Today we are going to cover the topic difference between Verification and Validation.
These terms can be very prominent and are widely used with respect to the software development. These two words are independent to each other and are the mechanisms to check if the product or service that is meant to be delivered to the end client satisfies the user requirements and whether able to fulfill its intended purpose or not.
So without wasting much of our time let’s quickly get started by giving a brief introduction about what does these two terms Verification and Validation mean literally.
Also Read: Difference between Testing and Debugging
Verification
Tagline: Have we built the software right?
Verification is basically the mechanism to verify the software, that the output of any of the development phase must comply with the requirements specified at the time of initiation of that phase.
Verification, talking in terms of software engineering is regarded as the static means of verifying the specification, documents, design and code. Not only these but verification is responsible for verifying all the steps involved in the development process of the software like inspection, specification analysis, design analysis etc.
Moreover, verification is aimed at finding out whether the software is of high quality or not, on the other hand it can’t evaluate the usefulness of the software.
Following methods are followed to carry out verification process:
- Walkthrough
- Inspection
- Code Review
Validation
Tagline: Have we built the right software?
This mechanism is the process of inspecting the software in between or at the end of the development phase and making sure that the software must comply with the specified requirements.
Validation process deals with the evaluation of end product (software) to ensure whether the produced software meets the end users expectation or not. This process is termed as the dynamic mechanism of evaluating the software product.
Following methods are adopted to accomplish the objective of validation process:
- Testing and
- End Users
Difference between Verification and Validation
We’ve seen what two terms Verification and Validation mean in the world of software testing. Now let’s quickly do a comparative study of these two to figure out the differences and find out what common features do they share.
| Verification | Validation |
| It is regarded as the static method of verifying the code, design and documents. | It is termed as the dynamic practice to validate the end product. |
| This process is usually carried out by humans. | This is primarily accomplished by computers. |
| It is to ensure that software complies with the specifications. | It is to ensure that the end client’s expectation is met or not. |
| Execution of the program code is not required in this step. | Execution of code is the basic need. |
| Errors that cannot be tracked during validation are caught here. | Errors that cannot be tracked during verification are caught here. |
| It is done by the QA team to conform the software’s compliance with the SRS. | It is carried out with collaboration of developers and testing team. |
| It is executed before validation process. | It is done usually after the verification process. |
| It explains if the outputs are according to the inputs or not. | It explains whether a customer is going to accept the product or not. |
| Errors caught at this stage are usually less costly to remove. | Errors cost more to be removed at this stage. |
| Accomplished via Walkthrough, Inspection and Code Review. | Accomplished through Testing and surveys with the End Users. |
At last we come to conclude that both these processes are necessary to the software development process in one way or the other. Both the mechanisms have got different potentials and advantages to encounter the defect and vulnerabilities at different stages of the software development cycle.
That is all for today. If you’ve got any doubts or queries related to verification vs validation then, please feel free to ask in the comment section. We will be happy to help. Suggestions are equally welcomed from the readers end.
Clarity made. Thanks.