QA Testing vs. QC Testing: What’s the Difference? (2024)

FAQs

QA Testing vs. QC Testing: What’s the Difference? ›

QA primarily focuses on the processes and procedures that improve quality, including training, documentation, monitoring and audits. QC focuses on the product to find defects that remain after development. QC professionals find these issues in a variety of ways, including software testing and beta or canary testing.

While QA testing focuses on providing assurance that quality requested will be achieved, QC testing focuses on fulfilling the quality requested. QA focuses on preventing defects while QC focuses on identifying the defect.

Examples of quality assurance activities include process checklists, process standards, process documentation and project audit. Examples of quality control activities include inspection, deliverable peer reviews and the software testing process. You may like to read more about the quality assurance vs quality control.

In the context of quality management, QA comes first because it involves establishing processes and systems to prevent defects from occurring, while QC comes after to detect and correct defects that may have occurred despite the QA efforts.

Traditionally, QA is considered higher than QC, as it focuses on proactive defect prevention. However, in modern quality management, both QA and QC are complementary processes.

The quality assurance function in a service organization may not include quality control of the service but may include quality control of any products involved in providing the service.

Customer service reviews, questionnaires, surveys, inspections, and audits are a few examples of quality testing procedures that can be used in non-manufacturing businesses. A company can use any procedure or technique to ensure that the final product or service is safe, compliant, and meets consumer demands.

Quality Center Enterprise (QC) is the world's best-known test management tool that allows you to manage software testing and IT quality management.

What are the four types of quality control? The four types of quality control are process control, acceptance sampling, control charts, and product quality control.

From this explanation, we can better understand that the QC role is to conduct tests and verify by evidence that the product meets the specified requirements. The QA role is to verify the QC tests are conducted in accordance with the appropriate standard.

Can QA and QC be the same person? ›

Quality assurance and quality control are often used interchangeably, but they're two distinct processes taking place at different times. Each plays an individual role that's vital for an effective and holistic quality management system.

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

Quality assurance and quality control (QA QC) skills are especially important for ensuring that the products and services you produce meet the necessary quality standards. A QA QC course for mechanical engineers is designed to teach you these skills, and more.

One of the primary differentiators in QA vs. QC is where the focus of the work lies. QA primarily focuses on the processes and procedures that improve quality, including training, documentation, monitoring and audits. QC focuses on the product to find defects that remain after development.

While QA activities aim to prevent issues across the entire development process, QC is about detecting bugs in the ready-to-use software and checking its correspondence to the requirements before the product launch. It encompasses code reviews and testing activities conducted by the engineering team.

QA & QC are often used interchangeably, but they mean different things. QA refers to defect prevention, whereas QC refers to defect detection. Generally, QA is applied before and during data acquisition, whereas QC is applied after data are in hand.

QA: Quality Assurance defines all the standards and methodologies which need to be followed to meet the customer requirements. QC: Quality Control confirms that the standards that are defined during the QA process are followed while developing the product.

To put it simple, QC can be defined as the process to ensure that the software product meets customers' expectations. Or, from another perspective, it is the process of evaluating a software item to find any differences between given input and expected output. Quality control mainly involves the testing process.

Differences Between QA, QC, and Audits in Clinical Trials

QA focuses on preventing errors through process control; QC identifies and corrects errors in the collected data; audits independently verify the trial's conduct and data.

Whilst QA in pharmaceuticals takes a proactive stance, focusing on preventing defects and mitigating risks, quality control in the pharmaceutical industry plays a crucial reactive role in ensuring that raw materials and finished products meet the standards established within an organisation's quality assurance ...