UAT: Improve price realization by simulating impact of mass price change scenarios

Key Roles

Pricing Managers or Pricing Analysts are the ones usually targeted by this use case. To better understand why these personas are targeted by this use case, you need to know roughly what their responsibilities are.

A pricing manager is a higher-level position with broader responsibilities and decision-making authority. Their primary role is to develop and implement pricing strategies and policies for products or services, to set the right prices that align with the company's overall goals and objectives. They are responsible for analyzing market trends, competitor pricing, and customer behavior to make informed pricing decisions and often oversee a team of pricing analysts. They support the pricing manager by conducting detailed analysis and research related to pricing. They focus on gathering and processing data, creating pricing models, and providing insights to aid pricing decision-making.

Scenario

In Pricefx ➡️ Price Setting Pricing Managers or Pricing Analysts can calculate, update and verify in real time and at significant speed the prices for products to make sure that they are in line with the company goals and strategy. Moreover, they can automate cost updates and streamline workflows and simulate the impact of their changes on the business.

In this use case, as a Pricing Manager, you want to verify that the simulation of pricing strategy change impacts is correctly displayed in the respective dashboard.

To make sure that your user story is viable and can be correctly implemented, you need to clearly define the acceptance criteria used for testing the use case. In this situation, the acceptance criteria is:

☑️ LPG with correct data is displayed
☑️ Changes of the strategy were made correctly
☑️ Simulation was correctly created
☑️ Dashboard with correct Simulation is displayed

Once you are familiar with what UAT entails, you can proceed and test your scenario. Keep in mind that this is a sample UAT script and that in most cases, acceptance test are highly tailored to the customer and their needs. This is why it is paramount that in the Preparation Sprints you take the time to clearly design your user stories, you make sure that all the data uploaded is of good quality and that the person assigned to test is familiar with the user story and Pricefx.

Sample UAT

Below, is a sample UAT for Price Setting ➡️ Simulations. You will notice that this is an end to end test, meaning a reliable way to guarantee that the application performs as expected and seamlessly handles data flow and mimics real-life scenarios error free. It also means that it encompasses several user stories that make up the use cases utilized to design the testing scenario in question.

Scenario details

The scenario we are looking at here is:

The Pricing Manager/ Analyst, wants to verify that the simulation of pricing strategy change impacts is correctly displayed in the respective dashboard.

The expected result here is that the simulation data is correctly displayed in the corresponding dashboard.

User Acceptance Test Script: Price Setting - Simulation of Pricing Strategy change impacts is correctly displayed in the dashboard

Dependency

1. Access to the partition

Pre - condition:

Ensure access to the Pricefx application as a Pricing Manager or Pricing Analyst by checking that you have the right permissions.

Test steps

1. Login to Pricefx as a Pricing Analyst

Action: Enter valid credentials and click on the Login button. 

2. Open LPG screen (Price Setting - Live Price Grids) and select the LPG in which you need to make changes

Action: Navigate to Pricefx home> Price Setting> Live Price Grid and browse item(s) you are interested in

3. Use Price Setting Wizard to create a new Simulation - use Create Simulation option in the wizard

Action: Navigate to Price Setting Wizard. Select the desired product/ product category to apply the changes to and run the simulation.

4. Select Strategy which you will adjust

Action: Use the Add button to add a new strategy in the Wizard, then run the calculation.

5. Click on Adjust Strategy and make changes to the selected Strategy

Action: Click on adjust strategy and add the changes you wish to the existing one.

6. Click on Create Simulation and wait until the simulation is calculated

Action: Click on the create simulation button to run the calculations of the new strategy.

7. Open Price List Impact Simulation Dashboard and display the simulation for LPG selected in step 2

Action: Click on Price Setting > Price List > Simulation Dashboard

9. Check data of the simulation is correctly displayed

Action: Verify that the selected simulation is correctly displayed before submitting the price list

 Expected Results

Step 2 - Expected Result: LPG with correct data is displayed after step 2

Step 5 - Expected Result: Changes of the strategy were made correctly after step 5

 Step 6 - Expected Result: Simulation was correctly created after step 6

Step 7- Expected Result: Dashboard with correct Simulation is displayed after step 7

Step 8 - Expected Result: All data in the dashboard are displayed correctly after step 8

Validation

If the test was performed correctly and the application behaved as expected, the UAT is considered successful and validated as PASS.

If during testing there were errors, mistakes in data, or the application did not meet the expected results and criteria, then the test is considered as FAIL.

In latter situation, a comprehensive list of bugs and errors should be submitted for fixes and re-testing. Depending on the reported issues, the time until re-testing is possible may vary.

Bugs and errors

Any deviations or failures in the expected results should be reported as defects for further investigation and resolution.

Considerations

Some acceptance tests will take a few days, so make sure that you allocate the right amount of time as recommended. In this situation, the recommended man days is 5.

Remember that a designated person who is familiar with the user story and the acceptance criteria and is capable to identify errors should test.

Challenges and how to avoid them

UAT testing is a bit different from other QA activities because it involves not only tech specialists but also actual end users. It is important to involve QA professionals, business analysts, the project manager, and the development team to ensure a smooth process.

During UAT activities, just like any other stage of the development cycle, you might encounter some challenges. But do not worry, here are some ideas to help you stay prepared:

• If poor planning is the issue, make sure to allocate enough time for UAT to avoid incomplete results.

• Get the right testing environment otherwise a wrong environment can cause an array of issues. The UAT environment should be different from the one used for functional testing.

• Inappropriate tester selection is another hurdle. Choose testers from the specific group that represents the main target audience of the feature/ scenario you are testing.

• Ensure that testers receive proper training before conducting UAT to maximize its effectiveness as lack of training can hinder effective testing.

• Inefficient communication can be detrimental to the acceptance test. Establish a seamless communication process between teams to prevent gaps, misunderstandings, and delays. 

By keeping these challenges and our guidelines in mind, you'll be able to carry out efficient and productive user acceptance testing.