What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

It is conducted in the final phase of the software development process, just before the software product or application is going to be released. In certain scenarios, developers also implement UAT after the app has been released, so that the design changes or new features can be tested. A real user will be given the responsibility to test the software product or application in a real-time environment and thus provide their feedback, which can in turn be acted upon strategically.

The following are the guidelines for user acceptance testing:

1. Clearly defined goals: Before the UAT process is launched, the team should have a proper goal in terms of what exactly needs to be derived from this test. The quality of future projects should be enhanced by these programs, without time being spent directly on them. A successful product can be developed when these tests are implemented early on in the process.

2. The significance of code review: The technical aspects such as performance, security and functionality are focused upon by code review. Every line of code in a program is looked upon by code reviewers to make sure there are no technical issues or bugs with the code. Through this, issues or errors with the program are prevented that may not be apparent to end users apparently.

3. Passwords should be strong: The passwords should be strong in scenarios wherein the website might be dealt directly or indirectly with.

4. The security aspect: To make sure that the application's code is secure enough, the team should verify that only authorized users can do the necessary interaction.

5. The scope for scaling up: If the team can identify what needs to be done in terms of scaling up the test results then they must go forward and do it accordingly.

6. Complexity should be minimized: A usable interface is provided on which simple tests are written and thus the complexity is minimized.