Ever Wonder What Goes Into Custom Software Development Solutions? Part 4

Part 4 – Quality Assurance Testing

As a leading custom software development company, Proleadsoft is committed to delivering high quality software that does more than just “work.” We prioritize rigorous quality assurance testing procedures throughout our development cycle to ensure our projects exceed client and user expectations.

• Development – An environment specifically for developers to work.
• Staging –  An environment to test changes before they are deployed.
• Production – Where the final version of the software lives for end users.
• Testing – Selenium, Jest, JUnit 

In addition, our custom software development solutions employ an industry-leading merge process that incorporates mandatory code reviews, version control, and continuous integration to ensure quality control.

Proleadsoft incorporates an iterative software quality assurance process that incorporates a variety of testing techniques alongside development to guarantee high quality functionality and performance from the very start:

1. Pre Development Unit Testing
2. Automated Unit Testing
3. Manual Testing on Web and Mobile
4. Security Testing
5. Sanity Testing
6. Client Demos
7. Beta Testing

At Proleadsoft, quality assurance in software development begins early in the development process using a technique called pre-development unit testing.

Based on User Stories and using mock data, our developers begin writing unit tests before writing any code. This lets developers test functions conceptually ahead of time, giving them a clearer picture of the project requirements.

Pre-development unit testing helps:

• Clarify Requirements – Pushes developers to consider possible inputs, edge cases, and outputs before coding, giving them a stronger understanding of the User Stories and business requirements
• Improve Code Quality – Considering testability early on leads to better, more maintainable code
• Catch Bugs Early – Creating tests before development helps catch potential bugs early, before they become more costly to fix
• Reduce Rework – Clarifying concepts upfront leads to less reworking later in the process

Once the unit tests are in place and real code begins to be written, these tests are automated to ensure continuous quality in a process called automated unit testing.

Units are the smallest individually testable pieces of code. Using a testing framework like JUnit, Jest, or Selenium, these units are tested automatically when the code is committed.

The benefits of automated software testing include:

• Quality Control – Ensures that our code is of the highest quality through early bug detection
• Improve Code Quality – Encourages devs to write cleaner code
• Automate – Reduces human error by automatically running tests
• Increase Efficiency – Speeds up the testing process, providing rapid feedback on code changes

While automated testing is a vital part of the development process, manual testing on actual physical devices such as mobile phones, tablets, desktops and laptops, is still required to identify issues that could hinder how users interact with the software.

Manual testing is a type of software QA testing that involves interacting with the software directly to test its functionality, usability and performance. It’s like having a real person take the software on a full blown test drive.

Manual testing helps:

• Evaluate Usability – Manual testing can identify potential usability issues that could make the software difficult to navigate or use
• Verify Functionality – Check to ensure features, buttons, and links all work as expected
• Assess Performance – Gauge the system responsiveness and stability
• Evaluate Responsiveness – Test software on different browsers and devices to ensure compatibility

Proleadsoft understands the importance of protecting data from unauthorized access. All of our software undergoes extensive security testing in app development to scan for security issues and vulnerabilities. We regularly upgrade frameworks and versions so they are up to date.

Our security testing includes:

• Penetration Testing – A method of simulating attacks to identify weaknesses in the software
• Vulnerability Scanning – Scans code for weaknesses like outdated versions or misconfigurations
• Security Audits – We conduct audits to make sure the software meets security requirements before release
• Secure Infrastructure Setup – We take security a step further by implementing secure Identity Access Management (IAM), as well as other security protocols like MFA for required services, SSL, IP whitelisting, secure code access, encryption, firewalls, and backups

Whenever our team makes a change or issues a bug fix, we run a quick overall system test to ensure that the change did not create any new issues. This is known as a sanity check test.

Sanity testing in software testing is often used when adding a small feature, verifying a bug fix, or implementing a minor code change.

By keeping sanity checks quick and simple, they help:

• Verify Changes –  Sanity checks quickly confirm that the changes haven’t broken any core part of the software
• Detect Issues Early – When problems are detected, they can be resolved before they become bigger problems
• Create an Efficient Workflow – Devs can proceed with confidence knowing that the changes worked and delays have been minimized
• Conduct Targeted Testing – Tests are limited in scope, focusing on the specific area that has been fixed along with testing the major core flows of the software

As part of our custom software development services, we provide regular demo presentations to our clients and stakeholders throughout the development process. These demos are a key part of testing, providing an opportunity to gather valuable feedback from our clients at various stages.

Customer demos help:

• Demonstrate Features – Offer clients a showcase of the software’s features and functionality in a real world context
• Gather Feedback – Provide an opportunity for clients to share feedback and suggestions
• Establish Checkpoints – Act as a checkpoint to determine whether the software meets the client’s goals and project requirements

Our approach to quality assurance in software development includes getting software into the hands of real testers. Prior to release, Proleadsoft conducts beta testing to gather feedback from a select group of users, in a real world environment.

Our beta testing helps:

• Gather User Feedback – Real users can provide feedback on user experience and identify any remaining issues
• Uncover Bugs – Hands-on use can uncover critical bugs before release
• Validate Requirements – Ensure that the software does what it was designed for, and meets user expectations

Testing is an extremely critical step that we don’t take lightly at Proleadsoft. Our custom software development services effectively use each of these testing methods to guarantee that the software we build satisfies each of our client’s demands and keeps the user experience seamless.