May 23, 2023 10 min read
Quality Assurance Audits in Testing: A Guide to Best Practice
This article recommends effective methods of conducting audit quality assurance during testing. Here we will discuss the sequence of actions of our team during inspections and the QA audit checklist.
How does Quality Assurance Audit work in testing?
What is Audit Quality assurance testing for?
- Standards Compliance: Compliance with standards such as ISO, CMMI, and IEEE is necessary to maintain product quality and customer satisfaction.
- Risk Identification and Mitigation: This helps organizations avoid costly rework before product release.
- Improving testing processes and procedures: Audit identifies areas requiring special attention. The results should lead to significant changes in the efficiency and effectiveness of testing to meet the changing needs of the market and stakeholders.
- Stakeholder Satisfaction Assurance: Auditing ensures that the end product meets the requirements of customers, developers, end-users, and regulators. It enables organizations to meet the needs of all stakeholders and maintain their reputation in the market.
What gets the customer after QA audit?
- Audit Report Description: This is the audit summary. It provides a complete audit overview, including its scope, objectives, and methodology.
- Results and conclusions: This document section reflects the audit results of the process, procedures, and end product. In it, issues have a gradation of importance with options and solutions to address them.
- Recommendations: Based on the audit results, specific step-by-step recommendations indicate the processes and procedures for conducting more effective testing. Recommendations are ranked according to the severity of the problems identified and their impact on the final product.
- Action plan: It contains specific measures to address audit issues, including time frames and responsibilities for each activity.
- Conclusion: This summarizes the audit results and stresses the importance of addressing the problems identified to ensure that the end product meets the desired quality standards.
How does our team conduct a QA audit?
Step 1. Quality assurance or quality control audit includes:
- Planning: We start by defining the audit scope and objectives, establishing audit criteria and standards, selecting an audit team, and assigning roles and responsibilities. We also hold a pre-audit briefing with the QA team to ensure everyone is on the same page.
- Introductory meetings: A preliminary meeting with the QA team will help the audit quality assurance process. We collect additional information about the testing process and products at this stage.
- Collection and analysis of evidence: Using various methods such as document review, monitoring, and testing, we collect and analyze data related to audit criteria and standards and conduct interviews with test group members to gather specific information.
- The preparation of conclusions and recommendations: For the testing teams, we prepare findings and offers that may address areas of inconsistency, opportunities for improvement, and best practices highlighted during the audit. They are based on the quality assurance audit checks results and are designed to speed up the process and increase efficiency.
- Final Meetings: We then meet with the QA team to review the findings, discuss recommendations, and answer any questions they may have.
Step 2. Formation of reporting and subsequent actions in QA according to the experience of our team takes place in the following sequence:
- Preparation of the audit report: In this document, we summarize the objectives, criteria, scope, conclusions, and audit quality assurance recommendations. The report provides a brief and clear overview of the audit findings. Its structure makes it easier to navigate and understand the content.
- Distribution of the report to the QA team: At this stage, information is received by QA.
- Examining and finalizing the audit report: All designated persons interact with the information. They make final corrections or changes to ensure accuracy and clarity.
- Defining an appropriate mailing list: This list includes project leaders, quality assurance managers, development teams, and other stakeholders who will directly implement the changes.
- Schedule a follow-up appointment: Additional meetings may be held to discuss and specify the next steps. This meeting can clarify questions or concerns and ensure everyone understands the challenges ahead.
- Enforcement Action: After reviewing the audit report, testers should take appropriate action to address identified issues or areas for improvement. The audit team, in turn, must ensure that the recommended steps are completed on time.
Fill out our form that leaves a request for a quality audit of your product.
Use QA audit best practices
- Competence and Independence: The auditor should have sufficient qualifications and experience in testing and analysis. It must also be independent, impartial, and have no personal or financial interest in the audit results.
- Adopting a risk-based approach to planning and auditing: Potential areas of vulnerability or weakness are identified, and risk assessments are conducted. This process is based on a thorough understanding of the risks associated with the testing process.
- Maintaining audit records: All activities should be well documented, including the QA audit plan template, the audit report, and any supporting evidence. This documentation stays in the archive of the customer's company for further study and use.
- Effective Communication: The auditor should leave the channels of communication open with the QA team, including regular status updates, progress reports, and feedback.
- Providing Feedback and Opportunities for Test Improvement: The audit should not be considered a single event but an ongoing process of QA improvement in close collaboration between the QAs and the audit team.
An example of a real audit Quality Assurance process case
Case 1
Problem: The product owner did not define the goals and criteria for acceptance of the completed work.
The description of the tasks could have been more specific, which delayed the development process for several months. Next, the product owner assigns a task to a tester who tries to understand it quickly. The tester completes the task over several days. Finally, reports on the work done. However, the task creator had different expectations, but he could have formulated them better. As a result, the task with new requirements is returned for revision, which leads to further delays
Solution: After an external QA audit report to address this issue, we proposed a task statement template that describes the objective and criteria for accepting the results. We also established a connection between the product owner and the tester.
Case 2
Problem: Reporting bugs without localization.
The lack of localization means it needs to be clarified which piece of software the bug affects - frontend or backend, for example. However, the problem we discovered during the QA audit should help the development team, as far as possible, understand the error. In this case, the client hired a group of our testers to solve this problem.
Solution: The testers opened the developer tools in the browser and looked at Network to understand the situation in the front or backend. They tried several scenarios with different preconditions to identify which conditions caused the error. Determination of localization speeded up the work. Immediately it became clear which developer was best suited to fix the bug. In general, the approach proposed in this case helps to improve error correction efficiency and leads to a more productive and efficient development process.
Case 3
Problem: A lack of documentation for automated tests was found during the QA process audit.
In our practice, this is a fairly common problem. Usually, automation tests are based on ready-made cases, significantly simplifying the understanding of coverage, calculation, where and how to replace test data, code coverage control, and automation progress. However, the situation becomes more complicated when several people work on automated tests. That leads to unclear code, repetition of the same procedure, and code duplication.
Solution: To overcome this problem, we suggest our clients make general instructions for writing automated tests. Such a document should cover essential details such as the patterns used, the file structure, the use of camel or snake cases, and so on. As a result, all team members working on automated tests can follow the same guidelines, resulting in greater code consistency and clarity. Also, having proper documentation can help save time and effort in the long run, as it provides clear reference information for all team members.
Case 4
Problem: Lack of correct checks in automated tests.
Instead of checks, only console.log is used, or some element is loaded. In 100% of cases, they stop passing tests after replacing these "checks" with the necessary ones. And after the stabilization of such tests, bugs are revealed.
Solution: We strongly encourage our customers to perform proper checks, including checking element values, checking conditions, and using various methods to test the functionality of applications.
Case 5
Problem: Automated testing at an early stage.
Automatic testing can speed up and facilitate the testing process, but entering it at the right time is essential. We are faced with automation being introduced into the project at an early stage when the locators are not yet constant, the functions are not stable, and the application structure is constantly in the customization process. In this case, the tester will spend much time fixing these changes in autotests each sprint.
Solution: With many changes in one sprint, we advise you to wait with automation or implement regression automation only for a specific application part to ensure that the new features and fixes do not affect the already stable function.
Conclusion
Was this article helpful to you?
Comments
There are no comments yet. Be the first one to share your opinion!
Looking for reliable Software Testing company?
Let's make a quality product! Tell us about your project, and we will prepare an individual solution.
FAQ
What is a Quality Assurance (QA) audit in testing?
A QA audit is a systematic examination or review of a testing process to ensure it adheres to predefined standards, guidelines, and best practices. The main goal is to identify areas for improvement and ensure quality in the software delivery process.
Why are QA audits important in software testing?
QA audits provide an objective assessment of the testing processes, tools, and methodologies in use. They help in identifying inefficiencies, ensuring regulatory compliance, and guaranteeing the delivery of high-quality software to the end-users.
What is the difference between QA audits and regular testing?
While regular testing focuses on identifying defects or issues in the software product, QA audits evaluate the processes used during testing. Audits assess whether these processes are efficient, effective, and in line with industry best practices.
How do QA audits contribute to continuous improvement?
QA audits highlight gaps and areas of improvement, providing actionable insights. By acting on these recommendations, organizations can refine their testing processes, leading to higher quality software and more efficient operations.
How frequently should a QA audit be conducted?
The frequency of QA audits depends on various factors such as the size of the project, regulatory requirements, past audit findings, and the organization's internal policies. However, periodic audits, such as annually or bi-annually, are commonly recommended.
.png)
