User acceptance testing is approval-based testing, where users are solely responsible to test the product in a test environment and provide their approval in line with the product. In certain scenarios, it is also known as beta testing, where a beta version of the product is being tested by users known as ‘beta testers.’ All the product improvement related decisions are taken by the concerned teams based on the feedback provided by the users. In this article, you will know about user acceptance testing and its key factors.
What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?
It is a testing method where actual users will be given the responsibility to test the product and provide their valuable feedback in terms of how the product can be further improved if need be required. The real-world situations are addressed in this testing method. It is performed after system, functional and integration testing has been successfully performed. When the product is almost fully developed, the process of conducting user acceptance testing is initiated.
The need for conducting user acceptance testing:
The software is validated against the functional specifications by functional testers and developers. The requirements are interpreted according to their knowledge and the software is being developed and tested accordingly. Once the functional specifications of the software are properly validated and successfully completed, the processes and business requirements need to be communicated and interpreted to the end-users.
Through the platform of UAT, the business requirements of the software are validated before the software is being released into the market place. Real use cases and live data make this testing method a significant part of the release cycle. Post-release issues have proved to be costly for many businesses and thus user acceptance testing becomes a necessary activity. After the product is being released, it becomes costlier to fix the defects.
The necessity to perform user acceptance testing:
When system, integration, and regression testing has been successfully performed, this specific testing needs to be taken into consideration. This phase is where UAT is being performed and is crucial because users will be testing the product and providing their valuable opinions about the product in terms of quality, performance, functionality, and user experience.
The end-users perspective is all that is important in this testing method. The end-users can be of a specific department having the needed domain knowledge. If the users are involved in the project quite early, it would help the development, testing and business teams. The reason for this being users can provide their views about further improving the quality of the product.
User acceptance testing best practices:
A UAT plan needs to be prepared early in the project life cycle
Before initiating the UAT, checklists need to be prepared
Pre-UAT sessions need to be conducted during the system testing phase
The scope and expectation of UAT needs to be clearly defined
An application or system needs to be tested with data and a real-world scenario
The system needs to be tested from a user’s point of view
Usability testing needs to be performed
Meetings and feedback sessions need to be conducted before moving to production.
The working of user acceptance testing:
Business requirements need to be thoroughly analyzed
UAT test plan needs to be created
Test scenarios need to be identified
UAT test cases need to be created
Test data need to be prepared
Test cases should be executed
Results need to be recorded
Business objectives need to be confirmed
Business requirements need to be analyzed.
Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing user acceptance testing for your specific project, then do get connected with a premium software testing services company that will provide you a viable testing roadmap precisely in line with your project-specific requirements.
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