Quality Assurance, Quality Control, and Quality Management: The Must-Knows

Quality Control (QC), Quality Assurance (QA), and Quality Management (QM) – it can be difficult to figure out the difference between these terms. In fact, it’s one of the often-asked questions on the job interview and nuances explained to project teams and stakeholders.

Well, it’s no wonder that people consider QC, QA, and QM the same thing. But is it really so? Or are they fully separate processes?

Apparently, all three of these terms are related to a product’s quality assurance. However, they cover it in different ways. Figuring out the QA and QC differences will help you better understand each of them and the place of a QA engineer in the process of quality assurance to hire QA engineers effectively.

QA vs QC

In a nutshell, both QC and QA focus on ensuring that software works well and optimizing the processes within your team. Besides, these terms are not unique to software development. They are also applied in project management, healthcare, manufacturing, etc. How come? We’ll take this hill one inch at a time, focusing on an explanation of the broader meaning.

What Is QC?

Quality Control is the process of monitoring and recording results of the executed quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes. QC estimates if the quality of a product or service meets customer’s expectations. For this, QC specialists look for defects, identify them, and share recommendations on eliminating these defects. Quality control management includes testing but is not limited to it.

Quality control is a reactive approach focused on the end product, its functionality, performance, design, etc. It implies checking the quality after the product development but before it is packaged – whether it is an application or a chocolate bar.

What Is QA?

QA is a broader term. It’s the process of auditing the quality requirements and the quality control results to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used.

Quality Assurance means maintaining an intended quality level in the product or services, from the beginning of the production process to its delivery. The aim is to prevent the defects or set up the whole process in a way that allows finding these defects at the earliest stages, before the product is in the development stage. So, QA is a proactive approach intended to prevent issues before they are detected in the product.

Difference Between QA and QC in Software Testing

Now, let’s figure out the more specific differences between quality control and quality assurance.

1. Scope

QA is focused on primary production. For QA engineers, it means that functionality, performance, and other aspects of the product meet the specification requirements. QC takes into account secondary factors, such as hardware differences, API compatibility, etc.

2. Goals

One of the main QA/QC differences is their initial aim.

QA goals are user-driven. They include minimizing the number of unexpected issues, improving the efficiency of development, and increasing the testing speed.

QC goals, in turn, are product-driven. Here, we are talking about achieving set aims, making sure that the product works on different devices, checking compliance with the requirements, documenting all the processes, validating UX, etc.

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3. Measurements9 & Statistics

A QA team can use check sheets, control starts, Pareto charts, stratifications, as well as diagrams, to measure the efficiency of the testing and development process. Meanwhile, QC teams would rather use statistical quality control techniques to measure the quality of the end product.

Summing up the quality assurance and quality control differences, you get the following:

Quality Management

For you to have a full picture of what’s going on, recall any image using an iceberg analogy. We started with the tip of the iceberg – QC. Then, we moved to its foundation – QA. Now, we are on the iceberg’s largest, most comprehensive part – Quality Management.

QM covers all organizational processes. Its goal is to ensure the quality of every aspect that has a direct or indirect impact on customer satisfaction. In other words, QM covers both QC and QA.

Quality management is a structured collection of policies, procedures, and processes integrated to work harmoniously as a single system. They make it easier for the staff to achieve quality goals and objectives.

QM vs QC

As established, quality assurance is the ‘in-progress’ quality checks, and quality control is the final assessment. Quality management, on the other hand, often comes even before QM and QC. So, if these processes were put on a timeline, it would look like this:

QM > QA > QC

Logically, the ‘quality management vs quality control’ phenomenon is quite common due to the two terms seemingly occupying contrasting positions. In reality, the hierarchy within this trio would look something like this:

QM > QC & QM > QA

Quality management is the foundation for all quality-related procedures. It is the process of monitoring, i.e., managing product standards from start to finish (and further). QM involves 4 core components:

1. Quality planning.
2. Quality assurance.
3. Quality control.
4. Quality improvement.

Because quality improvement goes beyond the development phase and QA/QC occupy their own positions, QM is commonly equated to the initial (planning) stage. In actuality, quality management spans the entire SDLC. It forms and defines all quality procedures, examines and modifies them when needed, and evaluates the end result to determine the effectiveness of the whole quality strategy.

QA vs QM

QM establishes processes that are pivotal to an organization’s growth and success. It addresses quality from all possible angles. Some of the most common Quality Management activities include:

• Establishing sound hiring and training practices.
• Carefully designing the company’s product or service.
• Creating detailed problem-solving plans.
• Reviewing and revising processes to ensure they yield expected results.

As you can see, some of these points intersect with QA and QC. So, what’s the catch? After discussing quality assurance and quality control differences, we can say that:

• QC involves the steps you take post factum to assure that you have met your quality goals.
• QA encompasses, in addition to what is mentioned in the QC definition, the plans and requirements you create to provide quality products or services.
• QM entails both of these processes.

Quality Management identifies potential for improvement while Quality Assurance checks the potential negative influences on quality. The framework QM creates will ensure a structured approach for all the QA and QC procedures.

Undoubted Advantages of Quality Management

Quality management is the starting point of most projects. It allows you to simplify, clarify, and control the development process.

In a nutshell, QM:

1. Helps you take a structured approach to defect management. Corrective and preventive actions (also known as CAPA) are consistently undertaken based on priority and diligence driven by risk.
2. Ensures that high-risk problems and issues are properly dealt with and won’t occur again. It means fewer defects and less rework at the various points of the quality control process.
3. Gives form and substance to your organization’s commitment to its vision and mission, linking what you aim to achieve with “what” and “how” of your processes.

Final Thoughts

Quality Control and Quality Assurance are integral parts of Quality Management. So, if you decide to choose QM as the main strategy for your organization, team, or a particular product, it means all the benefits of QC and QA are already included in the package.

Quality Management is a more comprehensive, far-reaching process. Rather than relying on occasional checks and fixes, QM helps you get a view of the potential issues and risks. Thus, it enables you to work with tools and frameworks that make it easier to forecast and prevent areas of concern.

QC means you are ready to review the product, development strategies, and current processes. QA means you are willing to implement changes, even before you are aware of any issues. QM lets you establish a foolproof strategy for quality procedures, and it will come with a strong guarantee that the majority of difficulties and errors are prevented long before they can arise.