When you design for example a flow control valve, the differential pressure is determined by the process system in which the control valve will operate.
Imagine you have a source at a pressure of 5 barg and a receiver at a pressure of 1 barg. The source and pressure are connected by a process system composed of straight length piping, bends, reducers, a filter and a control valve. The differential pressure between the source and receiver is 4 bar and the flow control valve will 'consume' part of this differential pressure. It will do this by opening or closing and hence controlling the flow. The more the valve is closed, the les differential pressure is available for fluid flow and the flow rate drops. The more the valve opens, the more differential pressure is available for fluid flow and the flow rate increases. In order to determine the pressure drop across the control valve, you now calculate the operating pressure just up- and downstream the control valve for a certain flow rate. The remaining pressure drop will be taken by the valve.
This is typically done for 3 different flow rates (min., norm. and max). With the flow rates and calculated differential pressures, the Cv of the valve can now be calculated.