In software project management, software testing, and software engineering, verification and validation (V&V) is the process of checking that a software system meets specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose. It is normally the responsibility of software testers as part of the software development lifecycle.
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Also known as software quality control.
Validation checks that the product design satisfies or fits the intended usage (high-level checking) – i.e., you built the right product. This is done through dynamic testing and other forms of review.
According to the Capability Maturity Model (CMMI-SW v1.1),
In other words, validation ensures that the product actually meets the user's needs, and that the specifications were correct in the first place, while verification is ensuring that the product has been built according to the requirements and design specifications. Validation ensures that ‘you built the right thing’. Verification ensures that ‘you built it right’. Validation confirms that the product, as provided, will fulfill its intended use.
From testing perspective:
Within the modeling and simulation community, the definitions of validation, verification and accreditation are similar:
Both verification and validation are related to the concepts of quality and of software quality assurance. By themselves, verification and validation do not guarantee software quality; planning, traceability, configuration management and other aspects of software engineering are required.
In mission-critical systems where flawless performance is absolutely necessary, formal methods can be used to ensure the correct operation of a system. However, often for non-mission-critical systems, formal methods prove to be very costly and an alternative method of V&V must be sought out. In this case, syntactic methods are often used.
A test case is a tool used in the process.
Test cases are prepared for verification: to determine if the process that was followed to develop the final product is right.
Test case are executed for validation: if the product is built according to the requirements of the user. Other methods, such as reviews, are used when used early in the Software Development Life Cycle provide for validation.
Verification and validation often is carried out by a separate group from the development team; in this case, the process is called "independent verification and validation", or IV&V.
Verification and validation must meet the compliance requirements of law regulated industries, which is often guided by government agencies[2][3] or industrial administrative authorities. e.g. The FDA requires software versions and patches to be validated.[4]