A major goal of systems procurements has been getting a quality product as quickly as possible. In the simulator world, a serious drive is now on for concurrency. Attempts have always been and will still be made to reduce the total cost of the procurement. One costly phase of the development schedule, because of its associated time and manpower requirements, is the test phase. Of particular importance is Customer Acceptance Testing. By making some significant changes to the test philosophy and how the tests are actually conducted, significant gains could be made by the contractor, buyer and user.

This paper will review doctrines of system test planning which have been held sacred by both sides. A background to the purpose and goals of system test will be presented. Additionally, the structuring of a system's various test phases will be reviewed. New ideas will then be presented on how, with cooperation and trust by all parties concerned, everyone can accomplish what they always have and now a lot more. Evidence of how implementation of some of these new ideas has worked will be reviewed.