In engineering and its various subdisciplines, acceptance testing is a test used to determine whether a product meets specification or contract requirements. These tests may include chemical tests, physical tests, or performance tests. In systems engineering, acceptance testing may involve black-box testing of a system (such as software, manufactured mechanical parts, or batches of chemical products) to confirm that it meets requirements before delivery.
In software testing, the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) defines acceptance testing as: formal testing of user needs, requirements and business processes to determine whether the system meets the acceptance criteria and enable users, customers or other Authorized entities can decide whether to accept the system.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the final step in the quality assurance process, conducted before final release, to evaluate whether the product or application can handle real-world scenarios. Verify that the system meets business requirements by simulating user behavior and veto changes if certain criteria are not met. The forms of acceptance testing include user acceptance testing, end-user testing, running acceptance testing, and acceptance test-driven development.
The acceptance test plan may need to be executed multiple times because not all test cases can be executed in one test iteration. This process consists of predetermined testing procedures, instructing testers on what data to use, step-by-step procedures to follow, and expected execution results. If the actual results match the expected results, the test case is considered passed. If the number of failed test cases does not exceed the project's predetermined threshold, the acceptance test plan is considered passed; otherwise, the system may reject or accept based on the agreement between the sponsor and the manufacturer.
The main purpose of conducting acceptance testing is that once completed and the acceptance criteria are met, the sponsor should sign off on the product development as meeting the business requirements.
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the process of verifying that a solution provides users with the functionality they require. This process is different from system testing, which is to ensure that the software does not crash and meets documentation requirements, but to ensure that the solution can actually serve users. This type of testing should be performed by an end user or subject matter expert (SME), preferably the owner or customer of the solution. Users need to execute test scenarios under actual conditions to ensure that the software can work in real use.
UAT is the final validation of required business functionality, simulating real-world conditions to ensure user acceptance of the solution.
Operational Acceptance Testing (OAT) is a non-functional software test used to determine the overall operational readiness of a product, service or system. This type of testing focuses on the operational readiness of the system to ensure that it can effectively become part of a production environment.
Common acceptance test types include: User Acceptance Test (UAT), Factory Acceptance Test (FAT), and Operational Acceptance Test (OAT). During factory acceptance testing, equipment is typically tested before installation to confirm that the equipment not only meets specifications but is also fully operational.
Acceptance criteria are "a set of criteria that a system or component must meet in order to be accepted by a user, customer, or other authorized entity."
However, how many untapped needs are hidden behind these standards?