When Do You Need Acceptance Testing?
Acceptance Testing is the final stage of testing software before launching it publicly. As soon as a company decides that the product is ready for use by a vast audience, acceptance testing has to verify it. The highlight of the acceptance test procedure is the involvement of a focus group – real users.
Big companies practice running acceptance tests in-house, engaging employees and offering them to try out a product. However, there are a few downsides to this idea. A product team has a bit of a biased view and can miss some defects. Also, if the employees aren’t a target audience, they are likely to interact with software differently than end-users. Finally, professional QA engineers notice problematic areas and defects that aren’t evident at first. So don’t hesitate to involve pros before you release a product.
For Development & Product Companies
- It is a common practice for development companies to involve independent QA expertise before delivering software to a client. In this case, we are to conduct alpha testing, verifying the product against the acceptance criteria. The same goes for product companies that prepare software for market launch.
For Companies That Outsource Development
- If a client outsources software product development, they may want to receive a third-party opinion on its quality before the release. In this case, we act as a beta team – a group of people who can provide an independent assessment based solely on their interaction with this software product.
There are two commonly used types of acceptance testing – alpha and beta testing.
These are the best practices that help obtain feedback on the quality of a software product ready for release. Alpha and beta testers become the first real users whose independent opinion often brings value. Final improvements before the launch can be a game-changer.
Alpha and beta testing share the same purpose but differ in their approach to a product. When an outsourced QA company covers acceptance testing, it is usually alpha testing for development and product companies and beta testing for clients that outsourced development.
