Quality assurance is the process of assessing, reporting and monitoring the performance of a product or service. It consists of a series of steps such as performance testing, diagnostic testing, quality control checks, and testing, to name a few. Quality assurance ensures that the final product or service meets the specifications set by the customer or client. It also assures that the service or product meets the requirements of the vendor.
In many organizations, the quality assurance personnel are located in different locations, so that they can respond to customer requests as soon as they come in. Thus, the entire customer/client is brought under the discipline of the quality assurance personnel.
Some organizations provide additional incentives to their quality assurance personnel to assure them of a better position in the organization. There is a need for constant monitoring of quality to ensure its good performance. Before a certain point in time, the quality of a service or product can be checked and monitored easily.
The employees of the quality assurance personnel are required to have high levels of awareness of the service or product they will be handling. So, whenever the need arises, they should be able to carry out the task at a much faster pace.
The feedback and analysis of a service or product can be carried out through a series of activities.
The work performed by these people can be characterized as on-site assessments. These include reviewing the documentation, ensuring that there is proper record keeping, investigating the availability of essential services and products, and then analyzing the results.
There are many organizations that use the services of a third party to implement quality assurance for the products. Often, these people are directly employed by a company or are independent contractors. This leads to many advantages, including the fact that they perform their tasks in an independent manner.
The functional qualification standards that are set down in the service manuals for the product can help in identifying issues that might not have been caught by the on-site professionals. The employee may be able to tackle a problem, but may not be able to put a solution into practice. If the product management establishes functional qualification standards, then any changes in the product or service, that will require updating the manual, will have to be reviewed and approved by the quality assurance staff before being implemented.
The testing process can be divided into three phases: verification, validation and assurance.
The validation phase involves analyzing the data and observing the results of the test. The assurance phase is also crucial to identify any inconsistencies and errors, which will have to be corrected before final delivery.
A system is developed to enable the quality assurance department to access the information required to achieve functional qualification standards on a continual basis. After the product or service has been approved and certified, the system also determines if the product or service passes the acceptance criteria.
The quality assurance personnel, as well as the product managers, are also expected to adhere to a product/service training program. Many organizations start with the basic procedures and then gradually work on higher-level techniques. They are required to present the information, reviews, and analysis of the product/service to the department head, along with relevant data.
The management and the product developers are also required to attend a quality assurance course for attending and master the techniques and procedures. This course should involve all the related modules and cover the entire discipline of the product or service. It will also help in generating an in-depth knowledge of the tools and techniques that will aid in dealing with any problem arising during the operations.
The employees who are in charge of a particular product or service must have specific skills and talent in order to be efficient in performing quality assurance. The employee must be willing to learn new techniques, and he must be resourceful enough to make it work in his work. So, when you approach a particular product management, be sure to check if the person possesses all the relevant skills to handle the situation.
