Should User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Really Be Done by the Users?

User Acceptance Testing, the final stage of the software development life cycle, ensures that the business processes and users’ operational real-life scenarios are being supported correctly by the system. It also ensures that the users’ requirements have been met.

In most organizations I have worked with, the UAT process has been supported by a mix of quality assurance professionals and end users. The QA professionals were mostly involved in the UAT planning and design stages, analyzing the business scenarios and developing the UAT test cases. The end users were mostly involved in test execution.

User Acceptance Testing typically includes the following stages:

1) Test Plan

2) Test Design

3) Test Execution and Defect Management

4) Defining and evaluating product release criteria

5) Approving/rejecting software release

End users should take an active part in UAT execution. They are better equipped to understand the business processes involved which allows them to confirm that the system meets their needs. Participating in the UAT process can be a great opportunity for users by allowing them to get the “feel” of the system, train themselves and start adjusting to the new system or environment.

The users should be responsible for approving or rejecting software release (5) and usually be involved in defining the release criteria (4).

source: techlinks