When you want to invest in developing or enhancing your website or software product, you need a solid understanding of the difference between quality assurance (QA) testing and user acceptance testing (UAT). Both types of testing are necessary for optimization but serve different functions. Here’s your means-tested guide to understanding the difference between QA and UAT.
What is user acceptance testing (UAT), and how does it work?
User acceptance testing (UAT) should happen in the last development phase on a product or website, typically right before that product or website launches. UAT happens when users work through the site or software to test its functionality and how it handles real-world scenarios according to specifications. This testing reveals whether the product behaves as it should with no issues for the user.
Not every company has staff with the experience for this final phase of testing, let alone the time or the bandwidth. Many companies outsource this testing using a third party, such as XBOSoft UAT Testing. Professionals offer the objectivity and experience required for such a crucial testing phase.
What is quality assurance (QA) testing, and how does it work?
Just as crucial as UAT, developers perform quality assurance (QA) testing throughout all phases of development for software or a website. QA focuses on removing errors and defects throughout the process. Although this testing sounds similar to UAT, QA testing prioritizes preventing issues before they become visible to users.
QA testing not only identifies defects but also helps to build the product and develop guides for it. QA testers work closely with developers to analyze the software, identifying potential flaws in the interface. Identifying these defects will ensure that the software will meet the specifications requested by the customer.
Benefits of QA testing and UAT
When you focus on developing a product, you may be tempted to skip or rush through QA testing and UAT. However, testing offers many benefits that add value to your end product and enhance its quality.
Increased customer satisfaction
Whether you created a product for yourself or a customer, someone will end up using it. Performing QA testing and UAT means that you, not the end-user, discover a problem with your product. By catching and fixing issues early, you can deliver a quality product that has undergone rigorous testing, increasing the confidence your clients have in you. When people trust you, you build a strong relationship that results in more projects.
Saving time and money
If you release a product with issues, you face costly fixes in terms of time and money. Testing ensures that a product contains no errors and runs the way it was developed to perform. Launching a less-than-functional product means finding the problem, fixing the problem, and sending out a patch. Those tasks take much more time and cost more money than performing rigorous testing before the release.
Reworking entire projects rather than fixing issues beforehand will cost you money on future projects. Sending out products with issues will damage your reputation and confidence in your work. Testing helps secure your good reputation and profitable future projects, saving you money in the long term.
Bottom line
UAT and QA testing both provide valuable functions for your product. Testing has become so vital that being a test software engineer is one of the best jobs in America. QA ensures that your product conforms to the original development parameters requested, and UAT ensures that the end product performs as intended in its final version.
Development teams progressively perform QA testing before UAT, which performs real-world-scenario testing. Both work together as essential functions to produce a quality product or website you can be proud to launch.
