Software Quality Assurance (SQA)

Software Quality Assurance (SQA) consists of the software engineering processes and methods used to ensure quality. SQA encompasses the entire software development process, which may include processes such as reviewing requirements documents, source code control, code reviews, change management, configuration management, release management and of course, software testing.

Software quality assurance is related to the practice of quality assurance in product manufacturing. There are, however, some notable differences between software and a manufactured product. These differences all stem from the fact that the manufactured product is physical and can be seen whereas the software product is not visible. Therefore its function, benefit and costs are not as easily measured. What's more, when a manufactured product rolls off the assembly line, it is essentially a complete, finished product, whereas software is never finished. Software lives, grows, evolves, and metamorphoses, unlike its tangible counterparts. Therefore, the processes and methods to manage, monitor, and measure its ongoing quality are as fluid and sometimes elusive as are the defects that they are meant to keep in check.