User Acceptance Testing software is evaluated by real users at their homes. You may also call it beta testing or end user testing. This is basically to verify that the system is built in accordance with user requirements.
What is User Acceptance Testing?
This testing is done by real users at the end of the testing stage before the product or application goes to market.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Checklist
To ensure optimal results with UAT, it is crucial to cover the following stages as well as their testing activities.
- Initiating the User Acceptance Testing Project
- Plan the User Acceptance Testing
- Design for User Acceptance Testing
- Tests of User Acceptance
- Release Decisions
- Tests after User Acceptance
Below are the activities that are part of each stage.
Initiating the User Acceptance Testing Project
These activities should be done as part of the UAT project’s inception.
- Identify key stakeholders
- Choose a leader
- Communicate your business objectives, goals, and acceptance criteria for the system
- Receive the User Acceptance Testing team resources
- Adopt documentation to support User Acceptance Testing
- Accord on decision-making structures
- Adopt the User Acceptance Testing Team
- Training to initiate user acceptance testing
- Prepare a project plan to begin User Acceptance Testing
Plan the User Acceptance Testing
The following tasks should be completed when planning for the UAT.
- To determine the best way to conduct User Acceptance Testing, identify the method of system acquisition.
- Find out if the business intent has been captured and measurable.
- Verify that all business requirements are being captured.
- Verify that all requirements have been met.
- Make sure you have written the acceptance criteria.
- Make sure the scope of your project is clearly defined and pertinent.
- Verify and capture the business processes.
- To serve as a test base, evaluate the current documentation to determine its sustainability.
Design for User Acceptance Testing
To ensure the UAT delivers the desired result, it is crucial that the UAT test design follows the following steps.
- Set the criteria for User Acceptance Testing.
- Wherever possible, review test scripts.
- Define the User Acceptance Testing strategy.
- If test conditions are not available, review them and create new ones.
- If test cases are available, review them and create new ones based upon test conditions.
- Test cases are used to create test scripts.
- Make sure that all requirements are covered in the tests.
Tests of User Acceptance
These tasks must be completed as part of the UAT testing execution.
- Verify the availability of the test environment.
- To achieve priority, define high-level test schedules for User Acceptance Testing strategy.
- To make the most of your resources, create a detailed test plan.
- Make sure the test log is up-to-date
- Make sure incidents are reported promptly and accurately.
- Regularly check with the development team to resolve defects and make sure there are no bottlenecks.
- Create regular test summary reports.
Release Decisions for User Acceptance Testing
These items will assist the team in making a decision about whether or not to release the document after the UAT.
- Acceptance criteria to identify status
- Define the effort and time needed to meet acceptance criteria.
- Consider other options based on the outstanding risks.
- To allow controlled release, there are emergency release criteria
- Notify key stakeholders about the status of your release.
- Prepare User Acceptance Testing Completion Report with Recommendations.
Tests after User Acceptance
After the UAT is completed, the following activities must be done.
- Plan and design of user training.
- Support after release.
- Continuous testing
- Report on Post User Acceptance Testing with frequently asked questions, etc.
Best practices for User Acceptance Testing
1. Know who the final users will be using the software
Know your target audience. Know their needs and problems. What is their motivation? What is their motivation? This information will save you time and help you achieve directed results.
2. Prepare User Acceptance Testing plans well in advance
Usually, User Acceptance Testing takes place before the software is launched in the market. You are under pressure to meet deadlines and excited about the reaction of your end users to your software. Therefore, User Acceptance Testing at the stage of launch could be missed real-life use cases that are common. This stage could also have constraints on resource availability.
3. A well-structured system for User Acceptance Testing
A well-structured User Acceptance Test management system includes easy filtering, efficient reporting, traceability matrix and bug tracking features. It also provides security.
4. You can create scenarios based on your business needs
To target the end user, it is a good idea to create test scenarios that are based on business requirements.
5. Define clearly the acceptance criteria
Acceptance criteria determine whether the product passes or fails after development. It is therefore important to clearly define the acceptance criteria.
Stage at which User Acceptance Testing takes place
Although there are many ways of developing a system, the most common ones can be grouped into two categories.
- Sequential development
- Iterative development
Sequential development
Sequential development is a series of stages that follow a V-shape. UAT is the final level of testing that evaluates the system in relation to business requirements.
Iterative Development
Agile development uses an iterative approach, where design and testing are done in short sprints. This allows the system functionality to be made available incrementally at each sprint’s end. Before each sprint can be released, UAT will need to be performed.
User acceptance Approach
The UAT Approach is built on three elements:
- Business requirements
- Business processes
- User expectations
These three elements should be followed in an approach.
Test cases based on requirements
Each test case must address the business requirements. Every test case should be linked with a specific requirement based on an ID number. It is possible to write test cases quickly after the requirement specification has been defined. This is known as requirement driven test cases. This approach has the disadvantage that test cases could also fail if there are mistakes in the requirements.
Test cases based on business process
Test cases based on business processes are created to ensure that the system delivered supports the business processes. Test cases should be able show that the requirements were met in a manner that is representative of how the organization will use the system.
User Interface driven test cases
Test cases that are User Interface-driven are built around screens or forms that must be completed. Test cases can be based on data entry and screen interactions, as well as reporting. If the business process requires data entry, interaction, or reporting, User Interface-driven test cases can be embedded in business process-based test cases.
Risk-based testing allows you to set priorities
UAT is often performed under pressure as it is done before the system is released for end users to use. Therefore, it is important to find a way that allows you to achieve the most out of the time and resources available. Prioritization is used to ensure that the most critical tests are run first. This allows for any remaining testing to be less important than the one that has been completed. This is known as risk-based testing.
Each requirement’s risk level is determined and prioritized.
Take, for example.
Risk-based testing can be part of requirement-based testing to ensure the most critical areas are tested first.
It is okay to report that the system is performing as required but not meeting technical specifications. However, it should not be a’show stopper’.
However, if the system is easy to use but meets all technical specifications, it should be considered a concern.
Example of User Acceptance Testing
Software from any domain, such as Automotive, Travel/Tourism, etc. should be tested for user acceptance. Before being released to production, all software should be subject to proper user acceptance testing.
Let’s say there is a mobile tracking application that allows an administrator to manage mobile resources. It is web-based. It has been tested in many ways, including functional testing, integration testing and system testing. Now comes the most important stage of testing, user acceptance testing. It should be done at least two levels.
1. Alpha Testing
The testers on the developer’s site perform this type of acceptance testing to verify that there are no last-minute issues before releasing the software to end users.
2. Beta Testing
End users do this at their own premises to check for issues before the software goes into production.
Conclusion
User Acceptance Testing has the advantage that the product will not be unexpected when it is released to the market.