In the fast-evolving realm of technology-driven business, mastering the art of rapid innovation is the key to staying ahead.
With technology underpinning all business processes today, with the pace at which new technologies are emerging, companies need to introduce new products and services at a faster rate than their competitors using user acceptance testing forms and software to meet the needs of business users and the end user.
Why should they focus their efforts on quality assurance using the user acceptance testing process (UAT)?
Because of its successful implementation, it’s the most effective in reducing both time and cost while increasing customer satisfaction.
🐴🐴 hold up little ponies. maybe you need to take a step back, and get yourself the ultimate guide on customer feedback first. if so, we got you covered cowpokes 🤠🤠 ok, back to UAT!
User Acceptance Testing (UAT), known as end-user or application testing, validates software in real-world conditions by its intended audience, an essential phase in software development cycle.
User acceptance system testing phase (UAT), otherwise known as User Acceptability Testing, Beta Application, or End-User Testing, is often the last phase in the web development process, the one before final release or installation of the website or software for the client, or final distribution of it.
UAT testing means the usage of the software by people from the target audience and recording and correcting of any defects.
The closest thing to a “_real world_” is user acceptance test. It gives users the chance to interact with the software and find out if everything works as it should after considering the features, miscommunicated, not communicated, and so on.
DevelopMentor puts it most succinctly when they describe user acceptance testing (UAT) as:
The goal of User Acceptance Testing is to assess if the system can support day-to-day business and user scenarios and ensure the system is sufficient and correct for business usage.
The purpose of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is to validate and ensure that a software application meets the specific needs and requirements of its intended users before its official release, ensuring a high level of functionality, usability, and alignment with real-world scenarios.
UAT serves as the final quality check, helping to identify and address any issues or improvements necessary to achieve user satisfaction.
Whilst UAT – User Acceptance Testing – is essential, typically, it’s not able to be undertaken until the application is largely feature-complete. Guru99 lists 10 prerequisites, which must be met before UAT can begin. These are:
As we were saying, User Acceptance Testing, also known as UAT (or UAT testing), in a nutshell, is:
A process of verifying that a solution works for the user.
Here’s an example of how this can be done through screen recordings with Usersnap (click on the image):
And the keyword here is “user”.
This is crucial because they’re the people who will use the software on a daily basis. There are many aspects to consider with respect to software functionality.
There’s unit testing, functional testing, integration testing, and system and testing phases, amongst many others. As part of these processes, we regularly ask questions such as:
Whilst these are valid and essential, ultimately they’re quite meaningless – if the application doesn’t perform as the end user expects. As software artisans, we need to avoid situations such as:
Recommended Reading:
The most important peer group to include in the UAT team and testing process are “real” end-users of your software.
Include every role and stakeholder group, which means that people from each group should be selected to join the UAT team.
Now we are done discussing the groundwork for what UAT is and why it’s essential, let’s continue by seeing how to start using it.
Normally, UAT consists of four steps but it can vary, based on whether the application is going to satisfy a single customer, or whether it should be off-the-shelf software, available for purchase by anyone.
Firstly, the criteria to consider for the software to be “working” needs to be assembled. These are likely to be collated from the system requirements, integration tests, and user stories.
Next, a set of UAT test cases must be created. Centric defines a UAT test case as:
A set of test steps, execution conditions and expected results developed for a particular objective, such as to exercise a particular program path or to verify compliance with a specific requirement
Each case covers a specific usage scenario of the software. It is normally a set of actions that the user can carry out and be able to verify if the software is working perfectly well.
With these in place, the unit tests have to be run and the test results are recorded. Were the tests successful, or did defects result? Any bugs then need to be corrected and re-tested.
Finally, assuming that everything is working perfect, there is a need to complete an orderly sign-off . This is done with your client or the team they have assembled for other testing phases of the project, where they will state that what they’ve received is working as expected and meets their criteria.
Before you can carry it out, you have to understand what is UAT.
While you can pick any UAT definition, the simplest one is that it is the final stage of your software testing process that allows you to perform user acceptance testing determine whether the product built is suitable for the purpose that was intended in the first place.
Once you know that User Acceptance Testing is a verification activity, you can identify the key prerequisites:
The user acceptance testing process is a detail-oriented task. Whether you are performing it manually or relying on UAT software, a UAT tester needs to have a keen eye for every detail.
UAT process is also referred to as end-user testing which means that you need to think and act like a person who has never used the software or app. The tester should be a critical and analytical thinker with the ability to identify and process different types of data.
Apart from that, it is always good to have a basic understanding of the business along with the right UAT Tools to perform the job.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is a critical phase in the software development process life cycle where the software or application is tested by end-users to ensure that it meets their needs and is ready for production release the UAT testing process helps validate that the system functions correctly, is user-friendly, and meets the specified requirements.
Here’s an overview of the UAT process and planning:
The User Acceptance Test (UAT) process is a crucial phase in software development and implementation.
It involves testing a software application or system from the end-user’s perspective to ensure its functionality, usability, and compatibility with real-world scenarios.
During the UAT phase, users or designated stakeholders engage in testing the software to validate whether it meets their requirements and expectations.
Any issues, discrepancies, or improvements are identified and addressed before the software is officially launched. UAT helps the project manager ensure that the software is ready for deployment and will deliver a positive user experience, ultimately contributing to the success of the project.
Remember that UAT is not only about identifying defects but also about ensuring that the software aligns with user expectations and business needs.
Effective UAT planning and execution contribute to a successful software release that satisfies end-users and stakeholders.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and beta testing are two distinct yet complementary phases in the software development lifecycle.
UAT focuses on ensuring that a software application meets the specific needs and requirements of its intended users.
During UAT, end-users or designated stakeholders actively engage with the software to validate its functionality, usability, and alignment with real scenarios.
This phase acts as a final validation step before the software’s official release, helping to identify and address any issues or improvements necessary to meet user expectations.
On the other hand, beta testing involves releasing a pre-release version of the software, known as a “beta” version, to a selected group of external users known as beta testers.
These beta testers explore the software in real-world conditions, providing valuable feedback on bugs, glitches, and user experience aspects.
It helps uncover issues that may have been missed during internal testing, allowing developers to make refinements and improvements based on user insights before the software’s full launch.
In essence, UAT ensures the software meets user requirements, while beta testing involves external users in identifying any final issues or refinements needed for a successful release.
Both UAT and beta testing contribute to delivering a high-quality, user-friendly software application that meets the needs of its intended audience.
User Acceptance Tests are not always called User Acceptance Tests in some organizations. There are various buzzwords – such as alpha or beta testing – out there. And sometimes people love asking about the differences between the UAT tests and functional testing.
Therefore we decided to collect all our thoughts and knowledge on the different types of UAT in this article.
And that’s what, why, and how of integrating User Acceptance Testing as a standard part of your web development projects. It reduces the likelihood of issues that is happening, which in turn reduces the amount of work required in development and maintenance.
Sure, it’s another process that you have to manage, but the reduction in overall cost and a higher level of user satisfaction more than offsets the associated costs.
To help you out, we’ve set up a UAT testing template that you can download. This covers everything from preparing your team, the test and separate testing environment itself, to writing test cases, execution and evaluation. Feel free to grab a copy to help you out with your UAT testing efforts.
We have also prepared interactive UAT testing template form here. Feel free to grab it and implemented on your project.
If up to now your UAT process is collecting emails to put into a PowerPoint presentation, then you have done it wrong.
If you are using Asana, Basecamp, Jira, or other ticket and project or product management platforms, but the UAT form still needs to be manually filled out, you’re still not right. Luckily, this article is about how to do UAT right, so read on 🙂
First, make sure it’s easy for users to submit feedback.
Find a tool that works within your UAT and testing environment so that users do not need to jump back and forth to report an issue.
Usersnap is a user acceptance testing tool that can be added to your website or app as a widget, your users can take screenshots or screen recordings whenever they see something wrong.
Because it’s so easy to use, your users will be eager to share problems, and even suggestions. Canva’s design community started sending double the amount of feedback once Usersnap was added to their product. This meant Canva had way more insights to improve its features and UX.
Second, don’t create a long questionnaire for your users. The purpose of UAT is to collect bugs and fulfill the requirements or expectations. You can leave the feedback field completely open-ended and let users tell you what they think. Our customers that are agencies have said 1-3 simple questions for every form are sufficient to understand what is missing and how important the issue is.
Lastly, make sure you act on the feedback of your testing results. It sounds obvious but what we’ve heard from many agencies or companies looking for a good UAT tool is that they have a hard time recreating issues, and therefore, can not fix it.
Usersnap automatically captures user metadata, including console log errors, when feedback is sent. Your engineers will get the context to start troubleshooting and finding a solution right away. Rachel Panush, VP of Operations at Executionists Agency says:
Instead of waiting days to get the necessary information to recreate and resolve bugs, we can now instantly capture the specifications and solve any issues that come up within our projects.
Last but not least, here is a heads-up on Usersnap, which is our very own visual user acceptance testing solution, used by companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.
Start your UAT efforts with a free trial of Usersnap, the #1 visual feedback platform for QA or other UAT testers. Collect your first 20 feedback items for free, then upgrade to continue utilizing these valuable insights.
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