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Verification and Validation in Software Testing

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27 views

Verification and Validation in Software Testing

Uploaded by

abhishek dabral
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Verification and Validation in Software Testing

Software testing, an integral part of software development, ensures that software


products under development are free from bugs, in accordance with quality
standards, and meet customer requirements. It is basically the total of the two
activities – Verification and Validation (V&V).

V&V in software testing are two independent procedures that work together to
verify a particular product meets specified requirements and satisfies its intended
purpose.

Many people often get confused between these two terms and use them
interchangeably. However, it is important to note that they are independent
processes with different aims.

Verification is the process of examining the software product’s quality. In other


words, it involves checking if the product meets the specified requirements and
design specifications. In contrast, validation is about analyzing the software
product to check if it meets customer requirements.

Without V&V, QA teams or testers can’t finish software testing. They are critical
elements because they determine software products’ quality, reliability, and
functionality.

This article will shed light on verification and validation in software testing and the
detailed differences between them.

Content
 What is Verification?
 What is Validation?
 Difference between Verification and Validation
 Verification vs Validation – A Side-by-Side Comparison
 Verification vs Validation – Example
 When Should You Verify and Validate?
 Conclusion
What is Verification?

It is the process of evaluating software development artifacts, such as documents,


design, and code, to ensure that the product under development will comply with
the specified requirements. As this process analyzes only the artifacts and not the
end product, it is often referred to as static testing.

Specifications act as input to the software development process. Developers write


the code based on these specifications. Verification checks whether the software
code aligns or adheres to the specifications in every phase of SDLC.

The activities involved in verification are inspection, code reviews, technical


reviews, and walkthroughs.

This process helps determine the quality of the software product but does not
ensure that it will be useful. It is only associated with evaluating the product to
check if it is free from bugs or errors.

What is Validation?

It is the process of evaluating the software product to check whether it conforms


to customer requirements and expectations. In other words, it determines
whether the product meets the client’s business requirements. It helps determine
that the product has fulfilled its intended purpose in an appropriate environment.

Rather than evaluating the artifacts, the validation process evaluates the actual
product. It is often referred to as dynamic testing. It is only concerned with the
output and not about the internal procedures of the development process.

The activities involved in this process are functional and non-functional testing.

Difference between Verification and Validation

An American software engineer, Barry W. Boehm, describes these two processes


clearly, which helps you understand the primary difference between them.

Verification: “Are we building the product right?”

Validation: “Are we building the right product?”

As you can see, these two statements are distinct, with a minor difference. The
first statement implies checking whether we are building the product correctly
according to the requirements and specifications. Conversely, the second
statement implies verifying whether we are building the right product that meets
its original intent or serves the intended purpose.

Verification vs Validation – A Side-by-Side Comparison

Though these processes are similar and contribute to the high quality of the end
product, they are different. Let us now throw light on the difference between
validation and verification in detail.

Verification Validation

The process of evaluating design, code, and The software product is evaluated to
documents to ensure that the product check if it conforms to the client’s
being developed meets the specified business requirements and customers’
requirements. needs.

It checks the document, design, and code It checks the reliability, usability, and
against the specified requirements. functionality of the end product.

This process does not require code This process requires executing the
execution. source code.

Validation is often called dynamic


Verification is often called static testing.
testing.

It follows a process-oriented approach. It follows a product-oriented approach.

Answers the question – “Are we building the Answers the question – “Are we
product right?” building the right product?”

Errors found during this process require Errors found during validation require
lesser cost/resources to fix than those more cost/resources. Later the error is
found during the validation phase. discovered, higher the cost to fix it.

It involves activities like document review, It involves activities like functional


test case review, walk-throughs, and code
testing and non-functional testing.
inspection.

The software testing team and QA


Only the QA (Quality Assurance) team
team together conduct the validation
performs verification.
process.

It takes place before validation and in the It starts only after verification
early phase of the development process. completes.

Verification targets the internal aspects,


Validation targets the entire end
such as design, database, code,
product.
requirements, and architecture.

It is all about the prevention of errors It is all about the detection of errors.

Requires less cost. Pretty expensive.

Verification vs Validation – Example

Let us take a real-life example to understand these processes.

Consider going to a restaurant and ordering Blueberry Pancakes. How will you
verify that the food you ordered is exactly what you want?

Firstly, you know how Blueberry Pancakes look. So, you start evaluating the dish
by its appearance. You check whether:

 The food looks as you expect it to.


 There are blueberries around.
 It smells as usual.
This is nothing but verification, as you are not testing the actual product.

Now, if the dish stands true to the above parameters, you will proceed further to
have it. When you consume the dish to check whether it tastes as intended, it is
validation.

When Should You Verify and Validate?

These are independent and critical processes in software development to ensure


that the product meets the specified requirements and fulfills the intended
purpose. Both play a vital role in ensuring the quality of software products.

Verification occurs in the development process’s early stage, whereas validation


is done only after verification. The former is used as an internal process, while the
latter is an external procedure, as it involves the approval of stakeholders.

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