Acceptance Testing (UAT, OAT, Alpha/Beta)

Acceptance testing answers one question: does the system let the business/user do the job they bought it for? Verification ("built right") is done by then; this is validation ("built the right thing").

When to use / not use

• Use: pre-release sign-off, contract milestones, regulated releases, customer pilots, beta programs.
• Don't use it to find low-level bugs — that is unit/integration/system testing. A UAT that finds 50 crashes means earlier levels failed.

The five acceptance types

Workflow

1. Collect acceptance criteria from stories/contracts. Rewrite each as a testable statement (Given/When/Then, measurable threshold). Reject vague ones ("fast", "user-friendly") and ask for numbers.
2. Define entry criteria: system test passed, no open Sev1/Sev2, test data + UAT environment ready, testers trained.
3. Build the UAT scenario set from real end-to-end business processes — not from the UI screens. One scenario = one user goal, start to finish, with realistic data.
4. Trace: map every acceptance criterion → ≥1 scenario (see test-planning-documentation for RTM).
5. Execute with business users, time-boxed. Capture evidence (screenshots, recordings, data before/after).
6. Triage defects live: defect vs change request vs misunderstanding (training gap). Only defects block sign-off.
7. Exit / sign-off: all Must criteria pass, zero open Sev1/Sev2, agreed workarounds documented for Sev3, formal sign-off recorded (name, date, version/build).

Scenario template

ID: UAT-014        Priority: Must        Criterion: AC-7 (refund within 5 min)
Persona: Support agent, EU region
Pre-state: Order #A-991 paid, shipped, within 30-day window
Steps: 1) Open order  2) Issue partial refund 40%  3) Confirm customer email
Expected: Ledger shows -40%; email sent < 5 min; audit log has agent ID
Evidence: recording + ledger export        Result: PASS / FAIL / BLOCKED

Beta program checklist

• Feature flag + kill switch; % rollout (1 → 5 → 25 → 100).
• Feedback channel in-product; telemetry for errors, funnels, latency.
• Explicit exit metrics (crash-free sessions ≥ 99.5%, task success ≥ 90%, NPS trend).

Pitfalls

• Testers who were never trained → false failures. Run a 30-min walkthrough first.
• Testing on synthetic/empty data → misses real-world volume and edge data. Use masked production-like data (test-data-engineering).
• Sign-off by someone with no authority. Record the accountable approver up front.
• Scope creep: new asks discovered in UAT go to the backlog, not the release gate.

Related skills

bdd-gherkin-testing, test-planning-documentation, release-readiness-testing, usability-testing, system-testing