Top 5 Practices for Effective UAT Testing

 The requirements have been collected, sprints organized, and completed. Development has nearly finished, testing has occurred, and the product is now ready for launch. This is when user acceptance testing (or UAT) takes place.

Business users can test during development in an agile project. However, this is not UAT. Although business partners can be end-users in an agile project, they can also be involved in the development, which can lead to biases in how the product is perceived. UAT allows you to introduce uninvolved users to the product under the guidance of your business team and the support of technical staff to ensure that the system meets their needs in real-world situations.

UAT is used to determine if the system supports day-to-day business scenarios and user scenarios. It also ensures that the system is adequate and appropriate for business use. UAT can be done in many ways: virtual, in-person, depending on the circumstances; focused time; or as a fit-in.

Five best practices have been compiled to help you make your UAT cycle more efficient.

1. Identify Users

Who will be testing the data? UAT's success depends on the quality of its users. UAT's success depends on the selection of users. They can be either internal or external or both. They can also come from different job positions.

If the system is customer-facing you should ensure that customers are chosen to test it. Although this seems obvious, I have been part of UATs of customer-facing systems where no customers participated. These customers' feedback is invaluable and can help you identify issues in your current system. It can also help you gather requirements for future enhancements.

2. Test Cases Identified And Documented

UAT testers require a step-by-step plan to guide them through testing. They will be seeing the new features for the first time. A roadmap is necessary to help them focus their attention and provide instructions on how they should work. These steps should be clear and simple to follow.

In-person testing was the norm before remote teamwork and operations became the new norm. In-person testing is best done with a printed document. This will allow users to easily navigate unfamiliar systems while still being able to return to the application to finish their work. Include testing for improvements that users are excited about.

UAT is open to anyone who makes their job easier or automates an otherwise manual process. Another area of focus is a workflow that might be complicated or novel. UAT allows users to experience the system in action. This will make them more excited and help them market the platform to others.

3. Environment Preparation

Prepare, prepare, prepare. It is a mantra I cannot stress enough.

Prepare the environment for UAT. Make sure users who are identified for UAT have the correct credentials and data. To ensure that they work, you can test these credentials before using them. To ensure that the credentials work, run through the test cases.

You don't want any mishaps with users' logins to ruin their first experience with your new features. This is especially important in today's constantly evolving environment. These testers will market your product and will give you a positive review.

4. Schedule And Listics For Remote Testing

You can schedule time for users to test. Your users will be most likely to be remote today, so invite them to a meeting. Remote testing can be challenging, but necessary, if users encounter difficulties that cannot be solved. Remote testing doesn't have to be difficult if you plan well and have a process for anticipating and solving any problems.

Remote users will need to have a conference phone number that they can dial into during testing in order to get immediate help if they have any questions or run into any problems. Make yourself available to testers while they are present in the room. Listen to their suggestions and questions. To allow them to continue testing, address any issues quickly.

It is also a good idea for technology partners to be available for system updates and troubleshooting if needed.

Make testing fun for users. It's crucial to foster a sense of community, especially in remote settings.

5. Bug Triage & Prioritization

Have a plan in place to deal with any issues that may arise during testing. You can triage the issue by asking the user to show you how they discovered it. Also, make sure you document as much information as possible about the problem (e.g. what browser they used, their user ID and what they were trying to do). The better it is for the technology team, the easier it will be to reproduce and fix the problem.

Help the user to get out of trouble by changing the way they test or moving on with their testing.

A standard template can be kept in one place to capture issues and summarize them at the end. Ask users for their opinions about the severity of items found and any possible workarounds. To help prioritize fixes, use their opinions. You can add issues that are not resolved immediately to your backlog.

Because it is the most important phase of quality control, user acceptance testing can be seen as the most crucial. It's highly effective in reducing time and costs, and increasing customer satisfaction. It lowers the likelihood of production problems being raised. This in turn, reduces the amount work needed for development and maintenance.