ABSTRACT
The purpose of design verification is to prove that “design outputs meet design requirements.” This may be done by either inspection or testing of each design requirement on the entire system or by each subsystem or even assembly. The purpose of design validation is to assure that the product design conforms to “defined user needs and intended uses.” This may be done by testing each customer requirement as stated in the PRD. There are possibly three major pitfalls in design verification and validation activities that may be easily avoided. These pitfalls are not production equivalent assemblies, subsystems, and/or products; not using calibrated test equipment and finally, not having test unit traceability. Both verification and product validation (V&V) are formal activities that create a feedback loop to design transfer. If issues are discovered during either verification or validation, design transfer activities may be updated or repeated. That is why it is often said that design transfer is complete when V&V is done.
