Exact Difference Between Verification And Validation

With Examples
Following are some of the important reasons to understand the difference:
It is a fundamental QA concept, therefore it is almost the building block to being QA-
cognizant.
This is a commonly asked Software Testing Interview Question.
Certification syllabus has a good number of chapters revolving around this.
Finally, and practically as we testers perform both these testing types, we might as well
be experts at this.
What is Verification and Validation in Software Testing?
In the context of testing, “Verification and Validation” are the two widely and commonly
used terms. Most of the times, we consider both the terms as the same, but actually, these
terms are quite different.
There are two aspects of V&V (Verification & Validation) tasks:
Confirms to requirements (Producer view of quality)
Fit for use (consumers view of quality)
Producer’s view of quality, in simpler terms, means the developers perception of the final
product.
Consumers view quality means the user’s perception of the final product.
When we carry out the V&V tasks, we must concentrate on both of these views of
quality.
Let us first start with the definitions of verification and validation and then we will go
about understanding these terms with examples.
What is Verification?
Verification is the process of evaluating the intermediary work products of a software
development lifecycle to check if we are in the right track of creating the final product.
In other words, we can also state that verification is a process to evaluate the mediator
products of software to check whether the products satisfy the conditions imposed during
the beginning of the phase.
Now the question here is: What are the intermediary or mediator products?
Well, these can include the documents which are produced during the development
phases like, requirements specification, design documents, database table design, ER
diagrams, test cases, traceability matrix, etc.
We sometimes tend to neglect the importance of reviewing these documents, but we
should understand that reviewing itself can find out many hidden anomalies when if
found or fixed in the later phase of the development cycle, can be very costly.
Verification ensures that the system (software, hardware, documentation, and personnel)
complies with an organization’s standards and processes, relying on the review or non-
executable methods.
Where is Verification Performed?
Verification Actors Definition Output
Situation
Business/Functional Dev team/client This is a necessary step Finalized
Requirement for business to not only make sure requirements that
Review requirements. that the requirements are ready to be
have been gathered consumed by the
and/or correctly but next step – design.
also to make sure if
they are feasible or not.
Design Review Dev team Following the design Design is ready to
creation, the Dev team be implemented
reviews it thoroughly to into an IT system.
make sure that the
functional requirements
can be met via the
design proposed.
Code Walkthrough Individual The code once written Code ready for unit
Developer is reviewed to identify testing.
any syntactic errors.
This is more casual in
nature and is performed
by the individual
developer on the code
developed by oneself.
Code Inspection Dev team This is a more formal Code ready for
set up. Subject matter testing.
experts and developers
check the code to make
sure it is in accordance
with the business and
functional goals
targeted by the
software.
Test Plan Review QA team A test plan is internally A test plan
(internal to QA reviewed by the QA document ready to
team) team to make sure that be shared with the
it is accurate and external teams
complete. (Project
Management,
Business Analysis,
development,
Environment,
client, etc.)
Test Plan Review Project Manager, A formal analysis of the A signed off or
(External) Business test plan document to approved test plan
Analyst, and make sure that the document based on
Developer. timeline and other which the testing
considerations of the activity is going to
QA team are in line be based on.
with the other teams
and the entire project
itself.
Test documentation QA team A peer review is where Test
review (Peer members the team members documentation
review) review one another's ready to be shared
work to make sure that with the external
there are no mistakes in teams.
the documentation
itself.
Test documentation Business Analyst A test documentation Test
final review and development review to make sure documentation
team. that the test cases cover ready to be
all the business executed.
conditions and
functional elements of
the system.
What is Validation?
Validation is the process of evaluating the final product to check whether the software
meets the business needs. In simple words, the test execution which we do in our day to
day life is actually the validation activity which includes smoke testing, functional
testing, regression testing, systems testing, etc.
Validation is all forms of testing that involves working with the product and putting it to
test.
Given below are the validation techniques:
 Unit Testing
 Integration testing
 System Testing
 User Acceptance Testing
Validation physically ensures that the system operates according to a plan by executing
the system functions through a series of tests that can be observed and evaluated.
Validation and Verification Examples
Real-life Example: Imagine yourself going to a restaurant/diner and ordering maybe
blueberry pancakes. When the waiter/waitress brings your order out, how can you tell that
the food that came out is as per your order?
The first things are that we look at it and notice the following things:
 Does the food look like what pancakes typically appear to be?
 Are the blueberries to be seen?
 Do they smell right?
 Maybe more, but you get the gist right?
On the other hand, when you need to be absolutely sure about whether the food is as you
expected: You will have to eat it.
Verification is all when you are yet to eat but are checking on a few things by reviewing
the subjects. Validation is when you actually eat the product to see if it is right.

Verification answers the question, “Did we build the right system?” while validations
addresses, “Did we build the system right?”

V&V in Different Phases of the Development Lifecycle

Verification and validation are performed in each of the phases of the development
lifecycle.
Let’s try to have a look at them.
1) V & V tasks – Planning 2) V & V tasks – Requirement phase
 Verification of contract.  Evaluation of software requirements.
 Evaluation of Concept document.  Evaluation/analysis of the interfaces.
 Performing risk analysis.  Generation of the systems test plan.
 Generation of Acceptance test plan.

3) V&V tasks – Design Phase 4) V&V Tasks – Implementation Phase

 Evaluation of software design.  Evaluation of source code.
 Evaluation / Analysis of the Interfaces  Evaluation of documents.
(UI).  Generation of test cases.
 Generation of Integration test plan.  Generation of the test procedure.
 Generation of the Component test  Execution of Components test cases.
plan.
 Generation of test design.

#5) V&V Tasks – Test Phase 6) V&V Tasks – Installation and checkout
 Execution of systems test case. phase
 Execution of the acceptance test case.  Audit of installation and
 Updating traceability metrics. configuration.
 Risk analysis  The final test of the installation
candidate build.
 Generation of the final test report.

7) V&V Tasks – Operation Phase 8) V&V Tasks – Maintenance Phase

 Evaluation of new constraint.  Evaluation of the anomalies.
 Assessment of the change proposed.  Assessment of migration.
 Assessment of the retrial features.
 Assessment of the proposed change.
 Validating the production issues.
 Difference Between Verification and
Validation

Difference Between Verification and Validation

 Verification Validation
Evaluates the intermediary products to Evaluates the final product to check
check whether it meets the specific whether it meets the business needs.
requirements of the particular phase.
Checks whether the product is built as per It determines whether the software is fit
the specified requirement and design for use and satisfies the business needs.
specification.
Checks “Are we building the product Checks “Are we building the right
right”? product”?
This is done without executing the Is done with executing the software.
software.
Involves all the static testing techniques.
Includes all the dynamic testing
techniques.
Examples include reviews, inspection, and Example includes all types of testing like
walkthrough. smoke, regression, functional, systems and
UAT.

When to Use Validate and Verify?

These are independent procedures that should be employed together to check if the
system or application is in conformity with the requirements and specifications and that it
achieves its intended purpose. Both are important components of the quality management
system.
It is often possible that a product passes through the verification but fails in the validation
phase. As it met the documented requirements & specifications, however, those
specifications were themselves incapable to address the user’s needs. Thus, it is important
to carry out testing for both the types to ensure the overall quality.
Verification can be used as an internal process in development, scale-up, or production.
On the other hand, validation should be used as an external process to get the acceptance
of fitness with stakeholders.
Conclusion
V&V processes determine whether the products of a given activity conform to the
requirements and are fit for its use.
Finally, the following are a few things to note:
In very simpler terms (to avoid any kind of confusion), we just remember that
Verification means the review activities or the static testing techniques and validation
means the actual test execution activities or the dynamic testing techniques.
Verification may or may not involve the product itself. Validation definitely needs the
product. Verification can sometimes be performed on the documents that represent the
final system.
Verification and validation do not necessarily have to be performed by the testers. As you
see above in this article some of these are performed by the developers and other teams.