The first step is to focus on the objective of the validation process, and we have seen that some companies have failed to develop such objectives. It is not unusual to see manufacturers use extensive sampling and testing programs following the cleaning process without ever really evaluating the effectiveness of the steps used to clean the equipment. Several questions need to be addressed when evaluating the cleaning process. For example, at what point does a piece of equipment or system become clean? Does it have to be scrubbed by hand? What is accomplished by hand scrubbing rather than just a solvent wash? How variable are manual cleaning processes from batch to batch and product to product? The answers to these questions are obviously important to the inspection and evaluation of the cleaning process since one must determine the overall effectiveness of the process. Answers to these questions may also identify steps that can be eliminated for more effective measures and result in resource savings for the company.

Determine the number of cleaning processes for each piece of equipment. Ideally, a piece of equipment or system will have one process for cleaning, however this will depend on the products being produced and whether the cleanup occurs between batches of the same product (as in a large campaign) or between batches of different products. When the cleaning process is used only between batches of the same product (or different lots of the same intermediate in a bulk process) the firm need only meet a criteria of, "visibly clean" for the equipment. Such between batch cleaning processes do not require validation.