Wednesday, March 28, 2018

9-Acceptance Plan

What is an Acceptance Plan? : An Acceptance Plan (also known as an "Acceptance Test Plan") is a schedule of tasks that are required to gain the customer’s acceptance that what you have produced is satisfactory. It is more than just a task list though. An Acceptance Plan is in fact an agreement between you and the customer, stating the acceptance tasks that will be undertaken at the end of the project to get their final approval. The Acceptance Plan includes a list of the deliverable, the acceptance test activities, the criteria and standards to be met, and the plan for their completion.

Creating an Acceptance Plan (or 'Acceptance Test Plan') is an important part of any project, as it allows the customer to accept the deliverable you have produced for them. By creating an Acceptance Plan for your projects, you'll boost your chances of success - as you will constantly produce deliverable which meet your customer’s requirements.

When do to use an Acceptance Plan? : You should create an Acceptance Plan every time you need to produce a set of deliverable that require the customer's approval before completion. If the customer needs to approve anything, then you should agree upfront what actions will be taken to get their approval when the deliverable are complete. By creating an Acceptance Plan at the start of a project, it will save you time and hassle at the end, as the acceptance test actions will already have been pre-completed by the customer.

You can create an Acceptance Plan, by:
  • Identifying the acceptance test methods
  • Allocating acceptance test resources
  • Scheduling acceptance reviews with your customer
  • Gaining your final acceptance of your deliverable.

Acceptance Plan will help you gain acceptance, by:

  • Creating a full list of all project deliverables
  • Listing the criteria for gaining customer acceptance
  • Putting in place, acceptance standards to be met