Glossary Updates12 new terms added to the glossaries · October 2, 2026, 22:44 CEST
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Glossary · Verification and validation

Verification

German: Verifizierung

In functional safety and systems engineering, verification is the confirmation through examination and objective evidence that specified requirements have been fulfilled. It checks each work product against its specification.

  • Verification
  • Systems engineering

In one sentence

Verification confirms with objective evidence that specified requirements are fulfilled, phase by phase and work product by work product.

Example

For a guard interlock on a press, verification confirms that the calculated PL meets the PLr, that the wiring matches the circuit diagram and that the measured response time is within the specified limit.

How it applies

  • Systems engineering: Every requirement needs a verification criterion and a method: test, analysis, inspection or demonstration.
  • Functional safety: IEC 61508 requires verification in each lifecycle phase. Verifying the achieved PL or SIL against the required level is one example.
  • Evidence: Record results with the version of the item verified. A verification of an old version does not cover the current one.
  • Technical documentation: Documentation is verified too: are the safety instructions complete, correct and consistent with the machine? Reviews against a checklist are a common method.

Verification vs. validation

Verification asks "did we build it right?", against the specification. Validation asks "did we build the right thing?", against the intended use. A product can pass verification and still fail validation if the specification was wrong.

By knowledge.aitechdoc.world · Published September 25, 2026 · Last reviewed

Source: IEC 61508:2010, Functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related systems

Definitions follow the cited standards and specifications. Where a source is a copyrighted publication, such as an ISO, IEC or EN standard, the definition is a close paraphrase, not a verbatim quotation, so as not to infringe copyright. We recommend reading the original publication. The sections “How it applies” are editorial commentary by AI TechDoc Knowledge and are not part of any standard.

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