Verification v validation

BS EN 9145, 2018, Aerospace series - Requirements for advanced product quality planning and production part approval process, published by the British Standards Institution suggests that validation is: ‘Assurance that a product, service, or system fulfils the needs of the customer and other identified stakeholders. It often involves acceptance with external customers.’

Construction Quality Planning Guide, Draft for Consultation, Published by the Construction Innovation Hub in May 2020, suggests that simply put, validation implies: ‘Are we building the right thing?’

Conversely, BS EN 9145 suggests that verification is “Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that the specified requirements have been fulfilled.”

Construction Quality Planning Guide, Draft for Consultation, suggests that, simply put, verification implies: ‘Are we building it right?’

BSI Flex 8670 V3.0, Built environment – Core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks – Code of practice, April 2021 Version 3, published by The British Standards Institution in 2021, defines validation as a: ‘formal process of assessing an individual’s competence against a sector-specific competence framework.’

Government Functional Standard, GovS 002: Project delivery; portfolio, programme and project management, Version: 2.0, published on 15 July 2021 by HM Government, defines validation as: ‘An activity that ensures a solution (or part of) meets the needs of the business. Validation ensures that business requirements are met even though these might have changed since the original design.’ It defines verification as: 'An activity that ensures that a solution (or part of) is complete, accurate, reliable and matches its design specification.'

BG 81/2022, Soft Landings for Fit-Outs, written by Kieran Everett and James Gall and published by BSRIA in June 2022, defines validation as: ‘A physical review of the existing conditions of the space and associated services against the proposed design data.’

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Advanced product quality planning.
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• Construction product approval process.
• Construction quality planning.
• Lessons learnt.
• Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA).
• Product design requirements.
• Product validation.
• Production readiness review.
• Project quality plan.
• Qualifying Explanatory Statement QES.
• Quality.
• Revalidation.