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8.10. Acceptance Testing

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Acceptance testing is performed to confirm that the system meets business expectations and is ready for release.

This phase takes place after successful regression testing and in the absence of critical defects.

Acceptance testing may be performed by:

  • Product Manager (PM) with selected team members
  • Product Owner
  • Business stakeholders
  • Owner (if required)

8.10.1 Objectives

  • Validate that the implemented functionality meets business requirements
  • Confirm readiness of the system for production release
  • Validate key business scenarios
  • Ensure the system meets stakeholder expectations
  • Provide final quality signal before release

8.10.2 Testing Environment

Acceptance testing is performed on a release candidate environment, that reflects the final state before production.

8.10.3 Testing Scope

Acceptance testing focuses on:

  • Business Scenarios – key business workflows
  • User Experience – overall system usability
  • End-to-End Flows – complete user journeys
  • Release Scope Validation – alignment of delivered functionality with expectations

8.10.4 QA Activities

flowchart TB
    A["Release Candidate Ready<br>No Critical Bugs"] --> B["Start Acceptance Testing"]
    B --> C["Validate Business Scenarios"] & D["Stakeholder Review"] & E["End-to-End & UX Validation"]
    C --> F["Collect Feedback"]
    D --> F
    E --> F
    F --> G["Final Validation Decision"]
    G --> H["Ready for Production"]

    style A fill:#ffffff,color:#000000
    style B fill:#FFCDD2,color:#000000
    style C fill:#FF6D00,color:#000000
    style D fill:#FF6D00,color:#000000
    style E fill:#FF6D00,color:#000000
    style F fill:#FFD600,color:#000000
    style G fill:#C8E6C9,color:#000000
    style H fill:#00C853,color:#000000
During this phase QA performs the following activities:

Support & Coordination

  • coordinating the acceptance testing process
  • ensuring environment readiness and access for stakeholders
  • providing guidance or checklists for validation

Validation Support

  • assisting in validation of key business scenarios
  • clarifying expected system behavior
  • supporting complex scenario validation

Defect Handling

  • documenting identified issues
  • ensuring fast communication of critical findings
  • supporting investigation and clarification of defects

8.10.5 Entry Criteria

  • regression testing completed successfully
  • no critical defects present
  • release candidate deployed
  • system is stable
  • functionality validated in Pre-Production

8.10.6 Outcome

The outcome of this phase typically includes:

  • confirmation of product readiness for release
  • final validation of business requirements
  • identification of any remaining critical issues (if any)
  • final decision to proceed with production deployment

8.10.7 Quality Gates

  • All key business scenarios are tested and confirmed
  • No critical/blocker defects remain
  • The system is stable and the release candidate is ready for production
  • All test results are documented and communicated to stakeholders
  • A decision to proceed to production/release is made

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