QA Testing — What is DEV, SIT, UAT & PROD?

Ref. medium.com/@buttertechn/qa-testing-what-is-dev-sit-uat-prod-ac97965ce4f

Testing can ensure the quality of app delivered to end user. Different parties share different responsibilities on testing. At app vendor side, software developers, QA engineers and project managers have to work together to clearly define the technical specifications and the corresponding testing protocols. At client side, client can test on the app features and comment on user experiences if any. Good cooperation between parties can enhance the overall app quality in long term.

Testing among different parties are generally divided into 4 parts, which will be discussed in details later:

1. DEV — Development [Software developer]
2. SIT — System Integration Test [Software developer and QA engineer]
3. UAT — User Acceptance Test [Client]
4. PROD — Production [Public user]

Moreover, Apple and Google provides different tools for app owner to issue public testing app to a small group of registered tester (100 people) before actually launching the app to Play Store and App Store. They are TestFlight and Google Play respectively

 

Details of different Testings

1) DEV — Stands for Development

During the early stage of app development, senior software developers would divide each app feature into smaller modules and assign them to junior developers. This can greatly increase the efficiency and productivity.

When individual developers complete their codes, a lot of “function”s are made. Each “function” is like a black box which takes an input and returns an output. Ideally, each function is only responsible for only one task. Developer can write Unit Tests to verify the functionality of their individual function. Unit Test is the most basic testing of an app and is always the most important part.

2) SIT — Stands for System Integration Test

As mentioned above, a large feature is divided into smaller parts and assigned to different developers. The testings for interfaces between modules are critical. At this part, there are usually a team of QA engineer to write test cases (program) for testing the functionality and stability.

3) UAT — User Acceptance Test

After developers finish developing the app and passes all the internal testings, an application is sent to client for testing on end-user experience and overall app functionality.

Client can invite a small group of public users to be internal testers. Both Apple and Google provides tools to let registered testers to test on pre-launch app to gather user comments and see if any potential bugs. Tester can open the testing app through TestFlight for iOS app and Play Store for Android app.

4) PROD — Production

At the final stage of app production, app is distributed to public through official channels — App Store and Play Store. Public user can use the latest features and report any issue they encountered.

Google provides an excellent tool — Firebase Crashlytics. It can report issue to developer and app owner when there are any issues at the end user side. The report contains lots of user information, such as the where and when the issue happened, user’s device model and operation system level, etc.

 

Summary

1. Testing can be separated into 4 different stages — DEV, SIT, UAT and PROD.
2. DEV is a test carried out by the software developers who made the functions.
3. SIT is a test for the interface between different modules which is a small part of a single feature.
4. UAT is carried out by client and probably a small group of registered tester. Client can use the TestFlight and Play Store to distribute testing app to register testers remotely. A lots of feedback on feature and user experience can be gathered at this stage.
5. PROD is the stage where app has been publicly released. Much larger group of user can use and test on the new features. Unexpected bugs and issues can be found and reported by Google tools Crashlytics. UI/UX designer and developers can enhance the app by these information.