Defining Acceptance Criteria
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In this lesson, you will learn:
- What acceptance criteria are
- Good criteria for Discovery
- SNWR’s twelve criteria
🔁 Quick look back: Last time: Security and Compliance Requirements. You learned how to capture security rules for accounts, scan windows and audit.
1 The Problem: ‘Done’ Means Different Things to Different People
Ask three people when Discovery is ‘done’, and you get three answers:
- Hana: ‘When the CMDB is right.’
- Farah: ‘When nothing unsafe was scanned.’
- Anita: ‘When incidents have CIs.’
👉 The fix: Agree measurable acceptance criteria now. Testing later checks against them.
2 Good acceptance criteria
- Measurable: a number or a yes/no.
- Agreed: the client signs them.
- Testable: you know how you’ll check it.
- Linked: each one traces to a requirement.
Key term: Acceptance criterion
A measurable condition the client agrees means ‘done’.
3 Common Discovery criteria
| Area | Example |
|---|---|
| Coverage | Percent of in-scope devices discovered |
| Quality | Required fields filled; no duplicates |
| Access | Credential success rate |
| Safety | Excluded ranges never touched |
| Speed | Scan finishes within the window |
| Value | Incidents with a CI |
4 Project Clear View: How We Implemented It
📍 Situation: Hana, Farah and Anita each had a different idea of ‘done’.
🧭 Decision: Agree twelve measurable criteria in week 2, before any build.
🛠️ Steps we took:
- Collected each person’s idea of ‘done’.
- Turned each into a number or a yes/no.
- Wrote how each will be tested.
- Got Hana, Farah and Anita to agree the list.
✅ What we verified:
- All twelve criteria are measurable.
- Each one has a test method.
📁 Evidence: Acceptance criteria AC-01 to AC-12. They’re tested in Quality Assurance › Revisiting the Acceptance Criteria.
5 Quick recap
- Acceptance criteria say what ‘done’ means, in numbers.
- Good criteria are measurable, agreed, testable and linked.
- Common areas: coverage, quality, access, safety, speed, value.
- Agree them before building.
6 Check yourself
Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.
1 What makes an acceptance criterion good? Show answer
It’s measurable, agreed, testable and linked to a requirement.
2 Give one Clear View criterion. Show answer
Any of: 95% of servers discovered, zero duplicates, 98% credential success, scan under 3 hours, excluded ranges never touched.
3 When are the criteria tested? Show answer
In week 9, during Quality Assurance.
Nice work! Clear View has a clear definition of ‘done’. 🎉
Next up: Writing and Signing Off the Requirements
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