Q for US-english speaking engineer

[Spoonist]

Could you please help out a european?
We have some contact with a US company and I'm trying to make sense of their project definition document.

What is the difference between Validation and Verification?
I've tried the dictionaries but to me it sounds like the same thing.

Appreciate it

[General Zod]

they are similar, but here's the difference as best as i can figure:

to validate something means to make give something a heads up or make it certifiable when it didn't have that authenticity before.

to verify means to check something against another thing in order to confirm that it is what it says it is.

one deals with a ruling that's never been made, the other one deals with a ruling that has been made but needs confirmed, more or less. hopefully that made some type of sense.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Could you please help out a european?
We have some contact with a US company and I'm trying to make sense of their project definition document.

What is the difference between Validation and Verification?
I've tried the dictionaries but to me it sounds like the same thing.

Appreciate it

Let's see if I can remember this from my software engineering courses and my time as a technical consultant.

When we do verification on a project, we are developing and implementing the various test procedures necessary to verify that what we are developing is working properly.

However, when we get to the point where our product is ready for release, we have to develop final testing procedures to ensure that the software or hardware meets the specifications of some regulatory body. This process is called validation. If our product successfully passes validation then we can claim that it has some specific certification (FDA approval, or a CE Mark, or ISO certification.)

[TrailerParkJawa]

Im not an engineer but just a regular Joe.

To Verify something in my mind, means to double check it.
Could you verify I have the right address?

To Validate means to approve of something.
Could you validate my estimation of how long it will take to rebuild the server?

They are pretty close in definition but in my mind when you verify something you are simply checking for a correct fact. Where as when you validate something you are approving of a process.

[Zoink]

My company doesn't really use those terms.

I think "verification" is where you show that the design meets the design inputs (ie. requirements), and "validation" is where you show that the product and tests meet the required gov't standards.

So verification makes sure you are building the right product, validation makes sure you are building it correctly.

My company doesn't really think that way because the gov't requirements are always part of the initial requirements.

[Spoonist]

Thanks.
It is a little bit clearer now.