What is meant by coverage criteria in testing?

Coverage criteria in testing refers to benchmarks that define the necessary items or areas of the software that must be tested to ensure adequate verification and validation. This concept is crucial for determining how thoroughly different aspects of the code, functionality, or system are evaluated through testing.

When a testing team establishes coverage criteria, they create a framework that outlines what needs to be addressed to achieve a specific level of confidence in the software’s quality. This may include aspects such as code coverage, branch coverage, requirements coverage, and more. Meeting these benchmarks is essential to ensure that all critical components have been tested and that the software behaves as expected under various conditions.

The other concepts mentioned, while related to testing, do not align with the notion of coverage criteria as precisely. Metrics for test case effectiveness focus more on evaluating the success of individual tests rather than determining the areas that need to be covered. Standard requirements for system performance are about specific performance expectations rather than how comprehensively the system is tested. Lastly, guidelines for manual testing procedures pertain to processes and techniques for conducting tests, which is different from identifying what needs to be tested.