Introduction of User Acceptance Testing

The user acceptance testing is usually a black box type of testing. In other words, the focus is on the functionality and the usability of the application rather than the technical aspects. It is generally assumed that the application would have already undergone Unit, Integration and System Level Testing.
However, it is useful if the User acceptance Testing is carried out in an environment that closely resembles the real world or production environment.

The steps taken for User Acceptance Testing typically involve one or more of the following:

1) User Acceptance Test (UAT) Planning
2) Designing UA Test Cases
3) Selecting a Team that would execute the (UAT) Test Cases
4) Executing Test Cases
5) Documenting the Defects found during UAT
6) Resolving the issues/Bug Fixing
7) Sign Off

User Acceptance Testing is of Two types:

• Alpha Testing: Alpha testing is simulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent test team at the developers’ site. Alpha testing is often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal acceptance testing, before the software goes to beta testing. Alpha Testing is carried out within the organization and not at the client’s side.

• Beta Testing: Beta testing comes after alpha testing. Versions of the software, known as beta versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the company. The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs. Sometimes, beta versions are made available to the open public to increase the feedback field to a maximal number of future users.