Quality Assurance: Automated Or Manual?

Which QA method is the best for your organization’s system? Check out and learn more from the best quality assurance outsourcing companies!

What Is Quality Assurance?

Any system has its flaws, or “bugs,” as in the technical terms for developers. There is a common joke among the IT technician community that if a bug becomes too persistent, it becomes a product feature! Nevertheless, if your website or software has too many bugs, they would be a threat to your data security since hackers can take advantage of these bugs and infiltrate your system.

To prevent security breaches, a thorough quality assurance procedure will evaluate your product using various measurements and advanced tools. Depending on your organization’s size, you should consider finding appropriate software quality assurance outsourcing to help you navigate errors within your system. There are two methods of agile QA outsourcing: automated QA and manual QA. But what exactly are they? What are the differences between them?

Automated Quality Assurance

In automated QA, testers will write a series of code or test scripts that allows the system to automate test commands. This method enables testers to finish their job much quicker than manually performing tests. The process can help execute all repetitive tasks regardless of complexity, in addition to comparing actual results and expected results. The testing processes are carried out automatically, though some specific procedures will need human intervention.

Automated QA is divided into the following segments:

• Regression testing: Compatible with the continuous changes within the code.
• Repeated testing: Easily checking for errors within repetitive tasks.
• Graphical UI testing: Testing for the user interface to ensure the most convenient experience for users.
• Functional testing: Specializing each product’s function by compatibility, accuracy, relevance, and security.
• Performance testing: Performing simulation to test the server against a huge number of concurrent users.

Manual Quality Assurance

On the contrary, manual testing is conducted by QA consultants themselves or agile QA outsourcing. They navigate all processes and features of the product, then perform test runs to check for the application or web performance. Consultants can use some automation tools to fit in some specific aspects, but most of the tasks are conducted manually. Usually, manual QA requires a senior consultant to perform the job; they also take more time and effort and is less accurate than automated QA, but manual QA can give the best example of how clients would interact with the products and how things turn out while the web or application is running, in every possible scenario.

There are 3 types of services of Manual testing:

• Usability Testing: a QA consultant checks for the most basic features of the product as a usual client.
• Exploratory testing: testers use their logical skills to dig deep into the product’s infrastructure and test it under different circumstances.
• Limit testing: Pushing the server to its limit to determine its capabilities.

Automated Vs. Manual QA

Though automated QA seems to be more efficient than manual QA, some tasks can’t be done automatically. Take a closer look at the following parameters to identify the differences:

• Time: Automated QA is significantly faster than Manual QA and uses fewer resources.
• Investment: Automated QA is costly to perform a proper testing strategy and programming, but manual QA also requires experienced consultants to conduct.
• Reliability: Manual QA is not as accurate as Automated QA because of human errors. Automatic tools are more reliable.
• Changes in UI: Scripted automation can make mistakes if unscheduled modifications are made during the checking process. Manual QA can easily avoid these issues.
• Performance testing: Must be done with automation tools only.
• Knowledge: Automated QA requires a lot of testing knowledge in programming, while people in charge of human-based quality assurance need to be experienced in testing.
• Approach: Manual testing is only suitable for small-scale systems with little run time. Automated testing is ideal for more complex & repetitive tasks.
• Deadlines: Automated tests are unlikely to miss deadlines, but manual QA can discover more risks and take more time to fix.
• Situation: Automated testing works on regression testing, performance testing, and repetitive testing, while manual testings are more suited for exploratory, usability, and Adhoc testing.

In summary, automated quality assurance can provide a fast and accurate result in a short time. The testing process is fully recorded on a large scale with many repetitive tasks, so no corner of the product is left unchecked. However, fully automated testing can be expensive and limited to only certain segments. Therefore, automated testing is suitable for complex and performance checking, with high accuracy required.

On the contrary, manual quality assurance can portray an accurate response from a user’s perception. A QA consultant can give recommendations about visual effects, such as font size, image, links, colors, etc., which automated procedures couldn’t have done. Nevertheless, manual errors are very difficult to avoid, in addition to plenty of time and effort needed to finish the job. It is recommended to use manual QA services for small-scale projects and custom tasks that cannot be automated.

Closing Thoughts

There is no answer to the question of whether automated testing or manual testing is better. To get the best analytical solution for your web or application, consider hiring quality assurance outsourcing companies to get the best service for your product.

Contact us now for more information!