In the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, blood establishments, tissue establishments, and clinical trials industries, validation is the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment. The activity of qualifying systems and equipment is divided into a number of subsections including the following: Design qualification (DQ), Component qualification (CQ), Installation qualification (IQ), Operational qualification (OQ) and Performance qualification (PQ). Wikipedia