Although Verification and Validation are two prevalent terms for the industry, there is still some ambiguity regarding their implementation among the Quality Management principles. In this paper, the researchers identified and classified V&V methods across the Product Lifecycle stages in an attempt to build the foundations for a V&V framework that has a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) approach.

Regarding the methodology, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) in the fields of Verification and Validation (V&V) was conducted, covering 52 peer-reviewed articles. This SLR is studying the stages, methods and techniques for V&V from the PLM perspective. The findings were synthesised based on robust criteria and mapped the V&V processes across the product lifecycle stages.

The methods provided by the literature were classified into 21 distinct clusters. Those clusters, based on their contained methods, were distributed among the lifecycle stages, creating a map of V&V processes ranging from the pre-design phase up to the disposal stage.

The novelty of this study lays in the identification of the methods used for V&V, in the classification of them into clusters and, in allocation of those clusters among the lifecycle stages. Thus, a map of the V&V practises has been developed. Finally, this research identified gaps and trends in the fields of V&V and demonstrated the common practices of V&V.

Keywords
Design validation, Process validation, Product verification, Design verification, Product Lifecycle