These two terms seem to be synonymous, and in a sense they are, but in the technical language they have different meanings.
Both of them refers to a process of verifying the suitability and operability of a technical solution, be it a facility, a structure, a software or any other result of a project.
Test operation, as the name implies, is part of the testing process, whereby a project is put to test whether it conforms to the requirements set out in the initial requirements. In practice, this is when a facility is first used for its intended purpose, such as heated up, filled up with water, pressurized. Any operational defect or deficiency will come to light at this point. If the operation fails, the system will not be subject to the standard acceptance process, but a repeated testing process will have to take place. In some industries, this step is called beta testing. The purpose of testing is that all high and critical priority defects (also called bugs in the IT sector) have been fixed and the regulations (software documentation in the IT sector or the Technological Instructions in the construction sector) are updated accordingly.
Trial operation will take place after the project has been successfully accepted. Trial operation may only start after the testing period is over and the system is deployed in the production environment and is used by the client’s pilot group. It is sometime referred to as trial run in certain sectors. It is also important that test operation (testing) is performed by the users of the Client in real business situations. IN the IT sector this is called operational acceptance testing (OAT), which is a usual step in large projects.
The above conclusions are well verified by sources of varied fields. Our description completely conforms to the standard project management terminology. Also the practices of the IT sector uses the same terms.
