Quality Assurance versus Quality Control

There is often confusion in the IT industry regarding the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Many Quality Assurance group practices Quality control. Quality methods can be segmented in to two categories: preventive method and detective method.

Quality Assurance

QA is planned and systematic set of activities that establishes and evaluates process that produce the product.
QA helps to install System development methodologies, Estimation process, maintenance process,requirement process, testing process and standards.

Once installed QA would measure these process to identify weakness and then correct weakness to continually improve the process.

Quality Control

Quality Control activities focus on identifying defects in the actual products produced. These activities begin at the start of software development process with review of requirements, and continue until all application testing is complete.

The following statements help differentiate quality control from quality assuarance:

• Quality control is responsiblity of the team/worker.
• Quality control identifies defects for the primary purpose of correcting defects.
• Quality assuarance identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.
• Quality assurance is a management responsibility, frequently performend by a staff function