Hi there,

Has anyone had any experiences, positive or negative, with combining UAT (User Acceptance Testing) with Training? I have taken on a consulting project for a sophisticated custom-built application, with a minimal target audience (<20 users.) The project manager has scheduled me to conduct the UAT a week or two before the training is to begin. To me, it seems that, if we are going through the application in detail anyway, we might as well build this into the delivery of training.

I'm very curious as to what others think.

Thanks kindly,

Cheers!
Drew

Without getting into long discriptions of what UAT ought to be, suffice it to say that I do not recommend combining UAT with training. All testing should be complete PRIOR to production. Basically, UAT implies that, hopefully, changes will be made to ensure usability. Even if there aren't any changes, trust me - you want things to be tested and as stable as possible prior to training people to apply the application to their jobs.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Laura, particularly around stability and completion of testing prior to production. The challenge in this scenario is that the users involved with UAT are also the trainees; and insomuch, it creates a redundancy in the process that I am figuring out how to juggle. I'm curious if there is an effective way to supplement the UAT process with sufficient additional training processes in order to be efficient with these users time...

Hi Andrew... if you see a redundancy in doing UAT and then training, then I suggest that perhaps we have completely different definitions of what a UAT is/ought to be. It might help if you explain what your company's version of UAT is. That way, I can help you with your original query. :-)

My pleasure. I would say we carry a fairly standard definition of UAT. We have a testing specialist creating the testing scripts which will be executed, and I have been asked to facilitate this process with the users affected. The scripts are thorough, exploring the entire breadth of the application, and ensuring that the application behaves in the manner that these users expect.

Having gone through this process with me, these users will have essentially test driven the application. So - in many regards, it seems to me that it makes most of the training process I would otherwise envision, redundant.

Would you agree? Or, am I missing something?

Thanks kindly,
Drew