QA stands for Quality Assurance, while QC stands for Quality Control. Both are crucial aspects of quality management in any organization or business.

Quality Assurance:
QA is a process or set of procedures that ensures that the products, services, or processes meet specified quality standards. It is a proactive approach, mainly focused on preventing defects or errors before they occur, by ensuring that the necessary processes, procedures, and standards are clearly defined and followed properly.

The key objectives of QA include:
– Establishing and maintaining quality standards
– Identifying potential issues or risks early on in the process
– Monitoring and evaluating the process to ensure that the final product meets the set standards
– Continuously improving the process

Examples of QA activities are requirement gathering, design review, code review, testing plans, traceability matrix, test metrics, and continuous integration and delivery.

Quality Control:
On the other hand, QC is a reactive approach that checks the quality of the final product or service. It is a set of processes or activities that detect and correct defects or errors in the final product or service, ensuring the final product meets the set standards.

The key objectives of QC include:
– Monitoring the product during production
– Identifying defects or errors in the final product
– Correcting the defects or errors before the product is delivered to the customer
– Ensuring consistency in quality and identifying areas of improvement

Examples of QC activities are inspections, testing (functional, regression, performance, security), reviews, walkthroughs, and audits.

In summary, QA ensures that the right process is defined and followed, whereas QC ensures that the end product meets the set standards. Both QA and QC are important for achieving high-quality products or services that meet customer requirements and maintain the organization’s reputation.