Standards catalog · 2026 August release
SQLBL

Programme documentation

Conformance

Conformance to an SQLBL document is a statement about a text, made by whoever prepared it, and assessable by inspection. SQLBL issues no certification and endorses no assessor.

Document
SQLBL/PD 2
Edition
1
Revised
2026-08-01
Status
Current

1 Verbal forms

shall
Requirement. Strict conformance is required; no deviation is permitted.
shall not
Prohibition. The described practice is excluded from conformant material.
should
Recommendation. Departure requires justification recorded in the assessment.
may
Permission. Neither required nor discouraged.
can
Possibility or capability. Carries no normative weight.

2 Degrees of conformance

Full conformance — every requirement of the referenced document is met throughout the assessed text. Partial conformance — every requirement is met within one or more identified sections, which shall be named in the claim. Profile conformance — every requirement of a composite profile, including all requirements it incorporates by reference, is met.

3 Claim syntax

A conformance claim shall take the form:

This document conforms fully to SQLBL 1004:2026.
This document conforms partially to SQLBL 1017:2026 (clauses 4 and 5).
This document conforms to profile SQLBL 2107:2026.

A claim shall identify the edition. A claim shall not be made on behalf of a third party, and shall not be used to represent that material was prepared without machine assistance.

4 Assessment procedure

  1. Identify the referenced document and edition.
  2. Enumerate its requirements, including those incorporated by reference.
  3. Inspect the assessed text against each requirement in clause order.
  4. Record each departure, with the clause reference and the observed text.
  5. State the resulting degree of conformance, or state that conformance is not met.

5 Standing caution

SQLBL documents are research instruments. Conformance is a measurable property, not a recommendation. No SQLBL document should be adopted as house style, incorporated into hiring criteria, or cited as evidence about a person.