Software Engineering | Verification and Validation

In software testing, verification and validation are the processes to check whether a software system satisfies the specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose or not.

Verification: Are we building the product right?

Validation: Are we building the right product?

Verification:

Verification is a process of determining if the software is designed and developed as per the specified requirements. It is the process of determining whether the output of one phase of software development conforms to that of its previous phase.

Verification is the process of evaluating a system or component to determine whether the products of a given development phase satisfy the conditions imposed at the start of that phase. It 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.

Verification in Software Testing is a process of checking documents, design, code, and program in order to check if the software has been built according to the requirements or not. 

Verification is the process to ensure that whether the product that is developed is right or not. The verification process involves activities like reviews, walkthroughs and inspection. 

Validation:

Validation is the process of checking if the software (end product) has met the client’s true needs and expectations.  It is the process of checking the validation of product. Validation helps to determine if the software team has built the right product. It is validation of actual and expected product. Validation is the dynamic testing.

Validation evaluates software to meet the user’s needs and requirements. It ensures the software fits its intended purpose and meets the user’s expectations.

Validation is conducted after the completion of the entire software development process. It checks if the client gets the product they are expecting. Validation focuses only on the output; it does not concern itself about the internal processes.

Difference between Verification and Validation:

Verification	Validation
Verification means Are we building the product right?	Validation means Are we building the right product?
It is a process of checking if a product is developed as per the specifications.	It is a process of ensuring that the product meets the needs and expectations of customers.
Quality assurance team does verification	The software testing team along with the QA team does validation.
Concerned with phase containment of  errors	Aim is to make final product error free
Activities involved here are reviews, inspection, and walkthroughs.	Activities involved here is black box testing, white box testing, acceptance testing.
It is a static method of checking documents and files.	It is a dynamic process of testing the real product.
It does not require executing the code.	It involves code execution to test the usability and functionality of the end product.
Evaluates the intermediary products to check whether it meets the specific requirements of the particular phase.	Evaluates the final product to check whether it meets the business needs.
Verification process includes checking of documents, design, code and program	Validation process includes testing and validation of the actual product.