An In-Depth Guide to UAT (User Acceptance Testing)

User Acceptance testing is considered to be both unique and significant as the tester is someone who is not part of the organization and who has built the product. An end-user is the focal point of this testing method that is provided the necessary resources and the required team support to conduct testing in a real-time production environment. In this article, you will obtain detailed information about user acceptance testing.

What Is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

It is a testing method that verifies whether the software product or application is built according to the business and user-specific requirements. The end-user will be given the opportunity to test the product in a real-time environment and then provide their valuable feedback from a performance, functionality, usability, and user experience standpoint. Based on the feedback provided, the team will further modify or alter the product in order to improve its overall quality.

The Right Context to Perform User Acceptance Testing

It is typically performed just before the product is going to be released.   The application should be feature complete, as only cosmetic errors are accepted. Following are a few points to consider before conducting UAT:

• Availability of business requirements.
• Unit, Integration, and system testing should be completed.
• Fully developed application code.
• The necessary environment should be set up for conducting UAT.

Preparatory Steps to Perform User Acceptance Testing

The following are key essential steps to be considered for conducting UAT:

• Formal and informal scripts need to be prepared: Test scripts are built using use cases that will, in turn, serve as training material for users so that they can know how the system can be used after being deployed.
• The significance of a test management tool: The scripts need to be added to a tool, and then the users need to be taught how to use it.
• Master data need to be developed: This data can be organized by test case so that the users can easily refer to the data they can use for each script. Include passwords, login, and data.
• A UAT user manual should be created: This user manual or guide should include how to access URLs, logins, and master data.
• Users need to be taught about writing a defect:   A defect tracking system needs to be used, and users need to be taught what information needs to be included (like steps to recreate) and, if possible, set priority values also.
• The build schedule should be coordinated: The testing schedule should be clearly known to the development team. Proper coordination with the entire IT team can prove to be worthwhile.

The Following Are the Eight Steps Required to Perform User Acceptance Testing

1. Product requirements need to be analyzed. The functional and business essentials are included in the product requirements. The business requirements provide a viewpoint as to what needs to be tested and whether the solutions are justifying user needs and thus solving the business problems. A testing strategy is formed using the functional requirements.

For the purpose of requirement analysis, product owners, business analysts, and QA engineers should be considered. Technical documentation can be created for the process to document standards, test cases, testing strategies, and rules.

2. The user testing approach should be decided upon. Project management has two main approaches, and those are Waterfall, and Agile approaches, both of these approaches have their own set of required documentation. The Agile approach works by collaborating with team members and stakeholders and having the ability to respond to changes quickly. The Waterfall approach follows a linear model and thus has specific goals for each development phase.

At each stage of the project, UAT for agile methodologies can be conducted to provide assurance since iterations for every development phase allow for flexible development and dynamic change. This will go on till the product reaches the required quality and functionality. When it comes to the waterfall approach, UAT completes the system, functionality, and usability tests in order to make sure that the product is in line with the user acceptance criteria.

3. UAT team should be formed. Specific users need to be selected for testing the product. These users can also be product owners, business analysts, real-world product users, or customers. These users should have some basic technical ideas about the product and the testing process.

4. End-user testing tools should be implemented. The testing management functionality, such as testing documentation templates, task overviews, and reporting, should be offered by the tools. Bugwolf, Userback, and Usersnap are considered to be some of the best UAT tools that also have competitive features or gamification to engage users.

5. Develop the user acceptance environment. As testing is carried out at the client’s site, the process is done online. Following are a few points that need to be considered:

• The test cases should be clearly understood by the users, and if need be required, then support is provided.
• Users should be trained to use any of the end-user tools.
• Standards and reporting guidelines should be provided to the users.
• Access to the environment should be given to the users.

6. Running the tests. Once the test scenarios and test cases are completed, the complete product data should be tested by the testers. The team should very well know that these users are not professional testers, and they should be involved in testing anything that is irrelevant.

7. Output information should be collected and analyzed. The data obtained from the testers should be analyzed by the QA team. The data comes from a specific tool for reporting or manually submitting user reports. Additional interviews can also be conducted with a select few users so that more insightful information about test cases can be gained.

8. Bug fixing and retesting. After the UAT process is successfully completed, the development team receives information about defects and issues, along with relevant comments. The necessary adjustments need to be made so that issues can be addressed accordingly. Once the bugs are properly fixed, the product needs to be retested in order to make sure that it is running smoothly. When the specific acceptance criterion has been reached, and reviewers approve it, then there is the need for one final approval for confirming the product’s readiness and its subsequent usage.

Conclusion

If you are looking forward to implementing UAT for your specific project, connect with a top-notch software testing services company that will provide you with feasible testing solutions that align with your project-specific requirements.