Software solutions must meet technical specifications and align seamlessly with end-user requirements and business objectives. 

That’s why companies perform User Acceptance Testing (UAT). It is a critical phase in the software deployment process, acting as the final quality check before a product goes live. 

However, its effectiveness is only as good as its execution and how you lay out the information gathered during the trials. 

The User Acceptance Testing template streamlines the UAT process, ensuring a systematic approach to validate functionalities against business use cases. With a robust UAT template, businesses can mitigate risks, reduce post-deployment issues, and ensure that the software delivers tangible value to its stakeholders.

If you wish to do the same for your business, this article is for you.

User acceptance testing (UAT testing) is a document that allows users to conduct user tests to evaluate how a software application performs and if it meets the client’s requirements.

The test scenarios are meant for you to apply real-world environment situations and see if the testing team can make it until the end. The user acceptance test provides test data about the product you must fix before launching it to the public.

The testing process identifies bugs and overall issues that you missed during the production phase that also must be addressed to meet client expectations.

There are three testing approaches that you must follow when meeting user acceptance criteria. Let’s break them down:

Requirements

A UAT test plan follows specific requirements according to the evaluation criteria. So, test cases must follow the business’s decisions and use an ID number to track notes.

This approach emphasizes written information over everything else, which could be a disadvantage as the elements could include mistakes or misinformation.

Business Processes

Business test cases ensure that the system works and supports the business requirements.

They showcase all the completed conditions and how they improve the organization’s final product.

User Interfaces

These tests involve a structured form and screens so the unit testing the product answers them.

They require data entry, interactions, and a test report with user stories to back the process.

You can find five clear benefits of using the UAT test case template on your business:

1. Fewer Bugs: A UAT allows you to identify mistakes that your end user would find terrible. With defined acceptance criteria, you can reduce their appearance likelihood further in the production process.

2. Improved Documentation: This end-user testing method includes documentation through all testing scenarios. It helps your business to find technical issues and requirements that must be addressed before releasing the product.

3. User Need Understanding: Since your test scenario uses real persons as part of your team, you can use them to help you understand your client further. This will provide insights about the modifications you must include in your final product to meet their expectations.

4. Actual Users Satisfaction: UAT strives to improve your product for the target users. It reduces issues that could hinder experience through quality assurance.

5. Improved Time Management: The testing environment saves time and resources by locating potential issues before release.

Project managers have best practices to follow if they want their QA testing and development team to complete the UAT changes on time.

It’s not only about considering user feedback; this requires thorough analysis.

Here’s what you must consider:

Understand the Ultimate User

If you don’t know who your target user group is, you can’t confirm your product functions correctly.

Why? Because you don’t know what they want.

So, find their motives, efforts, problems, and pain points to address them in your product and build a reliable proposition that your customer values.

Build a User Acceptance Testing Plan First

The UAT is a mandatory document to build and deploy before developing your product.

It serves as a way to avoid pressure and meet software deadlines.

Some companies prefer to use it later, which could cause missing information and wrong software development due to a lack of focus.

Structured Management System

A structured UAT management system contains entry and exit criteria that you can use to:

• Create reports.

• Filter options.

• Matrix-tracing.

• Bug-tracking.

Build Real-World Scenarios

Use your business requirements to build actual scenarios where your product works. As the UAT involves end users, you can use this to find better targeting ways.

Define Acceptance Criteria According to Your Business Objectives

The acceptance criteria are why products pass or fail when you conduct UAT. So, align your benchmark to your business so it’s always focused on the user needs and ensures you’re going in the right direction.

There are two main types of stages you must focus on for a successful UAT completion.

Let’s check them out:

Sequential

This stage follows the V-shape development sequence. The final stage is the UAT, which you’ll use to complete the system according to your company's requirements.

Iterative

The iterative approach follows a much more agile development process. This means you will test the system functionalities during sprints to ensure they work before moving forward.

A UAT is developed right before releasing a final product to the public. You can create pressure on the QA staff and all stakeholders so they find last-minute tweaks. 

But how can you know which tests to run first?

You have to prioritize and prepare the most important tests first to make the changes ASAP and leave behind those that aren’t urgent. This is done through a risk management strategy that allows you to identify urgencies and changes and rank them by priority.

When preparing a user acceptance test, you must perform two types of testing, one next to developers and the other right before production. Those are the alpha and beta testing.

Testing in Alpha

This is the first trial performed before the product releases to check bugs. QA teams use a controlled environment to ensure quality assurance.

The test team usually consists of people within the company, such as:

• Engineers
• Product managers

They follow the UAT planning during these early stages and follow the real users’ journeys.

Here’s an example:

Your company is developing a new SaaS. The software product has already passed a few development stages, and now it’s time to test with an alpha test.

The devs take all the stakeholders involved and install the app so they can test it following a UAT process. 

They will try to find issues and bugs to meet the entry criteria standards and ensure the app runs smoothly. They will also monitor:

• System resources.
• Loading times.
• Responsiveness.
• User-friendliness.
• General performance parameters.

After conducting UAT, they will gather feedback and update designs, functionalities, and more.

Testing in Beta

This is the last test before a public product release.

This time, the trial is developed with a real target audience and their natural environment. They will try the application and will try to do everything available. The QA team can follow a UAT checklist or intuitively check what the software can do.

The goal here is to file bug reports and gather real data to understand how the product performs clearly.

Now, there are five beta testing types that product owners can run:

1. Traditional: The software is released according to the business requirement and aims to receive feedback from the target.
2. Technical Testing: The program is available to the staff so they complete test logs with valuable information that devs can use.
3. Public Beta: The devs release the product to the public through online channels. The idea is that the company tries the app with real people to try and meet the expected results.
4. Focused Beta: The software is available only for a few users who can provide useful information.
5. Post-Release Beta: The program is fully released to the market and accepts usability and functionality feedback that the company can use for improvements.

Here’s how an example plays out:

A gaming company develops a video game. They have already passed the alpha test, met the expected result, and are ready to release a focused beta before the final release.

The devs gather a few lucky people who will likely purchase the game after testing to allow them to play and provide feedback for improvements. They give them a unique identifier and ask them to complete several tests looking for the following:

• Bugs.
• Glitches.
• Exploits.

Once the beta is over, the devs gather all information and make the proper fixes to the game that could involve graphics, effects, interfaces, playability, etc.

If they’ve already released the game, they could launch a hotfix to fix the problems.

An acceptance testing plan includes user roles, stories, training, and other procedures you must develop to get the necessary information.

But what does a UAT look like?

Define the User Roles

Each stakeholder has their role. So, the first thing to do is to set up the roles of the people involved. They all have particular privileges.

Use your UAT to build test cases and align the user roles to a specific action. This will allow you to understand their behaviors and prepare better projects.

Prepare User Stories

These business requirements are essential for testing. They are critical in allowing the company to communicate through different channels.

User stories convey elements such as emails or meeting sessions that the QA team uses to build test cases.

Modify Your Language

The UAT is not completed by professionals but by users instead. This means that you shouldn’t use difficult language or jargon in your tests so they can quickly understand the trial.

Perhaps some users will answer as pros, but that’s not common. Allow customers to communicate as they can so you can progress faster.

Prepare User Acceptance Testing Templates

Build templates in collaboration with business analysts and devs. Give them to the UAT testers after being accepted. 

Provide Software Training

If you wish for better results in your UAT, you should train your testers so they know how to use the program properly.

This will build their confidence, and they will be willing to use the product further, giving you more information about your deployment.

After finishing a user acceptance test, you’ll end up with three kinds of feedback: bugs, change requests, and extra features.

Each may be positive or negative and will provide insights that you’ll use to improve your product.

Let’s break them down:

• Bugs: Testers could write bugs and issues they had during the process that didn’t let them complete actions. They will have a high priority so they get fixed fast. If problems aren’t critical, the QA team should review the information before taking action.

• Change requests: These are minor changes the users send as recommendations that could improve their journey and make the app more intuitive. If a client requests a change, you could negotiate with them and explain why you should or shouldn’t modify it.

• New features: These take more than just a few tweaks. New functionalities aren’t developed and require more resources. So, you must communicate with the users to determine the necessary functions.

There’s a checklist you must follow to ensure your UAT is processed correctly.

Start a User Acceptance Project

• Find all the stakeholders including:

• Developers.
• Testers.
• Project managers.
• Users.

• Review stakeholders to ensure they all provide accurate feedback.

Plan the UAT

• Develop a plan with clear goals.

• Set up a test environment.

• Build test cases.

• Choose tools and timelines that the QA team will use.

UAT Design

• Craft test cases designs.

• Use user stories as a document-requirement element.

UAT Execution

• Start the UAT process using a testing system.

• Apply the test to users in the same page as the aimed target.

• Determine if the test meets requirements and expectations.

• Analyze the results.

• Make the necessary product changes.

Come Up With the Decisions

• Process all the UAT decisions.

• Examine the results and make decisions that improve the product.

• Identify the issues, flaws and make a before and after report.

• The UAT indicates the software’s technical and functional viability.

Post-Release UAT Actions

• Further steps are established for post-sales situations.

• User feedback is received to understand how the software develops and what is the project’s future.

If you have a checklist that works and you know how to use it, we’ve gathered valuable templates for your UA testing. 

To edit, read, edit or share your template, you’ll need a valid license of MS Office, which costs hundreds of dollars on the Microsoft website. But don’t worry – RoyalCDKeys has the solution. As a third party reseller that buys keys in bulk, we offer you a fully legitimate and cheap Microsoft Office 2021 CD Key for just a few bucks so you can activate the software suite on your computer.

Use this cheap and original serial key to unlock all MS features and use programs like Excel, Word, or Publisher.

With them, you can:

• Modify templates as you wish.
• Share documents through email or the cloud.
• Create dynamic tables.
• Change status.
• Use automated formulas.
• Gather and create datasets.
• Build charts and graphs.

Template #1

User Acceptance Testing Template - Download Link

Template #2

UAT Test Report Validation Template - Download Link

Template #3

Ministry of Environment UAT Template - Download Link

As businesses continue to evolve and rely heavily on software solutions to drive operational efficiency and competitive advantage, the importance of a meticulous User Acceptance Testing process cannot be overstated. 

A well-crafted UAT template is more than just a checklist. It's a strategic instrument that ensures software solutions are not only technically sound but also aligned with business objectives and user expectations. 

By investing in a comprehensive UAT template, organizations can confidently launch products that resonate with their target audience, minimize costly post-launch modifications, and solidify their position in the market.