Before anything, we have to know what is verification and validation of software. Verification is a process of checking documents, design, code, and program in order to check if the software has been built according to the requirements or not. The main goal of verification process is to ensure quality of software application, design, architecture etc. The verification process involves activities like reviews, walk-throughs and inspection.

Validation is a dynamic mechanism of testing and validating if the software product actually meets the exact needs of the customer or not. The process helps to ensure that the software fulfills the desired use in an appropriate environment. The validation process involves activities like unit testing, integration testing, system testing and user acceptance testing.

Here is an image of the key difference between them:

International Standards for V&V in software:
ISO 9001 Quality management systems – Requirements¹ requires verification and validation to be planned and carried out and records kept (refer clauses: 7.3.5 Design and development verification and 7.3.6 Design and development validation)

IEEE 1012 – Standard for Software Verification and Validation² provides a comprehensive how-to for software V&V planning and execution.

Software Review is a very important part of SDLC that assists software engineers in validating the quality, functionality, and other vital features and components of the software. As mentioned above, it is a complete process that involves testing the software product and ensuring that it meets the requirements stated by the client.

It is systematic examination of a document by one or more individuals, who work together to find & resolve errors and defects in the software during the early stages of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Usually performed manually, software review is used to verify various documents like requirements, system designs, codes, “test plans”, & “test cases”.

But, why is software review important? well, the reason that it makes so important is the following:

• It improves the productivity of the development team.
• Makes the process of testing time & cost effective, as more time is spent on testing the software during the initial development of the product.
• Fewer defects are found in the final software, which helps reduce the cost of the whole process.
• The reviews provided at this stage are found to be cost effective, as they are identified at the earlier stage, as the cost of rectifying a defect in the later stages would be much more than doing it in the initial stages.
• In this process of reviewing software, often we train technical authors for defect detection process as well as for “defect prevention process”.
• It is only at this stage the inadequacies are eliminated.
• Elimination of defects or errors can benefit the software to a great extent. Frequent check of samples of work and identification of small time errors can lead to low error rate.
• As a matter of fact, this process results in dramatic reduction of time taken in producing a technically sound document.

There are many different types of software review such as code review, technical review, walkthrough, inspections, pair-programming, software management review, software audit review.

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What is Validation and Verification

Validation and verification is an activity that plays a very big role regarding processes and products of quality. That is why and concerning the historic problems that have emerged from software development, the study of V&V is an important advancement for the future evolution of software technologies.

Planing V&V

The planning of V&V depends entirely on the goals and objectives of the project at hand. To achieve said goals different life cycle methods have been developed. But in all of them it will be required to have a specific process that ensures quality within the project.That’s why that at the end of every life cycle it should be ensured that the work done in that moment complies with the aforementioned objectives.

The final objective of the process of V&V is to prove that the system it’s made for a purpose and it tries to apply specific techniques known as tests and reviews. The process of validation and verification es a set of procedures, activities and tools that are use in parallel to software development with the end goal of ensure that the product solves the problem that was initially said to solve.

Verification

Verification tests the consistency of the software with respect to the requirements, that is, if it answers the following question. Is the software built correctly. The process determines if the resulting product of a life cycle comply with the requirements established in the previous phase. The process determines if the resulting software is complete, consistent and right to start the next phase.

Validation

Validation proves if that is specified and implemented is what the user really wants, that is if it answers the question of has the correct software been built. The process determines if the software accomplishes its specifications. The process ensures that the software built behaves as expected and it complies with the client’s expectation

“A process or meeting during which a software product is examined by a project personnel, managers, users, customers, user representatives, or other interested parties for comment or approval” it’s the IEEE’s definition of this process.

Objectives:

1. To improve the productivity.
2. the testing process time and cost effective.
3. final software with fewer defects.
4. eliminate the inadequacies.

Types:

Software Peer Review

This methodology uses the author and another colleague to review certain document/code/etc in order to do an evaluation of the content’s quality.

This type of review relies on colleagues over management representatives, and Peer Review it is more focus on a technical evaluation over control objectives.

Software Managment Review

it is a management-oriented study on the project state and its resources. it is defined by the IEEE as “A systematic evaluation of software acquisition, supply, development, operation, or maintenance process performed by or on behalf of management … [and conducted] to monitor progress, determine the status of plans and schedules, confirm requirements and their system allocation, or evaluate the effectiveness of management approaches used to achieve fitness for purpose. Management reviews support decisions about corrective actions, changes in the allocation of resources, or changes to the scope of the project”.

Here it’s the IEEE standard:

1. Evaluate entry?
2. Management preparation?
3. Plan the structure of the review
4. Overview of review procedures?
5. [Individual] Preparation?
6. [Group] Examination?
7. Rework/follow-up?
8. [Exit evaluation]?

Software Audit Review

IEEE defines it as “An independent examination of a software product, software process, or set of software processes to assess compliance with specifications, standards, contractual agreements, or other criteria”.

the roles of this methodology are:

• The Initiator (manager)
• The Lead Auditor (objective consultor and organizer)
• The Recorder (documents the process)
• The Auditor (examine the process progress)
• The Audited Organization  (consultor)

Software review insists in verifying the quality and functionality of a software product and this is done by performing tests making sure that all the requiriements are complited.

Documents are examined by a group of people to make sure all errors are found and corrected in the Llfe cycle.

Important Features

• Productivity of the developers is increased
• At the final stages of SDLC less errors are found
• Time and cost are better
• Flaws are eliminated
• Less time for sound document

Types of software reviews

• Peer Review
• Management Review:
• Audit Review

Peer Review

Evaluates technical characteristics and quality of the product, some types are:

• Code Review
• Pair programming
• Informal
• Walkthrough
• Technical review
• Inspection

Management Review: Evaluates work status which develops in the latest stages.

Audit Review: Independent individuals outside of the development team examine the product.

Process Review

Activities of IEEE Standard 1028 which are:

• Entry Evaluation: Checklist for review condition.
• Management Preparation: Making sure all resources are available.
• Review Planning: Objectice that forms a resource team.
• Preparation: Reviewers prepare group examinations.
• Examination and Exit Evaluation: Results combined and everything is verified.

V&V are independent procedures used to check a product/service/system meets the requirements and specifications demanded.

Verification means “confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled” by 820.3(a).

Validation means “confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that the particular requirements for specific intended use can be consistently fulfilled.

V&V has to have an Installation, Operational and Performance qualification to be green-lighted. Also, any software that has to be used by humans has to pass to this process of V&V.

ISO and other organizations are the ones that have to oversee the V&V of:

• Quality management system
• Calibration management system
• Maintenance management system
• Document management/PLM system
• Quality system platforms/server validation
• Resource management system
• Clinical data tracking databases
• Labeling software

We mention that V&V is a set of independent procedures/documents, here is a list with the main ones:Software Validation Protocol

Software Validation Protocol :

Network Diagram:
it illustrates how the system is configured on a network

Risk Analysis:

risk analysis document should evaluate safety and identify potential hazards

21 CFR Part 11 Compliance Analysis:

contains specific requirements for the use of electronic signature

Design Specification:

A document that indicates that the design criteria whereby the conformity with the requirement can be checked.

Verification Protocol :

Contents of the verification protocol define the type of tests to be performed and the procedures and schedules for tests.

Test Specifications:

Test cases are documents used in the process. In software verification and validation, they are used to determine if the product is built according to the user requirements.

Requirements Traceability Matrix:

This document links the requirements throughout the validation process. It ensures that all the requirements specified for a system are tested in test protocols.

Final Validation Report

Verification and validation of Software (V&V) focuses primarly on the requirements, it verifies that these are complete and correct also the result of the development phases should comply with the requirements but why do this?. Well it seems that all of this is with the purpose to get rid of all the flaws of software lifecycle artifacts, one step at a time.

Here is a good and simple video of V&V:

There seems to be 3 main implementations of V&V which are:

• Testing(Post Process): focuses in dynamic execution of hard-coded software.
• Lifecycle Frameworks (In Process): These are encyclopedic taxonomies of abundant software defect elimination techniques.
• Lifecycle Methodologies: Step-by-step metric and measurement-based approaches.

Testing (Post Process)

Testing is diveded into 2 categories the white box testing and the black box testing:

• White box: This method focuses in internal tests which focuses in examining software.
• Black box: External testing which focuses on analyzing and excercise the software.

Here are some techniques used in both methods:

The IEEE Standard on testing documents is to act as a framework for test documents so there can be a structure in the process and there are 7 documents which have the following flow:

There also exists the testing levels which are perfomed in a specific hierarchy that keeps inceasing:

Lifecycle Frameworks (In Process)

IEEE says that V&V frameworks gives minimun and uniform requirements so there can be a comprehensive evaluation of each phase of any project to make sure of the following:

• The flaws and bugs are corrected ASAP.
• The cost, riski and scheduled effects are minimize
• Improvement in software quality and management
• Fast evaluation of any changes or consequences.

Here are some tasks that can be done along with the lifecycle phase:

Lifecycle Methodologies (In Process)

Lifecycle methodologies are more compared to lifecycle frameworks because they are predictive, measurable, and very effective, but they also are less because they are lean and reduced to only the essential.

It seems that the best way to approach V&V is through Life cycle methodologies which are fast and efficient. Compared to Testing that is inefficient LifeCycle frameworks that are not easy to understand. so it seems we have a winner.

Bibliography:

V & V Lifecycle Methodologies. (2002). Retrieved from https://www.stickyminds.com/article/v-v-lifecycle-methodologies#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20IEEE%20Standard,imposed%20by%20the%20previous%20phase.

(2002). Retrieved from https://davidfrico.com/vvbrief.pdf

What is Software Quality?

Defining Software Quality can be a tricky task, since it is an abstract concept that can have many different definitions, depending on the source. A variaty of standards, measures and characteristics exist to determine whether a software project is considered to be of good quality or not quite. However, one common factor present in several of the definitions is how well does the software conform to its functional and non-funtional requirements, which are established based on the needs and desires of the customer. This is called fitness for purpose, and it refers to the fulfillment of a product’s requirements. This is reflected at the same time through its functional quality and its structural quality. Other important aspects of quality software is that it is delivered on time, withi the budget, and it is maintainable.

The reason why quality is a lot more difficult to completely ensure for software products compared to physical manufactured products is because of its inherent complexity and visibility. The product complexity refers to the large amount of operational modes it permits, since software packages allow for millions of operational possibilities and often it is hard to correctly assure them all. The product visibility refers to how defects in software are most times not detectable by sight, like it is for industrial products during the manufacturing process, hence being invisible.

Our world runs in software, everything around us is software, the phones, the tv, even the cars depend on software. Therefore the relevance of software quality is increasing. But, what is Software Quality? Well, we’re here to define this concept.

Defining Software Quality

Software Quality is still an abstract concept, there are many variations on the definition. Wikipedia describes it as follows:

it´s presence can be difficult to define, but it´s absence can be seen easily and instantly

A focus in process

Ensuring Software Quality

The role of standards in Software Quality