How uTest Works

https://youtu.be/PuVKBbalFPI?rel=0

What is uTest?
uTest is an online global community of testers and technology enthusiasts who are
passionate about helping shape the world's digital landscape. The uTest community is
powered by Applause.

What is Applause?
Since pioneering the crowdtesting concept in 2007, Applause has helped thousands of
companies drive positive business outcomes by revolutionizing their digital quality,
accelerating their software development and delivering high-quality digital experiences to
their customers. Applause utilizes the uTest community to assemble custom teams of
testers to test any device and operating system combination in the world. Learn more
at www.applause.com

How does uTest work?

Learn how uTest works in this short overview before you decide if you'd like to join uTest
as a freelance software tester. In this video, you'll learn how uTest matches testers with paid
projects, what kinds of projects testers may be asked to complete, how uTest payments
work, and more.
uTest connects people just like you with paid testing projects from the global brands you
recognize most. To start earning from anywhere with the flexibility of uTest, all you need is
a device... like the one you’re using now!
What is Software Testing?
https://youtu.be/54dbm7DMNso?rel=0

What is Software Testing?

Software testing is the process in which the features and functionalities of a product are
evaluated with the intent of locating all defects and errors within the product.

Why is Software Testing important?

Software testing helps to identify the defects and errors that were made during the
development phases of a product. Software testing enables developers to produce high
quality products for their users that are free from defects in the features, functionalities and
process flows of the product.

What is a Software Tester?

A software tester is a person that uses and evaluates a product to identify the defects and
errors within the product.

What is Crowdtesting?
https://youtu.be/9ixfsncbt9U?si=8mDhwckMZ_71NSns?rel=0

Crowdtesting is when a group of people test the same product in real world scenarios to
provide insights and feedback about the product.
Millions of people across the globe can download the same app and have entirely unique
experiences. There are hundreds of variables that could lead one person to have a positive
user experience where another would have a less than ideal one. Differences such as
devices and software, physical locations, user demographics, and level of tech savviness
could all lend to wildly different digital experiences.
Traditional testing methodologies are no longer sufficient in today's ever changing, ever
growing, digital landscape. Even the most advanced in-house QA departments are
ultimately restricted in what they are able to test, and can not account for real-world
complexities users face on a daily basis. The solution? Crowdtesting.
uTest is the pioneer and leader of In-the-Wild Crowdtesting since 2007. At uTest, we
believe that only real people, using real devices, in real locations, under real world
scenarios, are able to provide our customers with the authentic user insights required to
build the very best digital experiences. Everyday across the globe uTest testers are paid to
provide digital testing, payment testing, and omnichannel feedback, to the world’s leading
brands. Giving invaluable visibility into how their technology works in the hands of their
users.
The uTest Community is made up of people from all over the world with distinct
backgrounds, interests, skills, and professions. The diversity of our testers is just one of the
many reasons uTest is so successful.
uTest has specialized in Crowdtesting since 2007.

uTest Academy
https://youtu.be/NMLd9asWp7w?rel=0

What is the uTest Academy?

The uTest Academy is a training program designed to teach the basic essentials of how to
be a tester in the uTest community.

How does it work?

The uTest Academy is comprised of numerous training courses that include text and video
instructions inside of each course.

Should the courses be completed in order?

Yes. The courses are ordered from beginner to advanced. We strongly suggest starting with
course number 1 and working your way through each course at your own pace.

Why should the courses be completed?

Testers who complete the uTest Academy courses and excel in the practice test cycles are
more likely to be invited to participate in paid test cycles for real clients.

What things can I learn and practice?

You will learn and practice the following things in the uTest Academy courses and practice
test cycles:

 Basic essentials of uTest

  Different types of testing at uTest
 How to be a high quality tester
 How to accept or decline a test cycle
 How to find a bug and submit an issue report
 How to claim a testing slot
 How to complete a test case
 How to capture screenshots and videos
 How to record computer and device logs
 How to communicate with the community and Test Team Lead in chat

Can I join practice test cycles in the uTest Academy?

Yes. The uTest Academy offers practice test cycles every week.

What practice test cycles are available?

 Introduction to testing - for new uTest members

 Computers testing - for testing on Desktop & Laptop machines
 Mobile device testing - for testing on Mobile & Tablets devices
 Charles proxy testing - for decrypting website traffic on computers and mobile
devices
 Academy Challenge - for competing with other new Academy testers
 Academy All Stars - Invitation only - for the best Academy testers

Testers can complete each of the practice test cycles one time. However, testers can
complete the uTest Academy Challenge cycle up to 5 times.
Helpful Definitions
Here is a list of the most common terminology and acronyms which used on uTest.com and
within uTest projects. More details can be found on the Academy page.

Terms Description

Testing Team:

Client or Customer A company that has engaged Applause and the uTest Community to test their
product.

TTL The Test Team Lead (TTL) is the primary point of contact for testers. The
TTL helps testers within test cycles and reviews all submitted bug reports and
test cases, etc.

TE The Test Engineer (TE) builds the test cycle, assembles the testing team and is
responsible for the overall execution of the test cycle. Also, the TE is
responsible for marshalling the test team through completion of the test cycle
achieving the goals of the request.

TSM Test Architect (TA) title has been replaced by Testing Services Manager
(TSM). The TSM works directly with the client. They manage a team of TTLs
and TEs to identify and provide appropriate solutions for the client’s testing,
feedback or research needs.

SDM The Solution Delivery Manager (SDM) is the customer’s primary point of
contact, and works with the customer directly.

CM The Community Manager (CM) are members of the Community Management

Team. The Community Management Team's goal is to help our global
community to learn how to be excellent testers, to get opportunities for paid
projects, and to connect with fellow testers across the community and the
globe. Meet the uTest Community Management team from here.

CE Community Engineers are members who work closely with the CM team and
Terms Description

help with their tasks and responsibility.

DT The Dedicated Testers’ function is to provide the team with speed, specialized
expertise, and quality control. This role differs from the traditional role of our
community testers and they are supposed to have a singular focus and dive
deep. These testers should be seen as experts by their community peers and
help support the TTL in chat management as an expert. Testers who have a
strong history of quality work are more likely to be approached by a TSM/TE
to ask about becoming a DT.

ACE Accessibility Expert leads numerous audits simultaneously, mentors other

members of the team and presents final audit results to clients.

ACA Accessibility Auditor participates in audits by reporting accessibility bugs and

completing test cases. They may still require some direction and assistance
from other members of the team when testing and writing bug reports.

TCW Test Case Writer responsible for writing test cases and ensuring each test case
has detailed, clear and easy to follow steps and expected results as well as
verifying that the documentation and test cases provided by the customer are
valid and can be used and making any necessary adjustments

Test Cycle Terms:

Project Or Test Cycle One specific test of a company's product. Each individual test cycle includes
numerous testers and can vary greatly from other test cycles depending on the
cycle setting, type, etc. In the test cycle, testers must carefully follow the
instructions in the test cycle's overview to find bugs on the in scope product,
execute test cases, submit reviews, or conduct usability studies, if available.

Test Case A Test Case is a set of predefined steps that must be followed and executed by
a tester in order to test specific features and functionalities of a product, such
as exercising a particular program path or verifying compliance with a specific
requirement.
Terms Description

Slot A slot is a reserved position within a test cycle for a tester with specific
requirements such as location, device, OS, etc. A slot may or may not be
linked to test cases, if a slot is not linked to a test case it is referred to as an
Exploratory slot which means a tester can freely test the product and report
bugs that are found and are within the in scope areas.

Issue/Bug report Is a written summary of a specific error or defect (bug) in a product's features
or functionality. A bug report should contain all the required information to
understand, reproduce, and fix the bug.

Testing Types:

Fn - Functional Testing the features/functionality of a product with the intent of locating

issues.

Ln - Localization Verify the quality of a product in terms of a particular target culture/locale.

Ux - Usability Measures how easy to use and user-friendly a product is by testing it with real
users.

Security Testing A process intended to reveal flaws in the security mechanisms of a product.

Automation Testing Using an automation testing tool to execute repetitive testing steps, which may
be difficult to perform manually.

PT / PI Payment At its core, Payment Testing is any test that requires the use of a payment
Testing / Payment instrument to complete.
Instruments

AC - Accessibility Ensures that a product is usable by people with disabilities like hearing, color
blindness, old age, and other disadvantaged groups.

API Testing: The purpose of API Testing is to check the functionality, reliability,
Terms Description

Validates performance, and security of the programming interfaces.

Application
Programming
Interfaces (APIs).

Voice testing Testing voice-enabled products with native speakers. It combines functional
testing, dialogue verification, usability testing, and payment testing to help
companies deliver voice experiences that foster ongoing customer engagement
and satisfaction.

Bug Hunt Testing This is a robust exploratory test. The goal of this kind of testing is to only find
out a specific bug or a specific bug on a specific device or specific type of bug
that occurs within the testing scope. Testers invited to this cycle should
carefully read and understand the overview and the requirements and they
must avoid reporting issues that are not in scope.

On-site testing Visiting a physical location to evaluate the quality of the service and collect
feedback.

Live Testing Testing at a specific time, testers must perform testing at that time, they cannot
be late or test earlier.

ET - Exploratory Exploratory Testing is a simultaneous activity of learning, test design, and test
Testing execution. In other words, the tester is designing their tests and executing them
at the same time. As an exploratory tester, your next action (the next test) is
influenced by your previous actions, your observations of the product’s
behavior, and your own thought process. The key aspect of Exploratory
Testing is not the test technique being used or the product being tested, but the
skills and experience of individual testers.

uTest Terms:

SRS - Special Is a tool that is widely used by Testing Services and Community Management
Requirement Survey to recruit testers for test cycles where data points are needed that the platform
doesn’t capture yet.
Terms Description

KI - Known Issue Known Issues are the issues that are already been found in previous Test
Cycles or the issues that the customer already knows about. Known issues are
helpful to prevent duplicate submissions, and in order to avoid rejections,
testers should always check them before starting testing. The known issues can
be added in the Cycle in sort of a spreadsheet or you can recognize them by
seeing a blue “bookmark” tag next to the issue to indicate that this is a Known
Issue in the title column of the issues page.

BFV - Bug Fix Is a process of verifying if a reported bug has been fixed when a fix or a new
Verification build for the product is released. Applause allows customers to run a re-test
once a new build with fixes for those bugs is available, effectively verifying
that the bug has been fixed.

NDA - Non Which is a binding contract between Tester and Applause App Quality, and by
Disclosure signing the NDA the tester agrees not to disclose any information covered by
Agreement the agreement. Typically used to protect any type of confidential and
proprietary information.

IR - Info Request More information is requested on a bug report or test case, or a tester is
required to fix the bug report or test case.

Environment Refers to device, OS, OS version, browser, or any specific setup that is used
for testing.

Triage/Triaging A process of reviewing a bug report or test case and then sending an info
request or recommending the bug report or the test case for approval or
rejection.

Placeholder A placeholder is a submitted bug report without complete information or

required attachments for the purpose of reserving the position of the report and
later on edit and completing the report or changing it to a different bug.

Reproduction Is the process of recreating a bug by following the action performed steps in a
bug report.
Terms Description

Turnaround Time This is the time limit when testing work should be submitted. For example, a
slot or test case with a turnaround time of 6 hours should be submitted within
6 hours after claiming the slot or test case.

Bug Rejection Types:

WAD - Working As Work as designed is a rejection where the reported issue is working as
Designed designed, meaning that the behavior is exactly how the product is designed to
work.

DUP - Duplicate A duplicate rejection is a rejection where the bug reported is already reported
issue by another tester or is a Known Issue that is added to the cycle.

OOS - Out Of Scope An Out of Scope rejection is a rejection where the reported bug is not in the
scope of the testing product, for example only certain areas of the website are
being tested in the cycle and any other areas should not be tested, reporting a
bug that is found in one of these areas that are not in the scope of the cycle
will be categorized as Out of Scope, the same case applies if the issue was
found in a product that was not being tested like an external website.

DNFI - Did Not Can be used when the tester ignored clear instructions which affected the
Follow Instructions outcome or made the report unusable.

INF - Need more A tester did not provide the requested information to the bug report when an
info info request was sent.

Other All rejection reasons should be covered by using the above ones. In case the
customer has a different reason for rejection, they might use Other.

Bug Approval Types:

Somewhat Valuable The bug has some impact on the product and has some value to the customer.
Terms Description

Very Valuable The bug has a significant impact on the product and very valuable to the
customer.

Exceptionally The bug has a critical impact on the product and must be fixed. These bugs
Valuable bring exceptional value to the customer.

WNF - Won't Fix The bug is valid and approved but the customer is not interested in it or not
planning to fix it.

Ratings:

G Gold

S Silver

B Bronze

P Proven

R Rated

U Unrated

Badges:

U (blue orb in top uTest Employee

right of profile pic)
Terms Description

M (orange “M” orb Moderator

in top right of profile
pic)

TTL Test Team Lead for uTest cycles

Testing:

SDLC Software Development Lifecycle is a process followed for a software project,

within a software organization. It consists of a detailed plan describing how to
develop, maintain, replace and alter or enhance specific software. The life
cycle defines a methodology for improving the quality of software and the
overall development process

STLC Software Testing Life Cycle

QA Quality Assurance

SUT System Under Test

SPA Single Page Application

BAT Business Analysis Testing

API Application Programming Interface

TF TestFlight

BTS Bug Tracking System

UAT User Acceptance Testing (aka Beta Testing or End User Testing)
Terms Description

RAD (model) Rapid Application Development

ISTQB International Software Testing Qualifications Board

SDET Software Development Engineer in Test

BBST Black Box Software Testing

UX bug Usability Bug

UI bug User Interface Bug

AUT Application Under Test

SIT System Integration Testing

CMS Content Management System

Networks and Protocols

FTP File Transfer Protocol

HTML Hyper Text Markup Language

HTTPS Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol

VPN Virtual private network

Terms Description

E2E End to End

IP Internet Protocol

IT, Developer and Programming

OS Operating System

URL Uniform Resource Locator

WWW World Wide Web

IE Internet Explorer

XML Extensible Markup Language

AWS Amazon Web Services

VM Virtual Machine

SEO Search Engine Optimization

SDK Software Development Kit

I/O Input & Output

IDE Integrated Development Environment

Terms Description

Miscellaneous:

SMB Small Medium Business

GUI Graphical User Interface

ROI Return on Investment

AI Artificial Intelligence

POS Point Of Sale

CTA Call To Action

PLP Product listing page

PDP Product detail page

STB Set-top box

PIP Picture In Picture

CC Closed Captions

VOD Video On Demand

CTV Connected TV
Terms Description

OTP One Time Password

MFA Multi-Factor Authentication

2FA Two-Factor Authentication

SSO Single Sign ON

CVV / CVC / CSC / Card Verification Value / Card Verification Code / Card Security Code / Card
CVN Verification Number

PM Private Message

FAQ Frequently Asked Question

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