[ PROOFECONOMY ]™GlossaryOriginSpecsValidation
Validation is testing a claim against defined conditions. It is a step above verification, because the result comes from a test rather than from the system's own report.
What it means
Validation puts a claim through a test: defined inputs, defined conditions, an observed result. Instead of asking the system what it did, validation exercises it and watches.
It answers the question: does the claim hold when tested?
Where it sits
Validation is the middle rung of the evidence ladder, above verification and beneath Proof of Efficacy. What separates validation from Proof of Efficacy is the standard of the evidence: whether the outcome was defined in advance, whether the conditions match the buyer’s real environment, whether the result met a measured threshold, and whether it was confirmed independently of the system under test.
See the full ladder: Verification vs. Validation vs. Proof.
What it does not show
A validation run in a vendor’s lab, against conditions the vendor chose, can pass while the same product fails in the buyer’s environment. Validation shows the claim held under the conditions tested, and only those.
Example
A vendor runs a set of attack simulations against its own product and reports a high detection rate. That is validation. Proof of Efficacy would require the outcome, conditions and threshold to be defined up front, the test to mirror the buyer’s environment, and the result to be witnessed independently.