Your SI says the system is ready to go live but deep down, you’re not sure it will hold up under real-world pressure. For civil service leaders, that’s the nightmare: going live only to face payroll failures, supplier payment delays or audit headlines. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) should give you confidence but in reality, it often leaves around 30% of the risk unresolved.
As Vinu Mukundan, Head of Strategic Initiatives at 2i, highlighted in our recent AssureERP webinar, the problem is structural: “By the time it comes to the business users for acceptance, there’s still around 30% of the risk unresolved. And I’m saying risk, not defects deliberately.”
Why traditional UAT fails
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Too late in the lifecycle – Business users only see the system at the end when major changes are expensive and disruptive to fix.
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The black box problem – Outside of early design workshops, users are kept at arm’s length from the evolving platform until UAT when they’re asked to test and learn at the same time.
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Unrealistic expectations – Business users have day jobs. Expecting them to become testers overnight is unfair and often leads to shallow testing or missed scenarios.
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Defects vs. risks – Many issues flagged during UAT aren’t bugs at all but training gaps, misaligned processes or change requests. These still carry real risk if left unresolved.
The result? UAT becomes overloaded, deadlines slip and programmes go live with hidden risk that later shows up as adoption challenges, operational disruption or audit failures.
The burden on business users
Brian Reid of the Scottish Government spoke candidly about the pressure on business users: “For them, it’s all brand new… you need good support networks, great quality test scripts and professionals to help people through the process in an orderly manner.” UAT often leaves civil servants trying to both learn and test simultaneously - a recipe for missed issues and shaken confidence.
James Maunder of Unite Students added that testing rarely works well as a “side of desk” activity. Without dedicated time and focus, the quality of testing suffers, creating downstream problems that leaders ultimately carry the blame for.
Why this matters for leaders
For public sector CTOs, the challenge isn’t just technical. As Brian warned, the real danger is reputational: “Not being able to run payroll or pay suppliers would be catastrophic.” These are the kind of failures that make headlines and draw scrutiny from watchdogs or parliamentary committees. In other words, UAT done badly doesn’t just risk a project, it risks careers.
A smarter approach to assurance
Simon Evans noted that with today’s pace of change, “the only thing we know is that change is constant.” That means quarterly SaaS upgrades, multiple platforms and endless integrations - too much for manual UAT alone to keep up with. A smarter model is needed:
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Business capture tools – Modern platforms can map and replicate real-world business processes, automatically generating test cases that reflect how users actually work.
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Intelligent testing frameworks – Independent assurance frameworks embed quality throughout delivery, rather than waiting until the end. This means risks are identified and managed earlier.
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Automation and AI – Regression packs, automated scripts and even custom-trained AI models reduce the manual burden on business users and increase coverage across thousands of scenarios.
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Shift-left assurance – Involving business perspectives from the start ensures acceptance isn’t a one-off milestone but a thread running through the entire programme.
The outcome: confidence, not chaos
UAT shouldn’t be the moment you discover what’s missing. It should be the culmination of a risk-managed, quality-led journey where users validate what they already know will work.
As Brian put it, the measure of success is avoiding catastrophe: “Not breaking payroll or supplier payments — that’s the win.” And as James reminded us, success isn’t perfection, it’s silence: when no one hears about the change because it just works.
Need assurance you can stand behind when ministers, auditors or watchdogs come calling?
Watch the full webinar to hear the hard lessons our panel learned on UAT and how to avoid the same risks in your own programme.