How We Perform QA Testing at Cleveroad

The quality of the product defines it's success. So if you want to gain more loyal users (and positive feedback), you have to test an app carefully before releasing it. Development teams usually run a bunch of tests to ensure the product’s quality. In this article, we’ll discuss the quality assurance process at Cleveroad.

Before we move on with the QA workflow we use for web and mobile development, it’s a good thought to learn what sort of bugs there are to be on the same page with Project Managers and developers.

Blocker

This bug tends to be the most severe. Blockers don’t allow using the app’s functionality and break the business logic. The last one stands for the business rules and workflows. It describes the sequence of operations required for the app to work correctly

Crucial bugs

They affect the product’s functionality or data. In most cases, the business logic works incorrectly and users can continue using the application. For example, a user has an opportunity to tweet media content like images, gifs, or videos. If a user can’t tweet any images, it’s a critical bug because key business logic doesn't work.

Major bugs

Such a bug leads to errors of secondary or additional features. For example, a user can’t change the profile picture. It's a major bug since it doesn’t affect the key business logic. Visitors can use the app without a new photo. Major bugs can also mean that the feature works incorrectly.

Trivial bugs

Trivial bugs are less severe. Business logic works correctly but there can be some issues with user interface, misspellings, missed hover on the element, and others.

Minor bugs

This defect influences insignificant functionality or non-critical data. So, the main functionality works correctly. In case of minor bugs, the feature is difficult to use or it just looks terrible.

We pay great attention to Quality Assurance and have been polishing related processes to deliver bug-free products. The process we’re currently using lets us eliminate possible bugs and fix them faster. So, how do we test the software at Cleveroad? Let’s take a look at each stage and talk about the QA process in detail.

The first step of any process is analysis. Business Analysts talk with a client to single out the project requirements. After that, they create a specification. This document consists of all the tools and technologies required for development. Also, specification consists of project features, so QA specialists understand the tasks and requirements.

Then, Quality Assurance engineers analyze the project requirements and business goals set by the client. They try to determine logic-related issues or inaccuracies that may happen. It lets the entire team avoid major changes during software development. Also, our specialists make sure that all standards (e.g. UI/UX design guidelines, Google’s or Apple’s developer guidelines) are followed. At the end of this stage, the client gets a detailed specification and wireframes with all the project functionality and required technologies.

During this stage, the development team holds meetings to define testing goals and create a testing strategy. As a result, they write a document consisting of the following information:

• Environment. In this part, they describe all test devices, OS versions, necessary tools, and more.
• Types of tests. They decide what types of tests are required for the project — manual, automation or both. The choice depends on the project size and requirements.
• Checklist. Quality Assurance engineers define how to validate requirements and how much time they need for this.

If the project is large, the team can divide development into sprints. In this case, they create a testing checklist for each sprint. This results in stage creating a detailed estimation, an accurate time required to test the app.

After all the preparations, the team moves on with testing. QA engineers take part in the project till release. That’s because their role here is to check the functionality developed during each sprint. Quality Assurance engineers test both back end and front end, find bugs, and create reports for software developers to fix them. When the developer makes fixes, the QA engineer looks through code once again to ensure that it works correctly.

The primary task of the Quality Assurance engineer is to validate the project requirements. It means that the app meets the users’ needs and expectations. To fulfill this task, our engineers use various tests.

It’s not the final list. QA engineers perform more tests like stress, release, and interrupt tests. However, they are used rarely depending on project peculiarities and requirements. There are several stages of software development; QA testing is one of the primary steps. This stage usually takes APPROXIMATELY 30% of the project development time. However, the number can vary, depending on the app type and business requirements. The end of the testing stage guarantees a well-working and high-quality demo-product.

Software testing is always responsible. The team doesn’t test code, but how it works. There are two main ways to estimate the app’s quality — manual and automation.

Manual testing

From it's name, these tests are done by hand by QA engineers. The team needs to check how the app works in the following conditions. Such tests are perfect for small projects. Also, it’s impossible to maintain only automated tests and get a perfectly working product. Manual and automated testing always come together.

Automated testing

In the case of big projects, we tend to use automated tests to speed the process. It’s common to use automated tests for the back-end part of the project. A QA engineer writes a test (code) that checks some significant parts of the code, part of complex logic, or a template scenario.

Cleveroad is a professional web and mobile software development company with 10 years experience in the market. Our Quality Assurance engineers run various tests to ensure that your app works as intended. We provide customers with a full-cycle software testing (mobile, web, backend), QA consulting, and QA automation services.

One of our recent works is a fitness marketplace that demonstrate our elaborate approach to testing software ensuring its adequate quality. Our team has created a gym directory for TrainAway, the global gym network for travelers. This solution has quite complex functionality, so we’ve decided to run various tests, including automated ones, to speed up the testing stage.

Also, we’ve performed load testing to find out how many user requests can be processed simultaneously and how the app manages to work under different loads. Among the leading tools, we used Crashlytics, Charles, Swagger, and Jira. Our approach allowed us to reduce the testing time and ensure the solution’s flawless work.