Acceptance Test Execution - Software Methodology

Overview

With coding, testing, and software inspections complete, it is now time to demonstrate that your software meets its requirements by performing a formal acceptance test with the TA and Professor.

Prior to the acceptance test, groups should perform a dry run of the entire acceptance test, ideally involving at least one person from outside your group. Prior to the test, the requirements document, user manual, and software should all be consistent. If they are not, the documents and source code need to be changed so they are all in agreement. That is, if you find that your software does not meet its requirements (or its test plan), this does not imply you change the requirements to match the functionality of the software. Quite the opposite, it is the software that typically must be changed to meet the requirements, since the requirements constitute an agreement on functionality between your team and your customer (i.e., the TA and Professor). Changes to requirements or acceptance test plan without the approval of the TA will result in a loss of points.

Mechanics

At the end of the quarter, you will perform a sell-off of your project to the TA and the Professor (acting as the customer). For this class, the acceptance test is limited to an hour in length. It can be shorter than this, but no longer. Since the goal of the acceptance test is to demonstrate that the software meets its requirements, the hour limitation may mean there isn't enough time to cover all requirements. In this case, it is necessary to prioritize your test coverage, so the most important requirements are covered first.

Bring paper copies of the user manual and requirements document. Not all group members need to be present for the acceptance test.

If you do not initially pass your acceptance test, your group must revise the software or the test (depending on the source of the observed problem) and then re-run the acceptance test. Failure to pass the acceptance test after two tries will have significant adverse affect on the "acceptance test plan performance" component of your class grade.

Gradesheet