Tuesday November 14, 2017
Delivering an optimum quality product, be it software or hardware, is a tedious task. A product has to undergo and pass through various stages of planning, development and testing to ensure that the final product delivered is best in terms of quality and performance.
Out of the numerous stages involved in products development, one of the common steps that are taken at every stage of the development is testing.
Testing is the process that verifies and ensures that the final product delivered, meets the industry standards and specified requirements.
While there are varied types of software testing that can be conducted on the products based on their requirements and stage of development, there are certain aspects that are in common.
Two of these are verification and validation in software testing.
Commonly confused by the readers, the two hold a different meaning in the context of software testing as mentioned below:
Verification
Validation
Difference between Verification and Validation in Software Testing
Gaining an understanding of the difference between the two is important as this can help ensure the development of the best quality software product.
1. Aim
The process of verification aims at confirming whether a particular product meets the requirements specified at the beginning of the development phase. Whereas, the aim of validation is to check whether the final product conforms to the set requirements and standards.
2. Type of Mechanism
Verification is a kind of static process that involves assessing of design, documents, program and code. On the other hand, validation is a dynamic process that validates and tests the quality of the final product.
3. Execution of Code
Since verification is a static process, it does not involve execution of code. Whereas, validation is a dynamic process that cannot be completed without implementing a code.
4. Scope of Automation
Verification is a manual process that cannot be completed without intervention by a human. On the other hand, validation is machine-dependent and can be completed solely using computers.
5. Level
Verification is a low-level exercise that enables easy identification of errors that cannot be trapped using validation.
On the other hand, validation is a high-level exercise that ensures optimum product quality as well as easy identification of errors that often go unidentified using process of verification.
6. Execution
The QA team is responsible to carry out the process of verification and ensure that the software being developed is at par to the requirements specified in the document. On the contrary, the process of validation is carried out by the testing team.
7. Hierarchy
The process of verification is to be completed before validation. Whereas, validation generally follows after the process of verification.
8. Cost of Errors
The errors caught during the process of verification leads to lesser cost and expenses to the company as compared to the ones found during the process of validation.
9. Items Evaluated
The process of verification evaluates plans that were made for the product, requirements that were specified, specifications related to design, test cases, etc.
Whereas, validation enables the evaluation of the product or software that has been developed by the team.
10. Target
Verification commonly targets on things like specifications, database design, architecture, product design, etc.
On the other hand, validation tests and targets things like product’s unit, module, integrated modules, and the final product.
11. Bugs
Verification helps in finding bugs in the early stages of development on the other hand validation will make sure that other kind bugs are caught that the verification process cannot find.
Diagrammatic comparison for Verification and Validation in Software Testing
Verification | Validation |
Used For Checking Documents, Codes, and Programs | Used For Validating the Product |
No Code Execution | Code Execution |
Static method | Dynamic Process |
intended for database design, architecture, specification, high level, etc | Actual Product is the target |
Reviews, inspections, and desk changing are used for verification | methods used are non-functional testing, black box testing, white box testing, etc. |
Done by a QA Team | Development as well QA Team will be a Part |
Used For manually checking requirement specification | Used for checking developed program based on the requirement specification |
Conclusion
Verification and validation are equally important to find errors and ensure that the final product that goes out in the market is the best. Therefore, one must never underestimate the significance of any of the two.
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