In software testing, verification and validation are two crucial processes that ensure a
software product meets its requirements and is fit for use. Here’s a breakdown of both:
Verification:
Definition: Verification is the process of evaluating work products (like documents,
design, code, etc.) at the end of each development phase to determine whether they
meet the specified requirements.
Focus: It answers the question, “Are we building the product right?”
Objective: The objective is to ensure that the software conforms to its specifications.
Activities: Activities include reviews, walkthroughs, inspections, and desk-checking.
Examples:
Reviewing design documents to ensure all requirements are covered.
Checking code to verify it adheres to coding standards.
Validation:
Definition: Validation is the process of evaluating the final product to check whether it
meets the business needs and requirements of the end-users.
Focus: It answers the question, “Are we building the right product?”
Objective: The objective is to ensure that the software meets the user’s needs and that
the requirements were correct in the first place.
Activities: Activities include actual testing, such as system testing, integration testing,
user acceptance testing (UAT), etc.
Examples:
Running test cases to ensure the software functions as expected.
Conducting UAT to confirm the software satisfies user requirements.
In summary:
Verification is about checking if the product is being built correctly according to the
design specifications.
Validation is about checking if the right product has been built, i.e., it fulfills the intended
use and requirements.