5 User Acceptance Testing Best Practices to Follow
If you’re involved in software development, you’ve probably heard of User Acceptance Testing (UAT). It’s necessary for the development process where end-users test the software to ensure it meets their needs and expectations. In short, UAT is like a final check before releasing the software to the market. But let’s dive a bit deeper into what is UAT and user acceptance testing best practices.
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User Acceptance Testing
UAT is the final stage of software testing, where the end-users test the software to ensure that it meets their requirements and works as planned. UAT is essential for ensuring that the software meets the user’s expectations and provides a great user experience. However, conducting UAT can be tricky, and following best practices is important to ensure it’s done effectively. In this blog, we will discuss some UAT best practices.
5 User Acceptance Testing Best Practices
Let’s talk about User Acceptance Testing best practices. It’s all about confirming that a product or software meets the needs and expectations of the users. Here are some best practices you can follow to make UAT successful.
1. Identify the Target Audience
Understanding your target audience is an essential step in developing software that effectively meets the needs of the end users.
- We can vary the target audience depending on the software being developed.
- For instance, if a company creates an e-commerce platform, the target audience would be potential online buyers.
- If the software is a project management tool, the target audience would be team leaders and members.
So identifying the target audience enables software developers to create a solution that addresses the end user’s specific pain points and demands.
- Conducting market research to determine their preferences and behavior patterns can achieve this. This, in turn, helps to create software functionalities aligned with the target audience’s needs, preferences, and user experience.
For example, if developing a mobile app for tracking fitness goals, market research will reveal what is essential to fitness enthusiasts and what features will motivate them to maintain their training routines. You can use this information to create a user-friendly app design that makes tracking progress simple and easy for the user. Understanding the target audience ensures the software is
- well-received,
- fulfills its intended purpose, and
- provides a positive user experience.
As a result, software developers can tailor their software solutions based on their target audience, improving the product’s overall value.
2. Developing a Test Plan is Key
End-users must clearly understand the requirements and functionality to develop a comprehensive test plan that helps identify any issues in the software before it is released.
- The initial step in developing a test plan is to define the requirements by collaborating with the development team and stakeholders.
- The test plan should detail the requirements, including functionalities, use cases, and potential test scenarios.
- The next step is to identify the scope of testing and document it along with the expected outcomes. This allows the end-users to know the expectations from the testing.
- The test scenarios should also be prioritized based on criticality, dependencies, and their impact on the overall system, which will guide testing efforts toward the most important aspects of the software.
- The test plan should also include the testing approach, outlining the strategies and techniques for testing the software.
- Added to it, the test plan should include the timeline for testing, which can help the end users plan their testing better.
- It’s essential to allocate enough time for testing to ensure all scenarios are covered.
- Finally, the test plan should identify the resources needed to perform testing most effectively, such as hardware, software requirements, and testing tools. This can help users access the necessary components to execute test scenarios efficiently.
3. Create Detailed Test Cases
Test cases should be developed based on the requirements documented in the test plan.
- It is vital to break down the requirements into smaller, more manageable components to create necessary test cases.
- Each test case should cover a specific scenario, focusing on a feature or software product’s functionality.
- It is also crucial to ensure that the test cases are comprehensive and understandable for the end users.
- Test cases should also include detailed steps for verification and specific expected results for each step.
- In addition, test cases should be organized and prioritized based on their impact on the end-user experience and their criticality to the software product.
Test cases should follow a structured format that is easy to understand and execute while ensuring all features are validated. By developing detailed test cases as part of the UAT process, end-users can effectively validate that the software meets the desired outcome.
4. Create Bug Communication Standards
It is time to discuss Bug Communication Standards in UAT. You will encounter some bugs or issues when testing software or an application. It’s just the way it goes. But the key is to effectively communicate those bugs to the development team so they can fix them. That’s where bug communication standards come in. These are guidelines or protocols for reporting and documenting bugs clearly and consistently. Why is this important? If everyone reports bugs differently, it can lead to confusion and misunderstandings. The development team might not understand what the issue is, or they might not know how to replicate the bug on their end. Check this link to learn how to do a Bug report: How to write a bug report?
5. Have a Clear and Well-Defined Acceptance Criteria
Conducting UAT without clear and well-defined acceptance criteria can lead to several issues:
- Confusion: If the acceptance criteria are unclear, users may be confused about what is expected during UAT, leading to subpar testing practices.
- Misunderstandings: Without well-defined acceptance criteria, there is a risk of misunderstandings between the project team and end-users. This can result in wasted time and effort reworking the software to meet the requirements.
- Delays: The absence of well-defined acceptance criteria can lead to misunderstandings and confusion, which may delay the testing process. This can lead to longer delivery times and project delays.
- Cost overruns: Confusion and delays during UAT can lead to cost overruns because of prolonged testing periods and rework efforts to meet the requirements.
Challenges in User Acceptance Testing Process
Here are the major challenges in the UAT process:
1. Lack of training and guidance:
UAT users may not clearly understand the software’s features and functionalities or how to perform testing. This can lead to incorrect or incomplete testing, resulting in issues being left undetected.
2. Complex scenarios:
The software may have complex scenarios that require specific testing conditions, which may be difficult for UAT users to execute adequately.
3. Different user requirements:
UAT users may have different user requirements, and it can be challenging to determine which requirements to test and how to test them thoroughly.
4. Time constraints:
UAT users may face time constraints that limit the number of test scenarios they can execute, resulting in incomplete testing and unvalidated software.
5. Communication gaps:
Communication gaps between the development team and UAT users may lead to confusion about requirements, how to test them, or how to report issues effectively. This can lead to inaccurate feedback and a longer product development cycle.
To mitigate these challenges, UAT users need proper training and support to conduct thorough testing and provide valuable feedback.
Clear guidelines on testing scenarios, detailed requirements, and acceptance criteria can help minimize misunderstandings and ensure testing is executed correctly. It is also important to allocate enough time for UAT testing and maintain continuous communication with the development team to resolve any issues.
6. New requirements from stakeholders
When stakeholders introduce new or revised requirements during the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process, it can present several challenges from a UAT perspective. To ensure successful testing of the new requirements, follow these:
1. End-users should receive clear communication from the stakeholders regarding the new or changed requirements, including the objectives and any specific details about the desired changes.
2. UAT should evaluate the impact of the additional requirements on the current test plan and cases. This evaluation resolves whether additional test cases need to be developed or existing ones need modification.
3. The UAT team should include the new requirements in the acceptance criteria, ensuring the software meets the new requirements before release.
4. Relying on the scope and complexity of the new requirements, the UAT timeline may need to be adjusted.
5. The UAT team should work closely with stakeholders to understand the new requirements and any potential downstream impacts these changes may have.
6. Finally, additional resources or testing tools may be required to test the new requirements thoroughly.
The UAT team should adapt to new requirements while ensuring testing is effective, efficient, and meets stakeholders’ needs. Effective communication and collaboration between UAT and stakeholders are essential to ensure successful testing of the new requirements while meeting project timelines and budget constraints.
7. Untrained or improper UAT testers
Before testing, UAT users should be made aware of what the software is made for and what they are expected to do. The UAT team should also be shared testing plans beforehand.
In addition to training, it’s equally essential to identify the most suitable users for UAT testing. Users who are most likely to use your software are preferred. At last, you should encourage the UAT users to provide feedback on the testing process and provide insight on how to improve the testing process in the future. This will help ensure that future UAT testing is executed more effectively and efficiently.
8. Limited time
If enough time is not provided to end-users for testing it can result in:
1. Not enough time to thoroughly test all the software or application functionalities. This could lead to missing out on significant defects or bugs.
2. With limited time, providing constructive feedback or suggestions to the development team on improving the software or application may be challenging.
3. The users may be pressured to complete testing within the limited time frame, leading to careless mistakes or failures to follow protocols.
Thus, ensuring sufficient time for users to test the software or application is essential to provide better end-user satisfaction and a higher-quality product.
9. Ineffective communication
Ineffective communication during user acceptance testing (UAT) can be challenging for testers and end-users.
End-users may have specific or unique requirements or requests that may be – missed, or, – poorly documented, or, – poorly communicated Ineffective communication can thus lead to confusion, and UAT may not prove useful after all.
User Acceptance Testing vs Acceptance Testing
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Acceptance testing are two distinct phases in the software development process. While both tests aim to ensure that software meets specified requirements, they differ in their objectives, scope, and stakeholders involved.
| User Acceptance Testing | Acceptance Testing |
| UAT is an end-to-end software testing process where the application is tested from the end user’s perspective. | On the other hand, Acceptance testing focuses on validating whether the software meets the requirements and specifications as documented based on the technical and functional perspective. Acceptance testing is broader in scope and encompasses different types of testing, including unit testing, integration testing, and system testing. |
| The primary purpose of UAT is to ensure that the software is usable, conforms to the user’s requirements, and performs as expected.UAT is typically conducted by non-technical stakeholders, including end-users, clients, and other business stakeholders. | Technical stakeholders typically conduct acceptance testing, including developers and quality assurance teams. |
The focus is usually more on the user interface, usability, and user workflows. | Acceptance testing ensures that the software meets the functional, technical, and business expectations before it is released and ready for the real world. |
Overall, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Acceptance testing are crucial stages in software development, and ensuring success requires careful planning, execution, and effective communication. Testing teams must identify the purpose of each type of testing and the stakeholders involved to create a comprehensive testing plan suitable for the software project’s specific needs.
Should this UAT be automated?
We know UAT requires end-users to interact with the software in a real-world scenario to ensure it performs as expected. Since UAT involves end-users, it cannot be automated entirely, as it requires human feedback and judgment.
UAT cannot be automated, but when the feedback taken from the users is implemented, the changes should be documented and tested in every release. The test cases testing this feedback also become a good candidate for automation.
To automate your test cases, you would need the right tool for test automation.
Why Testsigma for automating your User Acceptance Testing?
Here is why Testsigma is recommended as a tool for automating your user acceptance tests:
✅ Automate easily in simple English
✅ Start test automation in minutes
✅ Automate for web, mobile & APIs from the same place
✅ Save time on your test maintenance with AI-supported built-in features
✅ Easy and efficient test execution on the cloud
✅ Debug with the help of screenshots, videos and logs easily
✅ Get reports that you can customize according to your needs
✅ Setup all your review and collaboration processes on the cloud
✅ Easily integrate with CI/CD tools
✅ Access your tests from anywhere anytime
✅ A helpful support that is there for you 24×7
Testsigma is also available as open source and free.
Summary
It’s time to wrap up! To get it right, UAT needs to match up with business goals and be a part of the whole software development process. Communication is key!
Establishing communication channels between the project team, testers, and end-users is essential to ensure everyone is on the same page and information flows smoothly.
We should aim to identify unintended bugs or errors through regression testing to guarantee the best results. Additionally, leveraging automated testing can increase efficiency and consistency.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you conduct a good UAT?
Conducting good UAT testing requires the early involvement of end-users, a comprehensive test plan, effective communication, test execution, and feedback incorporation. It is crucial to have thorough documentation, track results, and make necessary improvements.
Who performs UAT?
The UAT team consists of business analysts, quality assurance analysts, project managers, and end-users, all working to verify that the software meets predefined standards and expectations regarding functionality, usability, and performance. Their collective feedback and testing ensure the software meets the business and end-user’s requirements and aligns with the project objectives.
Why is UAT important in Agile?
The Agile methodology is characterized by delivering a functioning product after each software development iteration. Performing User Acceptance Testing (UAT) following each iteration is crucial to ensure the product consistently satisfies users’ expectations.
Suggested Reading
User Acceptance Testing Checklist- 6 Essential Elements To Consider
