Product Verification and Validation

Product Verification and Validation

Verification testing demonstrates that a new product meets the documented requirements. Validation testing demonstrates that a new product can effectively meet the customer needs.

When to use

Verification and validation testing of a new product or system are conducted near the end of the development project. In addition, requirements are often validated with the customer at the time of project initiation.

Instructions

An important aspect of every product development project is to make sure that the new product does what it is supposed to do. This is checked in two ways. The first is verification testing. In this testing, the product is tested, normally in a laboratory environment, to make sure that the product is able to meet all the documented requirements. The second test is validation testing. In this testing, the customer (or their representative) tests the new product in the operational environment to determine if it is sufficient to meet the customer's needs.

Verification testing is focused on project management success. It answers the question of whether the project team did what was asked of them. The validation testing is focused on project success. It answers the question of whether the product can do what the customer wants it to do. These are not mutually exclusive. If the requirements are well-written and validated at the time of project initiation.

This testing is essential and should be done on all development projects in order to ensure the new product will work. In some cases, new unique test methods must be developed in order to adequately test the new and unique customer requirements. The results of the testing should be documented in the project archives. If the new product is a large or complex system, it is helpful to create a testing dashboard so that progress can be easily tracked and communicated.

Hints & tips

• Don’t let the person who developed a feature of subsystem do the verification testing on it. That should be done by an independent tester.
• Assume there will be some feature found during testing that requires a redesign or at least a minor change. Allow enough time after testing to fix any issues that are discovered.
• In some industries, verification and validation testing can be used to achieve product certification. However, that is not universal and will depend on both the industry and the location of the testing.