What an Effective UAT Can Do
Unknown to many, user acceptance testing has been around for the past two decades or so, but was called in many different names. It was also often conducted in-house or within the developers’ site. Nowadays, thanks to the power of the internet, the evaluation for new software can be done outside the development site.
All too often, the products delivered by the developers or the IT department fail to meet the expectations of the customers, especially when it comes to the quality and the usability of the product. An effective process of user acceptance testing can address this issue in two powerful ways: first, by making sure that the customer is fully engaged in the requirements gathering process and second, by having the customer confirm the performance and the functionality of the software prior to delivery. Although user acceptance testing is not as thorough as the integration and systems testing, the UAT is still rigorous by industry standards and can help both the developers and stake holders determine unforeseen problems related to the usability, functionality and effectiveness of the software in helping the end users perform their tasks better and faster. User acceptance testing also provides the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of the software product while establishing the objectives for its marketing, production and release.
The UAT can also help create guides for future research. The potential limitations, applications and system bugs found during the user acceptance testing can help reduce future problems. An effective UAT can help reduce the risk of the late detection of problems that can put the company into crisis mode.
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