What does QA mean in UNCLASSIFIED

QA stands for Quality Assurance.

The purpose of Quality Assurance is to ensure products and services meet the criteria set by an organization while providing customers with a product or service that meets their expectations. It also helps to identify and address potential issues before they become larger problems.

While both processes are related, QA typically refers to managing and monitoring processes while quality control focuses on detecting defects in products and services. Quality control assesses if quality standards have been met after a process has already been completed, whereas QA looks at identifying areas where improvement can be made throughout all stages of production, from design to delivery.

Quality assurance falls under the responsibility of multiple stakeholders across different departments within an organization, including management, engineering, sales, customer service, and accounting staff. All these stakeholders need to work together collaboratively in order to ensure the organization's desired level of quality assurance is achieved.

There are many tools used for Quality Assurance that help streamline processes and improve efficiency, such as project management software, defect tracking systems, automated testing tools, peer review methods, customer feedback surveys, and analytics tools among many others.