ˈkwɑː.lə.ti ə.ˈšu.rəns / Quality Assurance (QA)
Quality assurance (QA) is the process of ensuring that a product or service meets a company's standards and customers' expectations with regards to quality.
Compared to quality control (QC), QA focuses on establishing streamlined processes to produce products and deliver services of high quality instead of inspecting the quality of the finished deliverables. In essence, QA involves the review of QC methods to confirm if they are producing the desired results.
Quality assurance activities identify and repair issues with the use of audits and other kinds of assessments. They consist of systematic processes that track the development of products or services to ensure their high quality.
QA provides confidence to two parties once it meets quality requirements: internally, to the company's management, and externally, to its customers and other external parties.
