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Putting the “User” back into UAT
An agile approach to User Acceptance Testing
GOVIS 2007
1.30 p.m. Thursday 10 May 2007
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Introduction
Andrew McDowell, Senior Consultant, Equinox Limited What is UAT?
The benefits of UAT
The barriers to UAT
UAT the agile way
Dr. Gordon Paynter, Technical Analyst, Innovation Centre, National Library of New Zealand
Case study – UAT at the National Library of New Zealand
Conclusion
Questions
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What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?
A software testing activity performed by end users to Test the functionality of the system before it is deployed
Determine if the system meets user needs
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The benefits of UAT
To gain confidence before deployment
To obtain evidence the system is fit for purpose
Users have domain knowledge
Users gain application experience (training)
User buy in
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The barriers to UAT
Not sure how to go about it
The cost of freeing up people and resources
Belief that there are no suitably skilled staff to do it
Already agreed to a signoff timeframe that is too short
Belief that the system has been rigorously tested by the vendor or development team
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UAT the agile way
We recommend an agile approach to UAT Leverage outputs of the requirements analysis process
Minimise documentation
Traditional approaches Exploratory testing (ad-hoc)
Structured approach
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UAT the agile way
Getting started Select testers from the intended user group
Establish defect management
Planning Base your test cases on your Use Case documentation
Focus on key data elements
Document enough to confirm coverage of requirements
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UAT the agile way
Execution Work iteratively
Be systematic
Focus on failures
Elaborate your tests if necessary to ensure they are repeatable
Wrapping up Listen to the testers
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Case study – UAT for the WCT
The Web Curator Tool is a tool for managing the selective web harvesting process.
It is designed for use in libraries by non-technical users. Development was a joint project of the National Library of New Zealand
and the British Library.
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Case study – UAT for the WCT
What Equinox did Requirements analysis and Use Case documentation Test strategy and test plan templates
What the software developer did Wrote the software
What the National Library did Project management Wrote test scenarios based on use cases Tested the software
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Test case documents
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Results document
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Lessons learned
Swapping between scenario spreadsheet and result spreadsheet is time consuming (and annoying)
The extent of re-test depends on the number and size of releases
Detail-oriented completists make good testers
Add new test cases (or the same cases with new data)
Good evidence to support signoff
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Lessons applied
For the next project Combine test cases and test results onto single sheet
Use an even more iterative development process
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Conclusion – Overcoming the barriers
Not sure how to go about it It is simple and straightforward
The cost of freeing up people and resources Focus on minimising peoples time and maximising results
Belief that there are no suitably skilled staff to do it Actually, testers don’t need previous testing experience
Already agreed to a signoff timeframe that is too short Test cases and data prepared before the test period begins
Belief that the system has been rigorously tested by the vendor or development team Less reliance on vendor/dev team as you’ll have your own evidence
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www.equinox.co.nz/events Presentation and Excel templates
available to download
More information – www.equinox.co.nz\news
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