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Accuracy

Idealogic’s Glossary

Accuracy – a measure that gives the degree of closeness between the outcome of a software system and the actual or expected values. A high level of accuracy is when the software tends to give outputs that are very close to its desired values while low levels of accuracy imply that the software gives values that are far from these ideal values. This metric is normally presented as a percentage or relative of some other value.

The attempts at obtaining precise results have moved from focusing on the accuracy of the hardware to depending mostly on computational software, meaning high-precision tasks lie within the application. In this regard, quality assurance professionals are most valuable since they undertake several tests to determine any deviation, report any discovered faults, and route such information to the engineering groups for rectification, in an endeavor to guarantee the software is functioning as desired.

The accuracy of the software systems is not only important for the right results but also for the credibility of the software in the important applications. In finance, aviation, and scientific research, the distinction between a right and wrong answer can be fatal. That is the reason why the testing and validation should be done in order to exclude any possible errors that might occur during the application of the software. These processes assist in guaranteeing that the software is in a position to meet the standard that has been set and also that the results produced are both accurate and credible.

Furthermore, since software systems are becoming more and more elaborate and interconnected with other systems, the problem of data integrity is more acute. Internal factors include the quality of the data used in the development of the software system and the design of the algorithms used in the system while external factors include the conditions under which the system operates. To avoid these risks, monitoring and improvement strategies are usually used in the regular business practices. This implies, amongst other things, fine-tuning the algorithms, enhancing the quality of the input data and enhancing the way through which errors are detected. Hence, the guidelines can be followed and the accuracy level can be maintained to ensure that the software that is being developed by the software developers and quality assurance teams will be beneficial and efficient right from the time of its development till the time it is under evolution.