Quality Assurance refers to the overall management of the processes involved in obtaining the data

From QA4EO guidelines: "All policies and systematic activities implemented within a quality system.

A QA framework includes:

(1) determination of adequate technical requirement of inputs and outputs,

(2) certification and rating of suppliers,

(3) testing of procured material for its conformance to established quality, performance, safety, and reliability standards,

(4) proper receipt, storage, and issue of material,

(5) audit of the process quality,

(6) evaluation of the process to establish required corrective response, and

(7) audit of the final output for conformance to

(a) technical

(b) reliability,

(c) maintainability, and

(d) performance requirements.

It is often used interchangeably with quality control (QC), but it is a wider concept."^[1]

References

[1] A guide to expression of uncertainty of measurements - QA4EO-QAEO-GEN-DQK-006