What Is UAT? User Acceptance Testing Guide & Checklist [2026]

Streamline and Accelerate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with Automation

June 5, 2026

/Iffat Ara Khanam/

User Acceptance Testing is the final pre-release phase in the software development lifecycle. Broadly speaking, UAT’s objective is to validate that software is working as intended. UAT ensures that new features and enhancements in your application support your business needs, and unlike functional testing performed by developers, UAT is typically performed by end users.

For many organizations, UAT is too time-consuming and monotonous to be considered effective. This is because most enterprises rely on manual UAT processes, where end users robotically click through every possible workflow and utilize clunky spreadsheets that inhibit collaboration and provide little or no visibility.

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Business users also have their actual jobs to do, and testing usually isn’t high on their priority list. Which means that UAT doesn’t get the effort or attention it deserves.

In this blog, we’ll discuss best User Acceptance Testing practices that ensure user buy-in. Additionally, we’ll explain how you can run UAT cycles faster, so you can quickly ensure that your software works for end users, and get the most out of your applications.

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UAT (User Acceptance Testing) is the final phase of software testing where business users verify that a system meets their requirements before go-live. Opkey automates UAT for Enterprise apps implementations, enabling non-technical users to validate Oracle, SAP, and Workday changes 80% faster than manual testing.

When Should User Acceptance Testing Be Executed?

Since UAT is essential for verifying changes right before production, end users tests should be run after unit testing, regression testing, and other QA testing. UAT is typically the last step before a release is pushed live.

Major Challenges in User Acceptance Testing Process

Engaging business users for test scoping: Business users might not be familiar with testing procedures or tools. Due to their lack of technical experience, they can be unsure about their scope to make a meaningful contribution to the UAT testing process. This can be a barrier to their participation in UAT, particularly when testing necessitates an extensive understanding of the system’s inner workings.

Cumbersome collaboration: There may be communication barriers between technical teams and business users. When business users perform UAT, technical jargon and terminology might lead to misunderstandings about the objectives of the UAT process.

Low visibility into the executed test: Low visibility in UAT refers to a lack of clear and precise information, tracking, and communication about various components of the UAT process, such as test cases or business processes. Low visibility arises when test data or other important end-user testing information is not easily accessible to the testing team. During UAT testing, this could lead to confusion, inefficiencies, and major hazards.

Business user availability for test execution: Business users often deal with hectic schedules and intense duties in their key roles. Allocating time for User Acceptance Testing (UAT) can be tough, especially if they see it as an additional activity that diverts their attention away from their primary tasks.

Factors to consider when performing User Acceptance Testing

UAT Scope

Defining the scope of your project is crucial. If your parameters are too broad, you risk testing too much and wasting business users’ time. If your parameters are too narrow, you won’t test enough, which means your application will still be at risk post-production.

To gain key user adoption and streamline UAT, organizations should employ a user acceptance testing tool that includes Test Discovery functionality. Test Discovery automates the inefficient UAT scoping process by scientifically telling you which actions business users are performing. This negates the need for complicated spreadsheets and extended meetings between business and IT teams and ensures your team has the correct UAT scope. This, in turn, helps increase the speed of your UAT cycles.

UAT Planning

UAT planning refers to assigning different processes to various business users and setting timelines for when they must test those processes. UAT planning requires input from multiple, often globally dispersed, stakeholders. However, using spreadsheets or tracking progress on email threads is not scalable. A dedicated UAT management solution can provide real-time reporting and dashboard capabilities that streamline this planning process and grant you visibility into everyone’s UAT work.

UAT Execution

With the scope and plan of your UAT process in place, you can now begin testing to decide whether or not to move to production.

Three key challenges with UAT execution are tedious test documentation, complex workflows, and clunky defect management.

Automating Documentation

It’s critical that business users document each step in their UAT process, especially when issues arise. A UAT testing tool should effortlessly document every test execution, with minimal manual effort needed from business users. This frees up testers’ time and accelerates their overall progress without compromising the quality of their UAT effort.

Automating Workflows

For business users, UAT workflows with multiple dependencies prove to be challenging due to their complicated nature. A UAT automation tool should include features such as the automatic sequencing of manual tests, easy transfer of tasks between key users, and centralized progress tracking that takes the guesswork out of UAT workflows.

Defect Management

A UAT tool should automatically identify application bugs & issues, and determine the effect that one bug has on the rest of the application. Additionally, it should automatically communicate the defect with a corresponding screenshot to the appropriate technical teams.

Best practices for User Acceptance Testing

  1. Identify end users: UAT should be performed by business users since they’re the ones who will be using ERP to perform their day-to-day tasks.
  2. Develop a UAT test plan: A good test plan consists of a list of which tests to run, requirements, test scenarios for sign-off, and a change control process.
  3. Develop detailed user stories and acceptance criteria: Efficient test data and test scenarios are critical for successful UAT. If you’re depending on business users to write test scripts, you should opt for a No-Code test automation platform, since these people aren’t technically trained and cannot write in code.
  4. Create communication standards: Business users should use screenshots or recordings to share details on bugs they find during UAT. Test automation solutions like Opkey enable these users to do just that, with minimal manual effort.

According to McKinsey, more than 70% of all digital transformation projects fail. One of the biggest reasons for ERP failure is poor adoption by end-users.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is User Acceptance Testing?

User acceptance testing (UAT) is defined as the phase of software development in which the software is tested in the "real world" by the intended audience or business representatives. UAT is also known as application testing, beta testing, or end-user testing.

What are the user requirements for the prerequisites before performing User Acceptance Testing?

What are the 4 types of User Acceptance Testing (UAT)?

UAT can be categorized into several types based on the results of the acceptance testing:

What is the purpose of UAT?

The purpose of UAT is to guarantee that software can handle real-world tasks and perform according to development standards. Users are given the opportunity to interact with the program prior to its official release to check if any features have been ignored or if it contains any issues.