What is QAOps and How Does it Accelerate Software Delivery?

Posted by Palak · 07 Mar, 2023 · 7 Min read
What is QAOps and How Does it Accelerate Software Delivery?

Traditionally, developers did software testing and quality assurance after the development process was complete, which resulted in longer development cycles and increased risk of defects and errors. QAOps, on the other hand, involves automating the testing and quality assurance process and integrating it with the DevOps pipeline (Qaops In DevOps). This allows for continuous testing and feedback, which can help identify defects early in the development process and reduce the time and cost associated with testing.

QAOps can also improve collaboration between developers and testers by making testing an integral part of the development process. This can reduce the time and effort required for testing and improve the accuracy and effectiveness of testing. Additionally, QAOps can help improve the software quality by ensuring that testing is done throughout the development process rather than just at the end.

The notion of QAOps has made its place in the software industry due to the immediate increase and adoption of DevOps methodology, which makes the development process easier and more efficient. QAOps bridges the gap between QA and development teams for improved cooperation and team bonding during software development. Throughout this article, we explore what QAOps is and how it accelerates software development.

What is QAOps?

QAOps, or Quality Assurance Operations, is a methodology that integrates software testing and quality assurance into the DevOps process. It is designed to accelerate software delivery by making testing and quality assurance integral to the software development life cycle.

QAOps is a framework that improves the software delivery process and operations while maintaining overall project quality. It integrates quality assurance best practices with appropriate IT operations and software development procedures to create a comprehensive and unified delivery strategy.

In contrast to the technique of adding software testing services at the end of the project development process, QAOps assists in incorporating QA from the start to the end of the software development lifecycle. It allows them to review and advise on the next steps in the development cycle. It also assists them in spotting bugs earlier, which helps to speed up the final delivery. The teams in charge of quality assurance services are given increased responsibilities in this approach.

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Life Cycle of QAOps

In addition to normal software testing, QA engineers will design, trigger, and maintain automotive jobs as part of the continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines as part of the QAOps framework. The QAOps framework implementation is defined as an unending process of learning and implementing QAOps over the following phases:

1. Trigger

The trigger phase is critical in the QAOps lifecycle. This phase is concluded when the software is integrated into the CI/CD pipeline by writing the necessary tests. The trigger step generates appropriate test cases to validate the technical functionality of the product without wasting time on any unnecessary test cases. That is why, to save money, firms should plan out the testing time of the product.

When creating the trigger phase, keep the following in mind:

  • Plan all the tests at the start.
  • Consider any testing that involves integration testing.
  • Perform code verification and deployment tests.

2. Execute

After the trigger phase is approved, the execution phase begins. This process includes the parallel framework and software quality testing to confirm developers have everything they need to produce the expected results. Some of the primary aspects that influence execution planning throughout the development life cycle are as follows:

  • Initially, parallel testing is done.
  • Finding suitable support for all integration tests
  • Assessing the process's overall scalability
  • Ensuring that the tests are performed in the correct sequence
  • Distributing the execution test workload across multiple departments
  • Assuring that all the frameworks and infrastructure are in place for the entire procedure to go smoothly

3. Report

The report stage in the QAOps lifecycle provides a report on the outcome of the trigger and executed phases. The whole process brief is devised as a final report with an exhaustive description. It is recorded for stakeholders to analyze in the future. To gain a better insight into the report, the team should focus on the following key areas:

  • Focus on the underlying cause of the various steps necessary.
  • Quicker access to results with less uncertainty
  • Instant report access at any point
  • A snapshot and a thorough look at the whole project
  • Examining the scalability of the report when dealing with massive amounts of data

QAOps Framework Methodologies

QAOps employs the following testing approaches for faster development cycles while maintaining software stability.

1. Smoke Testing

Smoke Testing is performed to determine the product's stability. Only if the code is error-free can it be installed, saving time. The code must be error-free to pass the smoke test, and each software feature must function properly. For verification testing, QAOps use smoke testing.

2. Automated Testing

Automated Testing allows QA Engineers to build automated testing programs to test software more quickly. The QAOps framework uses this to examine the product's quality, which also speeds up the testing process. The QA engineers begin by analyzing the product and gathering the information needed to write the automated test programs. Once this is completed, the codes are executed as part of the QAOps pipeline.

3. Parallel testing

Parallel Testing enables various test codes for a product to run concurrently, reducing the total time for testing. QAOps employs parallel testing, which allows for much faster testing. It is ideal for use in a CI/CD workflow. Parallel testing necessitates higher computing power and hardware capabilities to execute several codes concurrently due to the abundance of data processing.

4. Regression Testing

Regression Testing verifies the product's dependability once it is upgraded with a new feature or an existing feature is improved. QAOps determines whether the quality of the software is maintained when new features are added or code is modified.

5. Scalability testing

Scalability testing refers to scaling up and down tests to test the product in a similar environment. It represents how the software will function as usage increases or decreases in the long run. While scaling up or down, the tests must be able to synchronize with the data and the process. QAOps must provide scalable infrastructure by incorporating scalability testing into the pipeline.

Also, Read: QA vs Developer: Whose responsibility is to do app testing?

Advantages of the QAOps Process

In this competitive environment, where every software development business is striving to produce customer-centric products, the QAOps method smoothens the development process to reach its purpose. Yet, by integrating testing methods with QA operations, firms can reap a variety of benefits.

  • When QAOps is incorporated into the SDLC, it produces better quality software than traditional software.
  • QAOps considers timeframes as well as quality, and the product is developed within the stated date.
  • QAOps enables the development and QA teams to collaborate, removing ambiguity between teams and resulting in improved results.
  • The CI/CD pipeline offers continuous testing, enabling errors and bugs to be spotted earlier, resulting in a more dependable product.
  • The final element of the QAOps process involves the creation of overall process reports that help us comprehend the development and testing with the outcomes.

Challenges of QAOps

Every new technology or procedure has a learning curve. The same is true for the entire QAOps process. The following are some of the most common issues that QAOps teams face.

  • QA Team members need help understanding new technologies and all phases of SDLC.
  • It is a time-consuming and costly procedure.
  • Companies must invest in the appropriate resources and tools to address all areas of the software quality life cycle.
  • By engaging other components of QAOps, the quality assurance team may lose focus on QA duties.

Conclusion

QAOps is a methodology that can help accelerate software delivery by integrating testing and quality assurance into the DevOps process. It can help reduce development cycle times, improve collaboration between developers and testers, and improve the software's quality.

To begin the path of innovation, get in touch with us right away. Contact SoluteLabs for DevOps solutions.

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