UAT Planning Skill

Purpose

Plan and coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to ensure the solution meets business requirements and is ready for production deployment.

When to Use

• Before production deployment

• After development and QA testing complete

• When business validation is required

• For regulatory compliance

UAT Overview

What is UAT?

User Acceptance Testing is the final phase of testing where actual business users verify that the system meets their requirements and is fit for purpose.

UAT vs Other Testing

Testing Type Who Focus When

Unit Testing Developers Code components During development

Integration Testing QA System interfaces After unit tests

System Testing QA End-to-end functionality After integration

UAT Business Users Business requirements Before go-live

Regression Testing QA No new defects After changes

UAT Planning Process

1. UAT Strategy

Define:

• Scope: What features/modules to test

• Approach: Script-based, exploratory, or hybrid

• Environment: UAT environment requirements

• Data: Test data requirements

• Timeline: Start/end dates, milestones

• Resources: Testers, support

UAT Scope Example:

In Scope

• New checkout flow (guest and registered)
• Payment processing (credit card, PayPal)
• Order confirmation and emails
• Order history viewing

Out of Scope

• Admin functions (tested by IT)
• Existing functionality not changed
• Performance testing (separate test)

2. Entry Criteria

Before UAT begins:

• All development complete

• Unit and integration tests passing

• System testing complete with no critical bugs

• UAT environment set up and stable

• Test data prepared

• User credentials created

• UAT scripts reviewed and approved

• Training completed (if needed)

3. Exit Criteria

UAT is complete when:

• All critical and high-priority test cases passed

• No open critical or high-severity defects

• Medium/low defects documented with workarounds

• Sign-off from business stakeholders

• Go-live readiness confirmed

UAT Test Case Template

Test Case: TC-UAT-001

Feature: Guest Checkout Priority: High Prerequisite: Products in cart, valid test credit card

Test Steps

Test Data Required

• Product: "Test Product" - $29.99
• Credit Card: 4242424242424242, 12/25, 123
• Shipping Address: 123 Test St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Notes

Record any observations, issues, or deviations here

Tested By: _____________ Date: _____________ Result: ☐ Pass ☐ Fail ☐ Blocked

UAT Execution Tracking

Daily Status Template

UAT Daily Status - [Date]

Summary

• Tests Planned: 50
• Tests Executed: 35
• Tests Passed: 30
• Tests Failed: 3
• Tests Blocked: 2

Progress: 70% Complete

Defects Raised Today

Blockers

1. UAT environment was down 2 hours (resolved)
2. Waiting for test credit card for PayPal

Plan for Tomorrow

• Complete payment testing
• Start order management testing

Defect Severity

Severity Definition UAT Impact

Critical System unusable, data loss UAT blocked, immediate fix required

High Major feature broken, no workaround Must fix before go-live

Medium Feature issues with workaround Should fix, can go-live with workaround

Low Minor issues, cosmetic Nice to fix, doesn't block go-live

UAT Sign-off

Sign-off Template

UAT Sign-off Document

Project: E-commerce Checkout Redesign UAT Period: January 15-22, 2026 Sign-off Date: January 22, 2026

Executive Summary

UAT for the checkout redesign has been completed. All critical functionality has been tested and approved.

Test Summary

Open Defects

Go/No-Go Recommendation

☑ GO - Recommended for production deployment

Stakeholder Sign-off

Conditions/Notes

• DEF-101 to be fixed within 1 week post-launch
• Monitoring plan in place for first 48 hours
• Rollback plan documented and tested

Best Practices

Planning

✅ Do:

• Involve business users early in planning

• Create realistic test data

• Allow buffer time for defect fixes

• Train testers on new features

• Document expected results clearly

❌ Don't:

• Wait until last minute to start UAT

• Use production data with sensitive info

• Skip test case review

• Underestimate time needed

• Forget about regression testing

Execution

✅ Do:

• Track progress daily

• Triage defects quickly

• Re-test after fixes

• Document everything

• Communicate blockers immediately

❌ Don't:

• Let testers create ad-hoc tests only

• Ignore "minor" issues

• Skip re-testing after fixes

• Delay communication of issues

• Rush sign-off

Domain-Specific UAT

E-commerce

• End-to-end purchase flow

• Payment methods (all supported)

• Shipping calculations

• Promotional codes

• Mobile checkout

ERP

• Business process flows

• Approval workflows

• Report accuracy

• Integration with other modules

• Role-based access

CRM

• Lead/opportunity workflows

• Sales process stages

• Email integrations

• Report accuracy

• Mobile access

Tools

• Lark/Notion: Test case documentation

• Jira/Azure DevOps: Defect tracking

• TestRail/Zephyr: Test management

• Lark Base: UAT tracking database

Next Steps

After UAT:

• Final sign-off meeting

• Go-live preparation

• Production deployment

• Post-go-live monitoring

• Hypercare support

References

• ISTQB Testing Standards

• Agile Testing Quadrants

• UAT Best Practices