Before changes are put in place, they must be trialled. A trial could consist of trying out the new processes or systems. ‘User Acceptance Testing’ (UAT) is a phase in the software testing process, typically the last round of testing on a large-scale software implementation. UAT is often the business stakeholders’ opportunity to indicate if the solution is ‘fit for purpose’ and that they are confident the solution can support their operations.
Stakeholders must clearly define and agree a set of business situations or business scenarios that the new way of working must be able to support. The change manager will work alongside company leaders to prepare this list of business scenarios for testing. It is important that the scenarios you test can link together so that you are testing the full end-to-end process. For example, when testing a merchandising solution, the business would want to test the end-to-end process of setting up a product to raising a purchase order for the same product and then receiving the purchase order in the warehouse.
During UAT a small group of the actual business users tests the list of key scenarios in the new software solution to check the solution can support their required tasks and processes.
When these tests are completed, a report will be made to ensure that the stakeholders understand how the solution performs and where any interventions are required.
When all the business-critical scenarios pass UAT, we can launch the product. Without UAT, issues could arise after the platform is launched.
It is vital that each business invests in running UAT properly. At CMG, our Change managers specialise in tailoring UAT, to your business and challenges. We focus on effective, long-lasting change in complex environments.