Verification And Validation: Ensuring The Software Meets Quality GuidelinesSoftware development involves testing from the beginning of the process up until the time the software is ready for release. It is safe to say that the product is not a completed product until many types of software testing have been run successfully on the software. One of the methods of testing is called verification and validation. Verification and Validation (also referred to as V&V) is a method of assuring that the software meets all the requirements of quality, performance and functionality. Each piece of software designed has a different purpose and verification and validation check to make sure that the software meets and fulfills that purpose. Although verification and validation sound very similar, they are actually two very different parts of the testing process. V&V are used not only in just testing the software, but also in software project management and software engineering. Verification of software is a method of testing by means of static testing. Its purpose is to check that the completed software was built in the way that it was meant to be built-that it matches the original design or blueprint. Slightly different from verification, validation checks that the software has the characteristics to do what it was designed to do and is done through dynamic testing as well as methods of reviews. A simpler way of describing the two is that verification tells the tester that the product was built correctly and validation means the software will do what it's intended to do. Verification and validation are both involved as part of the quality and software quality assurance team. In isolation, V&V do not assure that the software will meet the quality standards required by the Quality Assistance team, but play a large part in the final results. They all work together, with each testing phase having to have positive results-in other words, and must pass the tests. Test cases are a means for the engineer to determine if all the criteria required of the software is met. There is a different test case for each testing method used. Many times, people mistakenly believe that both verification and validation are completed by means of test cases. Test cases are used for verification but not validation. Validation is done by reviews and testing performed very early in the development cycle. Verification and Validation is sometimes completes by the development team during the development, but occasionally it is carried out by a separate group of individuals. When a separate testing group carries out the procedure, it is called independent verification and validation. There are different types of verifications such as static verification and dynamic verification. The best way to remember the difference between verification and validation is the verification makes sure they are building the product right whereas validation makes sure they are making the right product. |