Difference Between Verification and Validation


Verification is the process of verifying something to ensure its correctness, while Validation is the process of validating something in which the user tests the system with some inputs and verifies whether the output is as per the expectation or not. In software testing, both Validation and Verification are the parts of the V-model in which the development and testing activities are started based on the requirement of document specification.

In other words, we can say that Verification is the process to ensure whether the product that is developed is right or not. It verifies whether the developed product fulfils the requirements that we have, while Validation is the process of checking the validation of product i.e. it checks what we are developing is the right product. It is validation of actual and expected product.

Read through this article to find out more about Verification and Validation and how they are different from each other.

What is Verification?

Verification is what that answers "are we building the product (or software) right?". The process of checking that the developed software achieves its goal without any bugs is referred to as verification of the software product. In other words, verification is the process in which a product or system is evaluated in the development phase to find out whether it meets the specified requirements or not.

Thus, verification is the process that ensures whether the developed software is right or not, i.e. it checks whether the developed software fulfills our requirements or not. The verification process is static testing of the product. The main activities involved in the verification process are – inspection, review, walkthrough, and desk-checking.

What is Validation?

According to Barry Boehm, validation is a process in software testing that answers "are we building the right product (or software)?". The process of checking whether the developed software can fulfill the high-level requirements or not is referred to as validation. Thus, in the validation process, it is checked whether we are developing the right software product or not. In this case, the expected product is used as the reference for validation. Thus, the validation gives a comparison of the actual and expected software product.

Hence, validation is the process in which a product or system is evaluated at the end of the development process to determine whether the software product meets the customer’s expectations and requirements or not.

In the development of software products, validation is a dynamic testing process. The main activities involved in the process of validation are – black box testing, white box testing, unit testing, and integration testing.

Difference between Verification and Validation

Both verification and validation are testing processes that are used to develop a right software product to fulfil the requirements that we have. However, there are a lot of differences between verification and validation that are listed in the following table −

Key Verification Validation
Definition Verification is the process in which product or system is evaluated in development phase to find out whether it meets the specified requirements or not. Validation is the process in which product or system is evaluated at the end of the development process to determine whether software meets the customer expectations and requirements or not.
Objective The main objective of Verification process is to make sure that the system being develop is as per the requirements and design specifications of the customer and if it deviates from it then make it correct in the development phase itself. The objective of Validation is to make sure that the product which has been developed is actually meet up the user’s requirements or not. And if it is not then make it to the level of acceptance in re development phase.
Activities Main activities which defines the Verification process are Reviews of specification and product development, Meetings about diversification and inspections. Activities under Validation process are typically different type of testing such as Black Box testing, White Box testing, Grey box testing etc. which ensure the defect free delivery of product as per specification document.
Type Verification is the process where execution of code is not take place and hence it comes under static testing. During Validation, execution of code takes place and thus it comes under dynamic testing.
Sequence Verification is carried out before the Validation. Validation is carried out just after the Verification
Performer Verification is carried out by Quality assurance team. Validation is executed on software code with the help of testing team.

Conclusion

Both verification and validation are the testing phase processes in software product development. It must be noted that the verification process is performed before carrying out the validation.

Updated on: 14-Dec-2022

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