Acceptance Testing?

"Acceptance testing, a testing technique performed to determine whether or not the software system has met the requirement specifications". The main purpose of this test is to evaluate the system's compliance with the business requirements and verify if it is has met the required criteria for delivery to end users.

There are various forms of acceptance testing:

• --User acceptance Testing
  --Business acceptance Testing
  --Alpha Testing
  --Beta Testing

Acceptance Testing - In SDLC

The following diagram explains the fitment of acceptance testing in the software development life cycle.

The acceptance test cases are executed against the test data or using an acceptance test script and then the results are compared with the expected ones.

Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria are defined on the basis of the following attributes

• --Functional Correctness and Completeness
  --Data Integrity
  --Data Conversion
  --Usability
  --Performance
  --Timeliness
  --Confidentiality and Availability
  --Installability and Upgradability
  --Scalability
  --Documentation

Acceptance Test Plan - Attributes

The acceptance test activities are carried out in phases. Firstly, the basic tests are executed, and if the test results are satisfactory then the execution of more complex scenarios are carried out.

The Acceptance test plan has the following attributes:

• Introduction
  Acceptance Test Category
  operation Environment
  Test case ID
  Test Title
  Test Objective
  Test Procedure
  Test Schedule
  Resources

The acceptance test activities are designed to reach at one of the conclusions:

1. -Accept the system as delivered
   -Accept the system after the requested modifications have been made
   -Do not accept the system

Acceptance Test Report - Attributes

The Acceptance test Report has the following attributes:

• Report Identifier
  Summary of Results
  Variations
  Recommendations
  Summary of To-DO List
• Approval Decision