Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
he ship built has to float
Figure 4.4
User acceptance tests.
asking for contingency. It at least allows for the possibility that the numbers
reflect some aspect of reality and can be used reliably for future analysis.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
User acceptance testing (UAT) is when the rubber meets the road. This
is the point where a lot of the efforts expended up to that point are
validated as acceptable. Often, it is also one of the more painful experi-
ences for the development team.
UAT (Figure 4.4) is the step when the deliverables are validated against
the requirements. It is not QA because the customer is not expected to
have an understanding of software testing methods and processes. It is
the customer's opportunity to confirm that the application is in a state
that it can be released.
The problems arise due to differences in opinion about:
The interpretation of the requirements (what is a bug and what is
a feature)
The implicit scope assumptions (“I always assumed help meant
context-sensitive help and not a 200-page user manual in PDF”)
The state of completeness of what has been delivered
The importance of the nonfunctional requirements
UAT gets complicated:
When the people change on the customer's side between the time
the requirements are prepared and the application is delivered;
there may be disagreements within the customer teams about the
requirements themselves
If the time given for UAT is inadequate
Because some customers treat UAT as yet another opportunity to
improve the deliverable
