User Acceptance Testing CSTE Skill Category 7

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User Acceptance TestingCSTE- Skill Category 7

• Acceptance Testing Concepts
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Acceptance Test Planning
• Acceptance Test Execution

Presented by Deanna Benton QA/QC Infrastructure
Lead, Albertsons
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I. Acceptance Testing Concepts1.Acceptance
testing concepts2.Difference between system test
acceptance test

• Acceptance testing concepts
• Acceptance Testing is formal testing conducted to
  determine whether a software system satisfies its
  acceptance criteria and to enable the buyer to
  determine whether to accept the system.

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• SOFTWARE ACCEPTANCE is an incremental process of
  approving or rejecting software systems during
  development or maintenance, according to how well
  the software satisfies predefined criteria.
• Final software acceptance testing must occur at
  the end of the development process
• ACCEPTANCE DECISIONS occur at pre-defined times
  when processes, support tools, interim
  documentation, segments of the software, and the
  total software system must meet accepted elements
• Final acceptance decision occurs with
  verification that the delivered documentation is
  adequate and meets buyer requirements

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Acceptance testing involves procedures for
identifying acceptance criteria for interim life
cycle products and for accepting them. As a life
cycle process, software acceptance enables

• 1-Early detection of software problems
• 2-Preparation of appropriate test facilities
• 3-Early consideration of the users needs during
  software development
• 4-Accountability for software acceptance belongs
  to the customer of the software whose
  responsibilities are
• Ensure user involvement in developing system
  requirements and acceptance criteria
• Identify interim and final products for
  acceptance, acceptance criteria and schedule
• Plan how and by whom each acceptance activity
  will be performed
• Plan resources for providing information on which
  to base acceptance decisions
• Schedule adequate time for buyer staff to receive
  and examine products and evaluations prior to
  acceptance review
• Prepare the Acceptance Plan
• Respond to the analyses of project entities
  before accepting or rejecting
• Approve the various interim software products
  against quantified criteria at interim points
• Perform the final acceptance activities,
  including formal acceptance testing, at delivery
• Make an acceptance decision for each product

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Acceptance testing is designed to determine
whether the software is fit for use. The concept
of fit is important in both design and testing

• The 4 components of fit are
• Data-The reliability, timeliness, consistency and
  usefulness of the data included in the automated
  application
• People-People should have the skills, training,
  aptitude and the desire to properly use and
  interact with the automated application
• Structure-The structure is the proper development
  of application systems to optimize technology and
  satisfy requirements
• Rules-The rules are the procedures to follow in
  processing the data

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The system must fit into these four components of
the business environment. If any of the
components fails to fit properly, the success of
the application system will be diminished
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Difference between Acceptance Test and System Test

• Acceptance Testing is performed by user personnel
  and may include assistance by software testers.
• System Testing is performed by developers and/or
  software testers.
• The objective of both is to assure that it will
  be acceptable to the user in the end!
• System Test should be performed before User
  Acceptance Testing.

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II. Roles and Responsibilities Users
role Software testers role

• Users role
• Begins with the user making the determination
  whether or not acceptance testing will occur
• If acceptance testing does occur, the user is
  responsible for planning and conducting the
  testing
• At a minimum the user will have the following
  roles in acceptance testing
• Defining acceptance criteria in a testable format
• Providing the use cases that will be used in
  acceptance testing
• Training user personnel in using the new software
  system
• Providing the necessary resources, primarily user
  staff for acceptance testing
• Comparing the actual acceptance testing results
  with the desired acceptance testing results
• Making decisions whether the software is
  acceptable or whether more work needs to be
  completed

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• Software testers role
• Software testers can have 3 roles
• 1. No involvement at all. The user accepts
  full responsibility for developing and executing
  the acceptance test plan
• 2. An advisor role. The user will develop and
  execute the test plan, but rely on software
  testers to compensate for a lack of competency on
  the part of the users or a quality control role
• 3. Active participant in software testing
  role. This role can include any or the entire
  acceptance testing activities
• The software tester cannot make the decision
  whether or not the software can be placed into
  production
• The software testers should develop the
  acceptance test process.
• Develop a process for defining acceptance
  criteria
• Develop a process for building an acceptance test
  plan
• Develop a process for recording and presenting
  the results of acceptance testing

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III. Acceptance Test Planning

• The acceptance test plan follows the practices
  used for developing an overall system test plan
• Acceptance Criteria
• Acceptance Test Plan
• Use Case Test Data

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Acceptance Criteria

• The user must assign the criteria the software
  must meet to be deemed acceptable. In preparing
  for developing the acceptance criteria, the user
  should
• Acquire full knowledge of the application for
  which the system is intended
• Become fully acquainted with the application as
  it is currently implemented by the users
  organization
• Understand the risks and benefits of the
  development methodology that is to be used in
  correcting the software system
• Fully understand the consequences of adding new
  functions to enhance the system

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Acceptance requirements that a system must meet
can be divided into 4 categories

• 1- Functional Requirements- this relates to the
  business rules that the system must execute
• 2- Performance Requirements- this relates to
  operational aspects, such as time or resource
  constraints
• 3- Interface Quality Requirements- this relates
  to connections from one component to another
  component of processing
• 4- Overall Software Quality Requirements- these
  specify limits for factors or attributes such as
  reliability, testability, correctness and
  usability

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• All safety criteria are critical and by law,
  certain security requirements are critical. Some
  typical factors affecting criticality include
• Importance of the system to organization or
  industry
• Consequence of failure
• Complexity of the project
• Technology risk
• Complexity of the user environment

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• USER RESPONSIBILITIES
• The user has the responsibility of ensuring that
  acceptance criteria contain pass or fail criteria
• For specific software systems, users must examine
  their projects characteristics and criticality
  in order to develop expanded lists of acceptance
  criteria for those software systems
• The user must also establish acceptance criteria
  for individual elements of a product (should be
  numeric value or a range of values)

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Acceptance Test Plan

• The first step to achieve software acceptance is
  the simultaneous development of a Software
  Acceptance Plan, general project plans, and
  software requirements to ensure that user needs
  are represented correctly and completely. This
  simultaneous development will provide an overview
  of the acceptance activities, to ensure that
  resources for them are included in the project
  plans.

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• Acceptance managers define the objectives of the
  acceptance activities and a plan for meeting them
• After the initial Software Acceptance Plan has
  been prepared, reviewed and approved, the
  acceptance manager is responsible for
  implementing the plan and assuring that the
  plans objectives are met

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What should be included in a Software Acceptance
Plan?

• The first section of the plan is an overview of
  the software development or maintenance project,
  followed by major sections for management
  responsibilities and administrative matters
• The plans overview section describes the
  technical program for software acceptance
• The plan must include the techniques and tools
  that will be utilized in acceptance testing
• Two categories of testing techniques can be used
  in acceptance testing structural and functional
• Functional testing techniques help ensure that
  the requirements/specifications are properly
  satisfied by the software system
• Structural testing ensures sufficient checking of
  the implementation of the function by finding
  test data that will force sufficient coverage of
  the structured presence in the implemented
  software

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Use Case Test Data

• A use case is a test case which represents how
  the software will be used in operation
• A use case is built on a business transaction and
  can be test data or a test script
• Unit testing will attempt to determine whether
  there are any variances between unit
  specifications and the unit as it is executed
• Integration testing will attempt to determine if
  there is a variance between specified integration
  and actual integration
• System testing will validate that the system will
  perform as specified
• The test cases and scripts used for these three
  levels of testing are focused more on the
  components of the software than business
  transactions

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An individual use case consists of

• Preconditions that set the stage for the series
  of events that should occur for the use case
• Post-conditions that state the expected outcomes
  of the above process
• Sequential narrative of the execution of the use
  case

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IV. Acceptance Test Execution Execute the
Acceptance Test Plan Acceptance Decision

• Execute the Acceptance Test Plan
• The objective is to determine whether the
  acceptance criteria have been met in a delivered
  product
• Through reviews, which involve looking at the
  interim products and partially developed
  deliverables at various points throughout the
  dev. Process.
• Through testing the executable software system
• The determination of which of these techniques to
  use will depend on the criticality of the
  software, the size of the software program, the
  resources involved, and the time period over
  which the software is being developed

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• Software acceptance criteria should be specified
  in the formal project plan
• Acceptance decisions need a framework in which to
  operate
• A disciplined acceptance program for software of
  any type may include reviews as a formal
  mechanism
• Some software acceptance activities may include
  testing pieces of the software formal software
  acceptance testing occurs at the point in the
  development life cycle when the user accepts or
  rejects the software

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• Acceptance Decision
• Final acceptance of software based on software
  acceptance testing usually means that the
  software project has been completed, with the
  exception of any caveats or contingencies
• Final acceptance for the software occurs and the
  developer has no further development obligations

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• Typical acceptance decisions include
• Required changes are accepted before progressing
  to the next activity
• Some changes must be made and accepted before
  further development of that section of the
  product other changes may be made and accepted
  at the next major review
• Progress may continue and changes may be accepted
  at the next review
• No changes are required and progress may continue
• The goal is to achieve and accept perfect
  software!