Validation rules are a way to enforce data quality and business logic by preventing users from saving records that do not meet certain criteria. They can be used to require users to follow the status values as they are on the path and prevent them from reverting the case back to a previous status by using formulas that compare the old and new values of the status field. Global value picklists are a way to create and maintain picklist values that can be shared across multiple fields, but they do not enforce any logic or order on the values. Predefined field values are a way to set default values for fields on path settings, but they do not prevent users from changing them later. Dependent picklists are a way to filter the values of one picklist based on the value of another picklist, but they do not prevent users from going back to a previous value. Reference: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.validation_rules.htm&type=5