As the number and types of systems registrars offices interact with or manage has increased, the need for structured user acceptance testing (UAT) has also increased. Understanding the need and creating an extensible, repeatable, collaborative process will go a long way to making your life simpler when the need for testing rolls around (and it will). 

Guests:
Tara Sabbagh, Associate Registrar at American University
Paula Palhus, Assistant Registrar at American University
Joe Papari, Director of Enrollment Services for Student Systems and Technology at Southern Methodist University

Key Takeaways: 

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is critically important to ensure the continued functioning of all of the systems we use in our day-to-day work from ERPs to niche applications; UAT is increasingly part of the role of the registrar, not outside the scope of our work; establishing best practices for UAT is important for ongoing success; a strong relationship with your IT shop makes a big difference!

References and Additional Reading:

There are many, many search results for “user acceptance best practices” (over 40,000,000 in 0.36 seconds according to Google) and I encourage you to explore or refine that search. Here are some high-level results that provide good, basic overviews for the process but are not specific to higher education nor the registrar’s office specifically:

Usersnap: Fundamentals on setting up your user acceptance testing workflow

What Is User Acceptance Testing (UAT): A Complete Guide

What is User Acceptance Testing (UAT)? with Examples