Quality assurance (QA) and monitoring are more than just buzzwords — they are essential components of any successful operation. Quality assurance is an often overlooked aspect of software development, especially in smaller and more agile projects. Early on in product development, it isn’t a big issue, however, it can cause some serious problems later on. Small issues that aren’t caught tend to become bigger and finding the root cause can become harder as time passes by. At solutions.io, we use many different tools to monitor and ensure that we deliver stable code. We’re happy to share them with you in this blog.
Manual testing is the traditional way of validating if your software works as intended. It’s performed by a real person going through the website and trying to find errors. That’s a good way to find abstract errors and mistakes, but it’s also very time-consuming and not necessarily reliable. Even though it’s a good starting point, in most cases, it should be supplemented with different types of testing.
Automation testing has become the standard for developers during the development process. These tests cover many potential pain points in a software product, and can cover many different angles.
Functional testing and non-functional testing are two broad-level categories of automation testing types performed during the software development process to assess different aspects of a software application. Functional testing focuses on validating the functional requirements and features of the software. Non-functional testing assesses the software’s attributes beyond its functionality. This testing evaluates performance, usability, security, reliability, and compatibility.
By understanding the different types of automation testing and best practices for each, our software development team can create robust and high-quality applications that meet the needs of our clients.
When software is running in a production environment there should be few issues. However, something can always cause trouble. User feedback often results incomplete or unreliable when trying to solve a problem. Not to mention that many users might simply drop off and choose an alternative solution.
This is why monitoring tools are very important. They allow the development team to catch potential problems early on, and resolve them without impacting the project a lot. A basic example of such a tool is uptime monitoring, which means controlling if all your services are running as intended. A more complex implementation can be sending automatic error logs to the development team, or implementing tools such as Sentry or New Relic to monitor software for issues and performance.
Allocating time and resources to implement and maintain proper tools can greatly improve the stability of your software and help you catch potential expensive issues early on. It’s recommended to develop a good quality assurance strategy early on in your development cycle to maximize your return.
In many cases, older software still heavily relies on manual testing and the direct involvement of the original developer. This doesn’t mean that the software is bad, but implementing a central strategy makes it possible to lower development costs.
Quality assurance and monitoring are long-term strategic imperatives. These processes have a profound and lasting impact on business success. At solutions.io, long-term client satisfaction is a priority. Here are the most significant long-term impacts of quality assurance and monitoring:
Companies that prioritize quality assurance and monitoring are better positioned to navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve sustainable growth. Our team provides dedicated long-term support so companies always maintain a stable code.
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