V&V: Verification and Validation
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It is important to be able to tell if a software system meets specifications and if it runs correctly. These are the processes of verification and validation (V&V).
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Definitions
Verification is the process of determining if a system meets the conditions set forth at the beginning, or during previous activities of the software development life cycle, correctly. These conditions are set forth in software requirements, which are usually formally documented. The standard for software requirements documentation is ANSI/IEEE Standard 830. Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents,plans,code,requirements and specifications. This can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs, and inspection meetings.
Validation is the process of evaluating a system to determine whether it satisfies the specified requirements and meets customer needs. Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed
Related concepts
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.
Classification of methods
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-times 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.
Test cases
Test cases are the method most often miss-associated with V&V. In actuality, test cases can only be used for validation while other methods such as reviews used early in the Software Development Life Cycle provide for verification.
Independent Verification and 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.
External sources
- E. Tran, Dependable Embedded Systems. Carnegie Mellon University, USA, Spring 1999.
- T. Menzies, Y. Hu, Data mining for very busy people. IEEE Computer, November 2003, pp. 22–29.