Prerequisite – Verification and Validation
Verification is the process of checking that a software achieves its goal without any bugs. It is the process to ensure whether the product that is developed is right or not. It verifies whether the developed product fulfills the requirements that we have. Verification is static testing.
Verification means Are we building the product right?
Validation is the process of checking whether the software product is up to the mark or in other words product has high level requirements. It 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. Validation is the dynamic testing.
Validation means Are we building the right product?
The difference between Verification and Validation is as follow:
| Verification | Validation |
|---|---|
| It includes checking documents, design, codes and programs. | It includes testing and validating the actual product. |
| Verification is the static testing. | Validation is the dynamic testing. |
| It does not include the execution of the code. | It includes the execution of the code. |
| Methods used in verification are reviews, walkthroughs, inspections and desk-checking. | Methods used in validation are Black Box Testing, White Box Testing and non-functional testing. |
| It checks whether the software conforms to specifications or not. | It checks whether the software meets the requirements and expectations of a customer or not. |
| It can find the bugs in the early stage of the development. | It can only find the bugs that could not be found by the verification process. |
| The goal of verification is application and software architecture and specification. | The goal of validation is an actual product. |
| Quality assurance team does verification. | Validation is executed on software code with the help of testing team. |
| It comes before validation. | It comes after verification. |
| It consists of checking of documents/files and is performed by human. | It consists of execution of program and is performed by computer. |
| Verification refers to the set of activities that ensure software correctly implements the specific function. | Validation refers to the set of activities that ensure that the software that has been built is traceable to customer requirements. |
| After a valid and complete specification the verification starts. | Validation begins as soon as project starts. |
| Verification is for prevention of errors. | Validation is for detection of errors. |
| Verification is also termed as white box testing or static testing as work product goes through reviews. | Validation can be termed as black box testing or dynamic testing as work product is executed. |
| Verification finds about 50 to 60% of the defects. | Validation finds about 20 to 30% of the defects. |
| Verification is based on the opinion of reviewer and may change from person to person. | Validation is based on the fact and is often stable. |
| Verification is about process, standard and guideline. | Validation is about the product. |
