This exposes SCLs to possible malpractice suits. Schemes to reduce an SCL's liability include insurance, disclaimers on validity of the test results, and SCLs employing accurate certification technologies based on objective criteria. Of these, the best approach is to only certify objective criteria, and avoid trying to certify subjective criteria. Subjective vs. Objective Criteria Different software criteria can be tested by SCLs, spanning the spectrum from guaranteeing correctness to counting lines of code. Subjective criteria are imprecise and prone to error.
Objective criteria are precise and less prone to error.
SCLs should avoid rendering professional opinions for criteria that are as contentious as this. Instead, SCLs should assess objective software characteristics such as exception handling calls and lines of code. Testing for objective criteria is not rocket science. Troubles will begin, however, when an SCL tries to get into the tricky business of estimating a subjective criterion such as software reliability. By only certifying objective criteria, the chances of inadvertent favoritism for one product over another is reduced.