Quality assurance (QA) describes various procedures and activities that occur during product development. In other words, quality assurance is a way to verify that the planned quality requirements will be fulfilled as the product is manufactured or developed.
Examples include:
Design and prototyping.
Version control.
Configuration management.
Customer acceptance and feedback.
Specification compliance.
Low percentage rate of defects, and
Shipping that results in delivery without damage to products or packaging.
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What is quality control?
Quality control (QC) is the inspection phase of quality assurance where the product is tested to ensure it is effective and safe to use.
Examples of QC include:
Identification of product blemishes or errors.
Conformance with industry standards and regulations.
Identification of bugs to be fixed in the next iteration or before product release.
Acceptance sampling or quality control charts.
Statistical process control methods such as SPC manufacturing.
Total Quality Management (TQM), and
Lean manufacturing.
The key differences between quality assurance and quality control
While quality assurance and quality control are both aspects of quality management, their focus and how they approach quality itself are fundamentally different.
To understand these differences, it can be helpful to understand how both contribute to an organization’s quality improvement endeavors.
Here are some of the main differences between QA and QC.
Proactive vs. reactive
Quality assurance is proactive. It seeks to prevent errors and defects before they occur. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) based on ISO 9000 standards ensure that a safe and effective product is produced every time such processes are followed.
Quality control is reactive. It tests for efficacy and safety and seeks to identify errors and defects after the product has been produced.
System vs. parts
Quality assurance utilizes control systems comprised of methods and procedures to protect quality standards. For example, a QA system may dictate that inputs such as auditing and raw material batch sampling are consistently safe and effective.
Quality control measures parts (and the outputs) of the system. They may also be used to measure parts involved in creating the final product such as raw materials from a supplier.
Process vs. product
Quality assurance prevents quality problems and is thus process and action-oriented. Processes include documentation, audits, employee training, and change control.
Quality control tests for quality problems and is thus product and customer-oriented. Procedures include batch inspection, lab testing, software testing, and validation testing.
Entire team vs. dedicated personnel
Quality assurance activities concern the entire team because they cover all aspects of product development. Whilst quality management systems are the domain of the leadership and quality team, the activities themselves stipulate training, review, and documentation standards for the broader workforce.
Quality control is more limited in scope and as a result, is the domain of certain, specialized staff within the organization. These individuals follow SOPs for quality control and documentation that are based on standardized testing and process validation procedures.
Key takeaways:
Quality assurance (QA) describes various procedures and activities that occur during product development. Quality control (QC) is the inspection phase of quality assurance where the product is tested to ensure it is effective and safe to use.
While quality assurance and quality control are both aspects of quality management, their focus and how they approach quality itself are fundamentally different.
Some of the key differences between QA and QC include proactivity vs. reactivity, system vs. parts, process vs. product, and entire team vs. dedicated personnel.
AIOps is the application of artificial intelligence to IT operations. It has become particularly useful for modern IT management in hybridized, distributed, and dynamic environments. AIOps has become a key operational component of modern digital-based organizations, built around software and algorithms.
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Business modelinnovation is about increasing the success of an organization with existing products and technologies by crafting a compelling value proposition able to propel a new business model to scale up customers and create a lasting competitive advantage. And it all starts by mastering the key customers.
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The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle was first proposed by American physicist and engineer Walter A. Shewhart in the 1920s. The PDCA cycle is a continuous process and product improvement method and an essential component of the lean manufacturing philosophy.
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Scrumban is a project management framework that is a hybrid of two popular agile methodologies: Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is a popular approach to helping businesses focus on the right strategic tasks while simultaneously strengthening their processes.
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Scrum at Scale (Scrum@Scale) is a framework that Scrum teams use to address complex problems and deliver high-value products. Scrum at Scale was created through a joint venture between the Scrum Alliance and Scrum Inc. The joint venture was overseen by Jeff Sutherland, a co-creator of Scrum and one of the principal authors of the Agile Manifesto.
Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating errors or defects in a product, service, or process. Six Sigma was developed by Motorola as a management approach based on quality fundamentals in the early 1980s. A decade later, it was popularized by General Electric who estimated that the methodology saved them $12 billion in the first five years of operation.
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The Toyota Production System (TPS) is an early form of lean manufacturing created by auto-manufacturer Toyota. Created by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the 1940s and 50s, the Toyota Production System seeks to manufacture vehicles ordered by customers most quickly and efficiently possible.
The Total Quality Management (TQM) framework is a technique based on the premise that employees continuously work on their ability to provide value to customers. Importantly, the word “total” means that all employees are involved in the process – regardless of whether they work in development, production, or fulfillment.
The waterfall model was first described by Herbert D. Benington in 1956 during a presentation about the software used in radar imaging during the Cold War. Since there were no knowledge-based, creative software development strategies at the time, the waterfall method became standard practice. The waterfall model is a linear and sequential project management framework.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
