Hi there. During this wonderful 5 month journey, we’ve talked about software a lot, and we’ve mostly talked about how software is created. The industry expects certain things when creating new systems, and there is a whole process of normalization that exists out there. We’ve talked Analysis, Design, Implementation, but we’ve yet to talk about Verification and Validation, another key element of this beautiful process that we call building software.
It’s super common for any industry to have some sort of validation on products and services that are created. For example, the ISO 9001 is a quality control standard that many companies use to manage quality and show the world that their product is worthy. So my first action when doing research on this topic was to look for the different standards out there, yet my first google search didn’t yield exactly what I was looking for, so I just turned to the Software verification and validation page on Wikipedia, which actually has a decent structure on the topic.
I wanted to talk about the difference between verification and validation, because apparently they are not the same! We use validation when we are the end of a development cycle, or when we are “finished” with the system. You can use it to validate that all the user requirements are fulfilled and that the system is full go. Verification is a bit more complex in that it handles the output of individual phases during the development cycle, so you use it to ensure that things are going the way that they are supposed to. Both are super helpful, yet I believe that verification can sometimes be biased depending on who is actually doing the verification.
Regarding the standards that I found, the first one is the ISVV, which stands for Independent Software Verification and Validation. It is aimed towards safety critical systems, and you can see that doing correct verification and validation in systems where potential lives are there for the taking is something really important. There is a reason that you do take an Ethics class during your degree. The cool thing about the ISVV is that their tests are done by independent engineers, so there is no bias going on during the process.
I tried searching for some other standards, but I didn’t find anything too specific, except for the fact that the FDA requires some form of verification and validation as well.
That’s going to be it for this blog, hope you enjoyed it, more blogs are on the way!
Be sure to check out my website at grupoargon.co
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