Support of release test and UAT for a global calculation system

Test campaigns for the rollout of a business release follow a two-step-approach. The first step is the release test, which is performed in the IT development department. It comprises system and regression testing. The second step is the UAT, which is run in the countries before upgrading to the new version. The UAT contains system and regression testing, end-to-end testing and explorative testing. There are two business releases per year, having approx. 30 new features each. The test author implements test cases so that key users can re-use them in the UAT, only slightly adapted or even without any modifications. Thus, description of test and test steps is separated from description of test data and configuration settings. Each test case gets a document, which lists the needed parameters and proposed input values. Testers adapt this document according to their needs, perform the test and attach the completed test data document to the test run. Tests are written in English. The used test tool is HP ALM.