Management guru Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, “You can't manage what you can't measure.” That maxim’s certainly true for UAT testing.
Another way to say it would be: You can’t manage what you can’t define. Before embarking on your project’s UAT journey, you must know where/how/why you are going (requirements), as well as what kind of pitfalls (risks) your team may encounter. Think of a UAT plan as a map in a fantasy RPG—a huge red “X” marks the spot to find hidden treasure (requirements), while an angry slash might indicate “Here Be Dragons” (risks).
To successfully define and fulfill all testing requirements and to label or categorize risks, you won’t need a magic sword in this “game” of UAT. You’ll need a test management tool to optimize every aspect of manual testing—planning test runs, analyzing test results, managing related issues and, of course, designing tests and defining requirements and risks.
Defining requirements and risks is especially important. Risk metrics must be robust and well-defined, enabling the project team to get a firm grip on the desired project outcome. The most effective risk metric strategies focus on test results with the highest project risk. Examples might include operational or financial risks.
Well-defined requirements paint a picture of detailed, specific, and expected outcomes. Defined examples include: “invoice details only available to admins,” or “invoicing system communicates with accounting software.”
Best practices that apply to superior risk creation also work for requirements. As with any journey—be it a successful UAT project or a winning fantasy game—having a guide (like a blog post or magic elf) to provide tips along the way leads to a winning outcome.
Tip #1 - Insist on Rock-Solid Agreements
The classic maxim “singing from the same hymn sheet” may seem worn out in this era of e-books and PDFs, but the sentiment is still true. Your UAT plan must ensure the original requirements agreement is rock solid. Make sure the change management plan can truly handle change requests, defining how many changes are allowed, who can make them, and how each change may impact the cost and delivery date.
Tip #2 - Stay Classy and Classify Everything
Your team can more easily handle large amounts of requirements and risks by organizing them into groups. Classify your requirements by using different requirement types, and prioritize your risks by giving them a classification. This allows you to review only those risks or requirements that impact vital project requirements. Add filters to analyze your test cases, test runs, test results, and issues based on defined requirements.
Tip #3 - Choose the BEST UAT tool
The final tip is the simplest: Deploy a UAT tool that takes into account every aspect of requirement/risk definitions.
TestMonitor provides a robust platform for defining requirements and risks like a pro. What are its advantages?
- Your team can assign one or multiple requirements or risks to test cases.
- Relationships are automatically adjusted and passed through to your test runs, test results, and issues.
- Filter and analyze test cases, test runs, test results, and issues based on your defined requirements and risks.
Test analysis has never been easier. Focus on test results with the highest project risk and view only requirements and risks that have impact on your vital project requirements.
Ready to get your game on? Try TestMonitor for free with a 14-day trial.
