools to conduct functional tests. Manual testing is simple for this type of testing, but you should use tools too when needed.

2. Non-functional Testing

Non-functional testing is the testing of an application’s non-functional elements such as reliability, usability, security, performance, and others.

You can carry these tests out following the functional tests.

It can greatly enhance the quality of your software. Functional tests also improve quality, but non-functional tests allow you to strengthen your software even further.

It enables you to fine-tune the software. This type of testing is not concerned with whether or not the software works. Instead, it concerns how well the software run and a variety of other factors.

This type of testing is rarely run manually. To perform such tests manually is difficult. As a result, these tests are typically carried out using tools.

Various types of non-functional testing:

  • Security testing
  • Load testing
  • Failover testing
  • Performance testing
  • Usability testing
  • Scalability testing
  • Compatibility testing
  • Stress testing
  • Maintainability testing
  • Volume testing
  • Reliability testing
  • Disaster testing
  • Localization testing
  • Internationalization testing
  • Endurance testing
  • Compliance testing
  • Efficiency testing

Various QA Testing Types

We will talk about the most common types of software testing.

Unit testing

Unit testing is the process of testing every component or module of your software project. You need programming knowledge to carry out this type of testing. Thus, only programmers, not testers, perform these types of tests.

Integration testing

After integrating the modules, you must determine whether the combined modules function properly. This is referred to as integration testing. This type of testing requires fewer resources than unit testing,

End-to-end testing

End-to-end testing refers to the functional testing of the entire software system. It refers to the process of testing the entire software system.

End-to-end tests require fewer resources than integration tests.

Use Interface testing

You can test the user interface of an application during user interface testing. The purpose of UI tests is to ensure that the user interfaces have been developed by the specifications document.

Accessibility testing

Accessibility testing determines whether or not your software is usable by people with disabilities.

For these tests, you must determine whether disabled people, such as those who are deaf, colorblind, or blind, could use your application.

Alpha testing

Alpha testing is a type of testing that looks for all problems and errors in the software as a whole.

You can carry this type of test at the end of the app development process, before launching the product or delivering it to the customer.

You perform it to make sure that the user/customer receives an error-free software application.

Alpha testing comes before beta testing, so after conducting alpha testing, you must conduct beta testing.

This kind of testing is not carried out in the real world. Instead, you perform this type of testing by simulating a real-world environment in a virtual one.

Beta testing

You perform beta testing after the alpha testing. Before you release the product, you have to subject it to beta testing.

A small number of actual users or clients conduct it in a real-world user environment to ensure that the software is error-free and runs fine. You can make some modifications to improve the software after gathering constructive criticism and feedback from those users.

Ad-hoc testing

Ad-hoc testing, as the name implies, is testing that you do on the fly, without the use of systems, plans, documentation, or test cases.

This kind of testing, unlike all others, is not performed systematically.

Anyone working on the project can perform this type of informal testing.

Compatibility testing

Compatibility testing entails determining the software’s compatibility with the various operating systems. Such as network environments, web browsers, operating systems, hardware, and so forth.

It determines if the developed software application works properly in various configurations.

Backward compatibility testing

Backward compatibility testing is used to determine whether a brand-new or updated variant of an application is compatible with the prior versions of the environments on which it runs.

Some applications are occasionally updated to complement the guidelines and style of a newer, more modern context. In that case, backward compatibility must be supported.

Browser compatibility testing

Browser compatibility testing, as the name implies, examines a web application for browser compatibility. It is specifically tested to see if the web app can be accessed easily from all types of major web browsers.

Performance testing

Performance tests are performed to determine whether or not the software performs well. There are performance testing tools that can analyze your app’s performance and show you where it is failing. You can improve the performance of your software application by addressing these problems.

Load testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how much load a system can withstand before its software performance degrades. We can determine a system’s load-bearing capacity by operating load tests.

Recovery testing

Recovery testing entails determining whether or not the application can restore from crashes and how efficiently it recovers. In this type of test, testers look at how efficiently the software can return to its normal course of execution. Crashes can occur at any time. Crashes can occur even if your software is of excellent quality. You never know when they will occur and irritate the users.

Regression testing

If you need to modify any component, module, or function, you must ensure that the entire system works properly after the changes. Regression testing is the process of testing the entire system after such adjustments.

Agile testing

Agile testing is a type of testing that is conducted by the QA team and follows the rules of agile methodology. This type of testing is conducted from the perspective of actual customers.

API testing

API testing, like unit testing, is a type of code-level testing. The primary distinction between those two is that unit testing is managed by the development team, whilst API testing is managed by the quality assurance team.

Black box testing

Black box testing is a testing technique used by a company’s QA team that includes checking the application’s capabilities without having any technical understanding of the application, such as understanding of the code’s logic, how the code works, and knowledge of the internal structure, and so on.

White box testing

White box testing, which is carried out by the development team, is a method of testing that necessitates a deep understanding of the application’s code. It necessitates a thorough understanding of the app’s internal logic.

Security testing

Security tests are carried out to guarantee the safety of your application and to prevent security breaches. Experts perform these tests to determine how secure your software is from threats and to identify security flaws so that the app’s security can be boosted.

Usability testing

Usability testing is the process of determining how user-friendly an app is. It entails determining how functional or user-friendly the app is. It is determined whether or not any user can use your software without getting tangled.

Scalability testing

Scalability testing determines whether or not the software is scalable. In other sayings, it determines whether your app behaves well when the number of users, data volume, or transactions rises significantly.

A non-scalable software application can result in significant business losses.

Reliability testing

Reliability testing is a type of software testing that determines whether or not the software is reliable. In other sayings, it determines whether the software is error-free and reliable.

For example, if a user’s critical data stored in the software’s database is unexpectedly deleted within a few months due to a bug in the code, we can conclude that the software is untrustworthy.

Acceptance testing

Acceptance testing (also known as User Acceptance Testing) will be performed by the client who will buy your software to determine if the software can be accepted or not by determining whether your system satisfies all of the client’s preferences and requirements.

Conclusion

When it comes to QA testing types, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best approach is to select the most appropriate techniques for the particular product, project, and business context. With that said, I hope this overview of QA testing has given you a better understanding of the different types of testing and when they should be used.

bookmark_borderQA tester skills

Posted on by BIanca

The job of a QA tester is important in the software development process. QA testers are responsible for finding and reporting bugs in software.  At QA-House, we prepared a list of the most common QA tester skills and why they are important.

QA tester skills

1. Analytical skills

One of the most important skills is analytical skills. QA testers need to be able to analyze a problem and find the root cause. They also need to be able to analyze a problem and find the root cause. They also need to be able to understand complex systems and how they work together.

Without strong analytical skills, a QA tester will not be able to effectively find and fix bugs.

2. Communication skills

As a QA tester, communication skills are paramount. You need to be able to communicate clearly and concisely with your team to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Additionally, you need to be able to listen carefully to instructions and feedback to make the most of your testing. Without strong communication skills, it will be difficult to effectively carry out your role as a QA tester.

3. Computer skills

It is important to have strong computer skills as a QA tester. You need to have the ability to use a computer for basic tasks such as word processing, email, and internet browsing.

4. Detailed-oriented

To be a successful QA tester, it is important to be detail-oriented. You need to pay attention to detail to catch even the smallest of errors.

5. Observation skills

Observation skills are critical for any QA tester. They need to be able to spot errors and potential problems in the software under test, and then report them to the development team.

There are different aspects to the observation skills, and different testers will have different strengths. However, there are some key skills that all QA testers should strive to develop:

  1. Pay attention to the detail: This is perhaps the most important skill for a QA tester. They need to be able to pick up on even the smallest of errors or potential problems.
  2. Be methodical: A QA tester needs to be able to approach testing in a systematic, organized way.

6. Organizational skills

Organizational skills are key for any QA tester. Without the ability to organize and manage their work, it will be very difficult to succeed in this field. The are a few organizational skills that every QA tester needs:

  • The capability to prioritize and run multiple tasks at the same time
  • Outstanding oral and written communication abilities
  • The ability to create and maintain detailed documentation
  • The capacity to work independently as well as cooperatively
  • The ability to stay calm under pressure and meet deadlines
  • Troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities

7. Persistence

Persistence is important because it takes a lot of time and effort to find software bugs. QA testers need to be able to keep looking for bugs even when they haven’t found any in a while. They also need to be able to keep track of bugs that have been found and make sure they are fixed.

8. Quick learner

It is important to be a quick learner to keep up with the constantly changing software. You need to have the ability to learn new things quickly and to adapt to change.

9. Resourcefulness

As a QA tester, resourcefulness is key. You need to be able to find and use the right tools for the job and be able to quickly adapt to new situations.

10. The management skills

Time management skills are essential for any QA tester. QA testers need to be able to prioritize their time and resources to effectively test software. They also need to be able to track their progress and identify areas where they need to improve.

There are a few key time management skills that every QA tester needs.

First, they need to be able to prioritize their time and resources. Second, they need to be able to track their progress. And third, they need to be able to identify areas where they need to improve.

Conclusion

As a QA tester, you need to have a combination of analytical, communication, computer, and detail-oriented skills. You need to be able to analyze a problem and come up with a solution. You also need to be able to communicate effectively with other members of the team.

Additionally, you need to be proficient with computers and have a keen eye for detail.

bookmark_borderQA testing with a remote team

Posted on by BIanca

Remote work is becoming more common than ever. Even as many businesses consider returning employees to the workplace, many others are looking to expand their use of remote work and its advantages. In this article, we will highlight what you need to do when you perform QA testing with a remote team.

For testers who want to see other team members in person for daily standups, quick questions, or even just a different perspective, working remotely can be a big change.

But, with a bit of preparation, and the right processes, distributed teams can be just as effective as in-person teams.

QA testing with a remote team

Have regular meetings

The daily stand-up meeting is an opportunity for a cross-functional team to discuss their plan for the day.

Here are some ideas for topics to discuss during your daily huddle:

Assignments for test

Those are useful when a team wants to both coordinate their testing activities as a group and also address cross-team dependencies and responsibilities.

In which environments are certain builds and features useable?

Developers are responsible for creating code in small chunks, or batches. But when there are so many elements to test, and in the unforgiving world of continuous deployments, these questions might go unnoticed.

For testers, it’s equally important. Because most of them aren’t informed about which features are available to test, they may miss pieces that require their attention.

Documentation

Make sure that the team has received clear communication about the demands, test charters and situations, and any related information. Everyone needs to understand where to find what they require.

Timelines and release preparedness

Let managers know about any potential risks to a smooth software delivery lifecycle. Let them know about roadblocks or process gaps that need addressing.

Upcoming work

Prepare the work for upcoming features and include them in the plan in advance.

Keep living documents

A successful remote tests team needs clear, well-maintained documentation. When in doubt, treat all relevant information like your top-priority task. Everything that’s not immediately obvious or is rarely used should be documented and passed on to other team members.

Where it’s safe to do so, a secure database and file storage can be used to store information. This can either be in classic SQL databases, or on more inaccessible forms of data storage such as document-based systems.

Your test environment is constantly evolving, which means that sometimes your team needs to update documentation for the exact details they need.

Whether it’s instructions for VPN access, links to QA builds for mobile apps, or relevant instructions for requesting access to staging equipment, your living document should be tailored around the needs of your team.

Any special information required to complete tests should be saved in a convenient location like TestRail.

Keep your network informed

The team must agree on the frequency of updates. The frequency of updates should be driven by the urgency of the project, with more frequent updates being a good idea for projects on tighter deadlines.

When in doubt, err in favor of over-communicating as you get started. You can always sell back to schedule additional (and less frequent) meetings once you get a feel for how much communication is helpful for the team.

A great communication practice to follow when starting is to use a pre-decided communication style. Start with a scheduled meeting for the team at the beginning of each week to define priorities and cross-off completed tasks. Use this as a time for your team to openly communicate their concerns.

Posting status updates should be:

  • Are any issues preventing us from moving forward?
  • A recap of the most important findings
  • A review of what was completed
  • A preview of what is coming up next

If the team is using a good test case management tool, there may be less need for updated, detailed, and specific information.

Define the bug-reporting and triage process

Everyone on the team should understand how to log an issue. This includes following a specific workflow for documenting each issue. This will ensure consistency and provide a record of how each issue is discovered and resolved.

To ensure that this isn’t repetition, teams that are accustomed to being able to work closely and remark on problems as they happen should each develop a routine of looking for ongoing problems.

Regarding the components of the bug report, a strategy for how problems are evaluated and delegated to the development team should be in place. Typically, someone from the team should perform an initial evaluation of the ticket to confirm its primacy. This avoids conflicting information and the submission of duplicate bug reports.

Figure out who is going to take the on-call

Besides handling everyday tasks, the remote team also has to spend their time on little things like which employees are working on which release and who get calls when things go wrong.

Name the common scenarios for a release, as well as the test steps for each. A checklist of these test scenarios will be helpful and make both you and the testers more effective.

While we work hard to ensure that our products are reliable and bug-free, we also need to plan for failures. Having a robust team conduct list is crucial, and immediately notifying your team of an incident will help ensure goals are met quickly. Each situation is different, so each contact plan needs to reflect those differences.

Focus on communicating, writing, and planning

The needs of QA testing with a remote test team rely on a good alignment of proactive and transparent communication across the team. When documentation can be effectively managed, it helps ensure that all team members are accessing the information they need to fulfill their duties.

 

In conclusion, QA testing with a remote team can be a great way to get things done. But it’s important to remember that some challenges come along with it.

Make sure you’re prepared for those challenges by doing your research, communicating well, and setting clear expectations. With a little bit of planning, you can set your team up for success.

bookmark_borderOutsourced QA testing

Posted on by BIanca

When it comes to quality assurance testing, many businesses choose to outsource this task to experts. This can be a great way to ensure that your product is up to par, without having to handle the testing process yourself. There are many benefits to outsourced QA testing, including being able to focus on other aspects of your business, and having access to experts who can properly assess the quality of your product.

What is outsourced QA testing?

 

Outsourced QA testing is the process of having an external company provide quality assurance testing for your software products. This can be done for a variety of reasons, but the most common is to save costs.

Outsourcing QA can be a great way to ensure that your products are of the highest quality without breaking the bank.

What are the benefits of outsourced QA testing?

Cost savings

There are many benefits of outsourcing QA testing to a third-party provider. Perhaps the most obvious benefit is the cost savings.

When you outsource QA testing, you don’t have to invest in expensive testing tools and staff. Instead, you can access the latest tool and technologies at a fraction of the cost.

Increased quality

In addition to cost savings, outsourcing QA testing can also help improve the quality of your testing products. When you partner with a reputable QA testing provider, you can tap into their expertise and experience to identify and resolve defects quickly and efficiently.

This can help you release high-quality products to market faster, which can ultimately improve your bottom line.

Free up time

Outsourcing QA testing can free up your staff and resources to focus on other tasks and activities. Instead of having to run QA testing cycles internally, you can let the experts handle it. This will free up time to work on other projects, which again can help improve the quality of your business.

Variety testing

The variation of tests that companies will simply conduct on your new software is one of the most considerable benefits of outsourcing software testing. The company can fulfill these tests through manual testing and automation testing.

The primary distinction between the two is that one is done by humans while the other is concluded using automation tools.

Outsourced testers can perform a variety of testing tasks, including:

  • Performance testing ensures that your application performs well under all testable conditions, pushing your software to its limits.
  • Functional testing ensures that your application provides a high-quality user experience and performs well under stress.
  • Security testing ensures that your software is protected against hacker attacks and other kinds of data loss.
  • Exploratory testing: An exploratory test allows the testing team to run any test they see fit. They comb the app for possible vulnerabilities.
  • Localization test shows that your product will function properly in world markets.

What are the drawbacks of outsourced QA testing?

There are a few potential drawbacks to consider when outsourcing QA testing.

It may be hard to find a reputable provider

There are many providers out there, but not all of them are created equal. It’s important to do your research and find a provider that has a good reputation and is known for providing quality services.

You may not have much control

Another potential drawback is that you may not have as much control over the testing process when you outsource. You’ll need to communicate your expectations and requirements to the provider, and then trust that they will carry out the testing according to your specifications.

There is always a bit of risk involved in outsourcing, but as long as you choose a reputable provider, the risk should be minimal.

Why should you use outsourced QA testing?

Your internal staff is lacking in both knowledge and resources.

Your team cannot be experts in all areas. It may be advantageous, particularly for startups, to utilize the resources and expertise of experienced QA testing services. Your outsourcing service provider will provide you with a group of specialists to facilitate the proper launch of your software. They are well-versed in the quality standards, techniques, and testing methodologies for maximizing the QA process.

You must meet a hard deadline.

You switch to an outsourced QA testing service to meet this hard deadline. Their expert knowledge and efficient workflows allow them to provide quality testing in a timely manner, allowing you to fulfill even the most stringent deadlines. Using an outsourced testing service enables you to get results quickly without sacrificing quality.

You require an outsider’s viewpoint

When you operate on the same project for several weeks, you may become too close to it to notice faults. You understand how it should work and how users should interact with it. One of the best benefits of outsourcing is getting a new set of eyes.

The testing team was excluded from the development process. This enables them to identify operational and usability gaps. They also take into consideration the aspect of uncertainty in user activity to see if the app has any bugs.

How to set up an outsourced QA testing project?

There are a few key steps to setting up an outsourced QA testing project.

First, you need to identify what are your project’s requirements and what kind of testing will be needed. Next, you need to find a reputable QA testing company that can meet your project’s needs. Once you found your company, you need to negotiate the terms of the project, including the scope of work, timeline, and budget.

Finally, you need to set up communication channels between you and the QA testing company so that you can stay up-to-date on the project’s progress.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your outsourced QA testing project is set up for success.

 

Outsourced QA testing can be a great way to save time and money, but it’s important to understand the pros and cons of outsourcing QA before making a decision.

One of the biggest pros of outsourcing QA is that it can free up internal resources that can be better used elsewhere. Additionally, outsourcing QA can also help to improve the quality of the product, as well as the speed of the development.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to outsourcing QA, such as the loss of control over quality assurance, and the potential for increased costs.

Ultimately, the decision to outsource QA should be based on a careful evaluation of the needs of the project and the company.

bookmark_borderWhat is a smoke test in QA

Posted on by BIanca

Smoke testing is a method of determining the stability of a software build. It is utilized to decide if a new build is prepared for the next testing phase or if it requires to be stabilized first. In this article, we will discuss what is a smoke test in QA, and why it is important.

 

 

Smoke tests are critical tests that must be performed on every new build. This will help software developers to evaluate if their new features are functioning as they are. If their new features are functioning as meant or if they must be fixed before running subsequent tests.

Unlike your traditional regression testing, smoke testing is also a manual process, and it involves unique skills. Great software development teams combine their abilities to make this process efficient, and that helps them save a lot of time and energy.

In other words, smoke testing lets software developers verify the validity of the builds they create, by implementing testing earlier on when they can conserve both time and budget.

Why is smoke testing in QA important?

Without smoke tests, your build won’t be in tip-top shape to start the more detail-oriented tests that require your attention. Plus, the sooner you catch issues, the easier they are to fix. What’s even better is that smoke testing is a good indicator of a build’s functionality and is a good precursor to more formal tests.

Apart from bugs, smoke testing is essential because it lays the groundwork for other types of testing. Running more tests on builds boosts the overall quality of those builds. You can’t move on to functional testing without first performing smoke testing, which implies the build can’t advance.

It’s also worth considering that smoke testing is integral to multiple other stages of the software testing process. Smoke testing is used during system testing and makes it possible to validate builds faster and with fewer mistakes.

What is the significance of the term “smoke testing”?

“Smoke testing” is a term borrowed from the construction industry, specifically the method by which construction workers test pipes. It’s the practice of testing software components to ensure that they function as intended before they are integrated.

What is smoke testing in QA for?

Smoke testing is used to determine the stability of a build as well as whether the build is ready for additional stages of testing.

Its purpose looks a lot like it sounds: it’s meant to eliminate bugs in your software. The need for code that has no errors is essential. Especially in the enormous codebases that form the bones of today’s most successful apps.

A smoke test checks if the critical functionalities of a piece of software are running properly. In other words, it ensures that all the functions of the program are stable.

When to use smoke testing in QA?

Smoke testing is a type of build verification testing, meaning it’s generally done at the beginning of a test cycle. They are also used in any integration work, such as when a new build is being integrated into an existing software package. It examines the most basic aspects of a piece of software and checks for critical errors in functionality.

In simple terms, smoke testing is a method that developers use to check if their software is working as expected.

Types of smoke testing in QA

It’s important to understand that different types of smoke testing each check for different things.

Hybrid testing, manual testing, and automated testing are all common types of software testing, each with its distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Manual Testing

Choosing the manual method entails hiring human testers to perform your smoke tests.

For example, if you’re developing a brand-new app that needs to be tested, you could put your manual testers through their paces on a range of different devices.

Even though manual testing is more time-intensive and takes a little longer to complete, it grants flexibility by providing you with an opportunity to see how real-world users interact with your app. As such, your test cases will be more indicative of the practical functionality of your product.

Automated testing

Instead of relying on manual testers to run your smoke tests, you can use automation tools to speed up the process, reduce cost, and eliminate the resource drain.

The automated testing procedure is also faster (and simpler!) than any other method. This is because automation tools can conduct their assigned tasks very effectively and much quicker than humans!

Hybrid testing

The hybrid testing method combines the best of both manual/automatic testing. It largely consists of some automation in the smoke testing process but also includes manual human labor to ensure the software is thoroughly tested and is free from any bugs.

Sanity testing vs. smoke testing

Sanity testing is a type of software testing that is performed by the person designing the system.

Small code edits and improvements are verified by a sanity test to make sure bugs were removed without introducing new ones, as well as retain functionality.

Sanity testing is similar to unit testing in that it is conducted on a smaller part of the whole. However, while unit testing is more or less focused on just one thing, sanity testing is more of an overall evaluation of whatever fixes a development team makes.

The benefits of smoke testing in QA

So far, we’ve seen that smoke testing is necessary to hook developers into the process without being intrusive. It might help to think of your software build as something of a bookshelf. It may look good and work solidly, but if you start adding piles of things to all of the shelves on it, they’re more likely to crash. Smoke tests are the shelf-steadying weights you’re going to use before you load up the one-time-use decorations.

The following are the most significant benefits of conducting smoke tests:

System stability

Early-stage testing is important to verify that your builds are stable. This makes your builds more readable to ops and test engineers later. This reduces the amount of manual effort required to ensure that critical infrastructure is functioning properly.

Assurance that things will continue to function properly provides some peace of mind. Everybody implicated in the later phases of the testing procedure will indeed be able to operate without fear of massive bugs inside the code going to cause countless imperfections.

Your company makes it significantly easier to add more revenue and improve performance across the board when you have a comprehensive set of stable software builds. We’re not only seeing that trend right now among companies we expect to grow their revenue over the next couple of years, but also those that we expect to be financially healthy in the next five years.

Simple process

One of the most significant advantages of Smoke Tests is their simplicity to conduct.

You can use these simulations to run quick experiments that don’t require any resources to power, which can save you both money and time in the long run. Because of the simplicity of the smoke test, it can be easily inserted before you perform other kinds of tests.

Bugs can be detected easily

It’s important to detect bugs as early as possible. This gives developers more time to fix the issues and reduce the chances of users encountering them in the first place.

By performing frequent smoke tests, you can guarantee that your software is fairly bug-free when it is released. At the very least, you can assure your users that any potentially dangerous bugs have already been identified and fixed.

Enhances end-product quality

Smoke testing will often have better results for your product with fewer bugs as a result.

Offering high-quality products is rewarded by really impressed customers. This not only gives a good reputation for your company but also encourages other buyers to buy from your organization rather than a competitor.

The importance of quality assurance and its role in customer satisfaction cannot be overstated. Customers will have a richer experience with your software if it runs smoothly with no bugs interfering with their experiences.

Makes the work of QA teams simpler

Your QA teams have a lot of important tasks they need to accomplish, and can’t afford to spend hours running large test suites to track down newly introduced bugs.

If you want to maximize the efficiency of your quality assurance (QA) testing of an app, you should run more smoke tests, and with greater frequency. The reason is that smoke tests catch crashes and other critical issues before your QA team even starts running the full test suite.

Since it’s both simple and cost-efficient, smoke testing can increase the knowledge of your QA team about bugs in software. That way they can prevent releasing any broken software. And they can still have an ample amount of time to focus fully on the quality of the code.

Increasing the efficiency

You can also run smoke tests to check for bad dependencies during new feature development. Sometimes, these dependencies cause rendering issues and can easily slip past the QA department and cause unforeseen issues for the end user.

Furthermore, smoke testing increases the effectiveness of your automated testing, as the other stages won’t be affected by problems the smoke tests can catch.

Reduces the risks of integration

Smoke testing can assist with integrations that require getting an established piece of software and introducing additional functionalities to it.

These features are introduced through new builds, each of which must be tested first.

When that testing involves smoke testing, you can be confident that every element of the resulting integrated software has already been affirmed. Ultimately, this results in a more secure integration.

Saves money and time

Because smoke testing can efficiently and quickly identify the sources of problems, your teams will spend fewer hours sorting the code for possible perpetrators.

This saves money and time particularly if your team does not employ a lot of automation.

Highly adaptable

As beneficial as automation can be, it is not suitable for everyone. Even if you don’t want to use automation for whatever reason, you can still smoke test manually. This method comes with its advantages.

The versatility of smoke testing extends beyond automated and manual testing. Smoke testing works on all types of builds with only minor changes to the procedure on its own.

Provides feedback fast

Getting feedback regularly is critical in all aspects of the business.

Of course, software developers must ensure the quality of their work before releasing it to customers to test. That implies they can’t count on customer feedback to motivate them to keep getting better.

With smoke tests, your developers can receive feedback fast and regularly. In other sayings, they’ll continuously be able to see what they did well enough and where they can keep improving.

Conclusion

Smoke testing, in particular, is a useful way to ensure that your main aspects function properly.

This can only improve the appearance of your software builds to their users. It assists your software in meeting your customers’ anticipations for the level of quality they consider to see, resulting in a more positive impression of your product.

bookmark_borderQuality assurance for customer satisfaction

Posted on by BIanca

When your customers are happy, they believe in your brand and become loyal to it. These loyal customers provide brands with repeat business and contribute significantly to income. Your company will suffer if you lose customers. In this article we will discuss why quality assurance for customer satisfaction is important. 

Quality assurance for customer satisfaction

The importance of customer satisfaction

  • Loyal customers

Satisfied customers mean that they will buy from you once more. One efficient approach is to conduct customer satisfaction surveys. Invite them to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10.  You can then determine who will be willing to buy from you in the coming years.

  • Customer retention is inexpensive

The cost of attracting new customers is 6-7 times that of retaining existing customers. This emphasizes the importance of customer satisfaction. Rather than spending large sums of money on acquiring new customers, investing a small portion of it is working to improve your current processes and systems to retain existing customers. This will help you save money and develop your business income.

  • Differentiators in the marketplace

Customer satisfaction helps determine whether or not a brand succeeds. Customer satisfaction must be central to your customer strategy in this competitive environment of numerous brands. If your customers are disappointed, no amount of arranging or advancement will offer assistance. Brands with diminished client fulfillment levels are destined to come up short in the future. Brands that have advocates are more likely to be successful than those that do not.

  • Lower customer churn

Pricing, contrary to popular opinion, is not the primary cause of customer churn. Yes, you suspected it correctly: customer service. Customer satisfaction results and feedback from CSAT overviews can be utilized to move forward with your customer benefit processes. Poor customer service will upset you and cost you, customers, in the long run. Constant feed rate customer feedback to monitor your progress and start sharing it with your customer service representatives regularly.

Quality assurance for customer satisfaction

Quality assurance (QA) is required by customer service teams in the same way that writers require proofreading and software developers require code reviews. If you believe that Quality Assurance is only for large corporations, think again. No company, no matter how large or small, can guarantee good customer service without first measuring and evaluating what it entails.

What exactly is quality assurance for customer satisfaction?

The process of assessing the quality of client conversations is known as client service quality assurance. Regular conversation reviews assist you in measuring and improving the performance of your team and the overall support process.

Support QA (also known as customer service quality control) is now standard practice for forward-thinking businesses. Even if simple, it is an essential component of customer-centricity. Customer satisfaction, improved retention, and increased growth are all advantages.

What is the importance of quality assurance for customer satisfaction?

Monitoring and tracking customer satisfaction with what you do is essential for all customer-centric companies. However, CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) does not provide a complete picture.

Quality assurance is an essential part of any business. It helps ensure that products meet customers’ needs and expectations.

Here are some of the reasons why you should merge customer feedback with support QA:

  • Customers are unaware of your quality requirements. Your clients can only tell you how well your team’s services met their expectations of what it means to provide good customer service. Your internal criteria may sometimes hold your team to better expectations than those of your clients.
  • CSAT does not only indicate the effectiveness of your support. It also supports product marketing, revenues, customer service, and other aspects of the customer experience.
  • Customers are unaware of the complexities of their inquiries. Some issues fixes or feature requests may appear simple to a customer, but they may require weeks to complete for the product team. As a result, some bad CSAT ratings reflect users’ dissatisfaction with that, rather than the quality of your agents’ work.

Conversation feedback will demonstrate to you how well your customer satisfaction matches your internal quality criteria.

5 Benefits of having Quality Assurance for Customer Service

Quality assurance enables you to be proactive

Customer satisfaction is an ever-changing goal. Expectations are constantly rising and changing, so there is no quick fix. To keep your CSAT high, you must be consistent.

Conversation evaluations are the most accurate predictors of areas for improvement. Customer service reviews should be at the forefront of your efforts when developing your quality assurance program. Investigate your interactions to learn not only how agents interact, but also what customers are telling.

Provides for higher control over the increase in customer satisfaction

The quality of the team and support processes are examples of controllable factors. When conducting performance evaluations, you need to distinguish factors that can be changed, such as operator knowledge or tone.

However, you may notice that customer dissatisfaction is related to factors outside of your control, such as poor product effectiveness or poor support channels. Perhaps there are recurring problems with the product on its own. Maybe they needed to contact you when you only can provide a chat feature or email.

Keep track of operator efficacy.

The only way to make sure that your agents are providing customer service that is consistent with your company’s values and priorities is to monitor them. This includes recording calls and assessing them regularly against a set of objective criteria.

Make a point of tracking interactions that occur across all of your streams, not just the phone. This data can be utilized to conduct performance assessments for individuals or in small-group discussions to guarantee useful results.

Identify and address training gaps

It is hard to forecast every situation that your agents will face when developing training materials or procedures. Tracking agent communication with consumers for quality can reflect any training requirements that have previously gone unnoticed.

Provide benefits and perks for exceptional customer service

Make certain that your operative tracking methods are being utilized to compensate, rather than punish, using the results as the premise for rewards or empowering great client benefit through a reward framework.

Customer Satisfaction: How to Improve it?

Develop a customer service quality program for your team. It is better to do this, before involving in customer satisfaction. It will act as a guide for your team and will ensure that everyone is working together to provide help.

Here are some pointers to help you set up a Customer service quality assurance program for your customer service team:

Establish your customer service quality principles

The first step in developing a customer service quality program for customer service is to describe your customer support principles. 

Your support principles are an extended form of what quality customer service means to you. They will assist you in prioritizing areas such as customer support when evaluating discussions.

Make a QA scorecard

Also known as a rubric, a QA scorecard is the foundation of your customer service QA program. It allows graders to determine whether agents meet your support quality standards.

A QA scorecard consists of two parts. The first is a questionnaire with questions based on your values of support. The second component is a grading system for agents based on their answers to each question.

Your choice of rating scale can influence your conversation evaluation rates. The bigger the scale, the more accurate the results. But at the same time, it will make the assessments more complex for the reviewers. 

The scorecard is the cornerstone of your quality program. The way you set up the rubric determines the outcomes of your support QA.

Take your time to ensure that it includes all the necessary information. It will provide you with an accurate picture of your team’s performance.

Create a Customer Service Quality team or hire an expert

If you have a large support team, hiring a QA specialist to grade support conversations is a smart option. Only a specialist can score customer service conversations while providing a detailed analysis.

If you have a small support team, forming a QA team made of supervisors and senior help managers it is a good idea. A team like this can channel their skills and knowledge into QA reviews. You’ll want to make sure they can handle QA with their other responsibilities.

Make it simple to scale your QA program

The procedures and tools you use to manage your QA program to scale will determine their ability. Consider investing in a devoted QA tool to make your QA program easy to scale. A specialized QA tool provides graders with automated conversation evaluation recommendations for various support channels. A simple way to record scores and feedback, and a structured dashboard to mentor agents.

Identify the suitable conversations to examine

The number of support conversations will determine how many conversations you will test.

Choose the appropriate type and number of support conversations to review. This way, you will not waste time grading, or suffering from a lack of customer service insights

You should also keep an eye out for problematic tickets.

Determine who will conduct the reviews

Generally, most teams review a random selection of their customer contact. The large majority of support staff review all tickets rated by their users. It will test how their internal quality standards match those of their customers.

Coach your team using quality assurance

You must coach your support team for quality assurance to increase their performance.

Coaching should concentrate on what the agent did well. Areas for improved performance, and trying to practice desired behaviors together. Besides individual coaching, you can use QA to improve team performance too. 

It’s important to remember that quality assurance for customer satisfaction is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. By constantly monitoring and improving your processes, you can ensure that your customers are always satisfied with your products or services. By following these tips, you can create a quality assurance system that will keep your customers coming back for more.