quality assurance

testing (QA) A planned and systematic pattern of all actions

necessary to provide adequate confidence that the product

optimally fulfils customers' expectations, i.e. that it is

problem-free and well able to perform the task it was designed

for.

The QA of a commercial product usually involves alphatesting, where an early version of the product is tested at

the developer's site, and is then improved accordingly. Then,

an almost complete version of the product is made available

for beta testing by (selected) real users. Faults

identified during beta testing should be fixed before the

product is released for full scale manufacturing and

distribution.

(2001-04-21)