What is Acceptance Testing ?

What is Acceptance Testing :

This is arguably the most importance type of testing as it is conducted by the Quality Assurance Team who will gauge whether the application meets the intended specifications and satisfies the client.s requirements. The QA team will have a set of pre written scenarios and Test Cases that will be used to test the application.

More ideas will be shared about the application and more tests can be performed on it to gauge its accuracy and the reasons why the project was initiated. Acceptance tests are not only intended to point out simple spelling mistakes, cosmetic errors or Interface gaps, but also to point out any bugs in the application that will result in system crashers or major errors in the application.

By performing acceptance tests on an application the testing team will deduce how the application will perform in production. There are also legal and contractual requirements for acceptance of the system.

When is it performed?

Acceptance Testing is performed after System Testing and before making the system available for actual use.

Who performs it?

• Internal Acceptance Testing (Also known as Alpha Testing) is performed by members of the organization that developed the software but who are not directly involved in the project (Development or Testing). Usually, it is the members of Product Management, Sales and/or Customer Support.
• External Acceptance Testing is performed by people who are not employees of the organization that developed the software.
• Customer Acceptance Testing is performed by the customers of the organization that developed the software. They are the ones who asked the organization to develop the software for them. [This is in the case of the software not being owned by the organization that developed it.]
• User Acceptance Testing (Also known as Beta Testing) is performed by the end users of the software. They can be the customers themselves or the customers’ customers.

Definition by ISTQB for Acceptance Testing :Formal testing with respect to user needs, requirements, and business processes conducted to determine  whether or not a system satisfies the acceptance criteria and to enable the user, customers or other authorized entity to determine whether or not to accept the system.

Click to read All Testing levels.