Software quality assurance is an important part of the software development process. It ensures that software products meet the quality standards set in an organization. However, while software quality assurance is certainly desirable, it can also be quite expensive.

This article will look at how you can evaluate your quality assurance and provide a good return on investment. But first, let’s see how QA affects software releases and why you might need to evaluate QA success.

Influence of QA on software release cycle

A release cycle includes different phases from development and testing to deployment and tracking. Long release cycles can be detrimental in very competitive markets. As a result, organizations are often looking to accelerate their release cycles.

However, focusing on speed can lead to a decrease in product quality. However, by implementing software release management best practices, you can shorten your release cycle without sacrificing quality. Here are a few ways to do that.

Record your release plan: Documenting a release plan is a great way to make sure everyone is on the same page. The release plan should include the goals, expectations for quality, and the roles of the participants. After documenting your release plans, ensure that all team members can access, refer to, and easily update them as needed.

Process automation: Automating repetitive and manual tasks can be a great way to speed up your release cycle while maintaining quality. QA automation frees up valuable human resources, which you can then reallocate to perform other high-priority tasks. Some of the capabilities include automated regression testing, code quality testing, and security testing.

How to measure Quality Assurance with QA KPI

Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are set up to measure effectiveness, in this case quality assurance in software testing. KPIs are often useful to gauge the effectiveness of QA. However, they are not ideal for all situations. Here are some of the most beneficial QA KPI measurements:

• You have been doing a test procedure for a while. KPIs are not beneficial when testing at an early stage. However, if you’ve been running the testing process for a while, measuring KPIs will help you know what areas need improvement.
• You are planning to introduce new test procedures. Measuring the KPIs of your existing processes will help you know what goals to focus on with the new processes.
• You have a large test group. Work with a large QA team involved in the delivery and management of test tasks. Using the right KPIs for QA will help you ensure that the process is efficient and keep your team members on track.