Your quality assurance program should aim to develop written procedures that ensure complete compliance with all contract obligations. Formal, written documentation gives your stakeholders more confidence that the process will be consistent and that, if a mistake is made, the source can be identified to a specific location and fixed. 

Who is accountable for the ultimate product’s quality: in-house programmers or outsourced software testing services providers? Everything relies on the original agreement. Let’s take a look at some of the most frequent contract kinds that specify the client-vendor relationship and duties.

1. Is the QA Firm Accountable for the Final Product’s Quality

The needs of a large corporation may differ from those of a small business. What they have in common is the desire to acquire a high-quality product at the conclusion of the process. Different types of cooperation models assign different levels of accountability to each party.

1.1. Dedicated Group of People

The client employs a staff member or a team from the QA business. The team may solely be in charge of Quality Assurance, which does not guarantee that all defects will be resolved, but it does require the client to receive a detailed bug report with suggestions for how to address them. But on the other hand, if given complete access to the code and the required skill level, the in-house team may be responsible for addressing all defects. The most frequent sorts of contracts negotiated in this form of collaboration are a Consulting Contract and a Production Orders.

1.2. Collaboration on a Project Basis

To receive testing services, the client gives the entire project to the QA testing company. Depending on the workload, the client’s needs, and the business’s skills, this form of collaboration might be flexible. Experts typically use a variety of testing methodologies to thoroughly analyze a product’s quality, efficiency, and dependability. Upon the client’s request, the vendor may be held liable for all detected bugs. But, if the client has their own in-house development team, they may only need QA services, in which case testers must only uncover a specified percentage of defects and produce detailed bug reports. In most circumstances, NDA and Consulting Agreements are negotiated in this form of collaboration.

2. Non-Disclosure Contract for QA Solutions

A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is usually the first contract signed after a client selects the software testing company with which they will collaborate. It’s critical for the customer to keep their idea and confidential information safe from competition. It may be signed by only one of the two parties, or by both, depending on the priorities of both parties and the scope of the NDA. Confidential information covered by an NDA when engaging in software development and Quality Assurance may also include, but is not restricted to: 

• The codes developed or modified by company-vendor programmers;
• If the client merely hires testing services and gives the vendor access to the current software, passwords, and credentials;
• Parties’ working methodology and communication networks in the process of collaboration;
• Vendor’s software utilities for interacting with the client’s software;
• Information about project budgeting, payment methods, and legal organizations accountable;
• Data analysis, bug reports, and other documents generated and/or used during the QA testing process
• Personal information about team members who have been hired and their responsibilities in collaboration in any way;
• The name of the firm and/or product with which the vendor is involved

The offended party has the ability to file charges if any of the NDA’s stated elements are violated. The trial then issues a subpoena, and the next steps are entirely dependent on the gravity of the infraction. A penalty charge is the most typical consequence for violating an NDA in an IT-services relationship. Every case is unique, and in certain cases, the NDA is the sole contract that holds the sale together. However, in most circumstances, there are extra contracts that support both parties during the collaboration process to ensure that they can trust each other to complete the task correctly and on schedule.

3. Estimate of Software Testing

Although an estimate is not a contract, it is vital to note because it is one of the most significant documents in the client-vendor relationship. Before doing anything with the client’s software, the vendor must estimate the cost and time that will be spent on the QA testing process. The estimate is created using the data provided by the client regarding the service they desire from the QA testing provider. Costs and timelines are estimated based on the types of testing required, the number of participants involved, the level of expertise necessary, and the marketing strategy selected. 

Collaboration is contingent on the client’s acceptance of the estimated figures. After negotiations, both parties usually reach an agreement and determine the next steps in the process.

4. Consulting Agreement for QA Services

The customer and the vendor sign a Consulting Agreement (CA) when they are ready to begin working together. If it is not the only official document signed as part of a collaboration, this form of contract may be brief. If it is, however, the only contract between the parties, it might be quite lengthy. In any case, the following material is commonly included in a Consulting Agreement:

• The name of the company’s service to the client
• The greatest amount of time the vendor has to complete all of his responsibilities
• The expected cost of testing services, as well as possible risk-mitigation strategies in the event that the responsible party incurs overhead and technical debt
• The implications of a contract violation
• The contract’s and collaboration’s maximum length

If the client-vendor relationship is ongoing, such as in project-based collaboration, more comprehensive legal documentation may be required to protect both parties throughout the procedure. From the very beginning to the very conclusion of product creation, such collaboration entails multi-level production, testing, assistance, and technical support.

5. Work Order for QA Solutions

Work Orders (WO) are identical to estimates, but they provide more information on the project’s workload, timeframes, and members of the team. If the customer hires a specialized testing team, for example, the Work Order will include all pertinent information about the person, such as their degree of expertise, technology stack, and the duration of their employment. If the user offers the provider the entire project to test, such a long-term partnership will necessitate more thorough legal documents. The WO will be an amendment to the Consulting Agreement in this situation.

6. Service Level Agreement (SLA) for software testing

An SLA is an agreement that requires a provider to do their work to a certain standard of quality. SLAs are flexible and vary greatly depending on the business strategy of the client, i.e., Business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C).

TestDel collaborates with its clients on a B2B basis. The company contracts with TestDel for a package of QA testing services, signing a Non-Disclosure Agreement, Consulting Agreement, and Work Order on the spot. In this scenario, SLA isn’t required because the contract agreement and SOW already convey everything that needs to be known about the intended outcome. On the other hand, B2C collaboration might be developed only on the basis of SLA. 

TestDel organize workflow according to business models that guarantee the rise of the company’s profit and the achievement of the set commercial objectives, in order to ensure perfect cooperation and the establishment of strong business partnerships. Check Testdel working model here and select the model which would be most appropriate for a particular project based on your project details and delivery within specified aims.