Creating and Handling XBRL Instance Documents

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Creating and Handling XBRL Instance Documents
10th XBRL International Conference Brussels,
Belgium 15 November 2004, Education Day Track 2,
Session 2 Ian Stokes-Rees DecisionSoft Ltd.
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Overview

• Review of Motivation for XBRL
• XML Summary
• Components of Instance Documents
• Working with Instance Documents
• Demonstration

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Why Are We Interested in XBRL?

• Standard, interoperable format
• Wholly extensible
• Gains in usefulness of data
• Compare proprietary binary formats
• Increased transparency
• Because Everyone elses is doing it
• XML was designed to address many of these issues

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Technology stack
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XBRL Architecture
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XBRL Instance Documents

• XBRL instances contain the facts being reported
  while the taxonomies define the concepts being
  communicated by the facts.
• The combination of an XBRL instance and its
  supporting taxonomies, and additional linkbases
  constitute an XBRL business report.
• -- XBRL specification, Section 3

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XBRL Review

• We have already learnt how Taxonomies define a
  set of possible reporting facts
• And how these taxonomies are created by a
• Business
• Professional body
• Industry sector
• Governmental organisation
• International organisation
• Linkbases are used to connect and annotaate XBRL
  Facts and for presentation
• XML is used for all XBRL files

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Short XML Summary

• ltnselement_name
• attributeattribute valuegt
• element value
• lt/nselement_namegt
• Looks similar to HTML (but not quite the same!)
• Case sensisitve (unlike HTML)
• Angle brackets (ltgt) are used to delimit open and
  close tags
• Open (lttaggt) and close (lt/taggt) tags must be
  matched and must be balanced (nested correctly)
  (unlike HTML)
• Namespaces (e.g. ns) are used to scope
  (associate) an element or attribute with a
  particular schema (Taxonomy)
• Comments are enclosed in lt!-- a comment --gt

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Bag of Facts

• An XBRL Instance document is a
• Bag of Facts
• Un-ordered
• Un-associated
• Each fact must be unique
• Each fact must be defined in a Taxonomy

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A Simple Fact

• Consider the following piece of information
• Total Annual Revenue 25,544,000.00
• Let's say we find an XBRL Taxonomy item
  definition called
• TotalRevenue
• Then we could represent (i.e. encode into XBRL)
  this fact as
• ltTotalRevenuegt25544000.00lt/TotalRevenuegt
• So simple, it isn't valid XBRL

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Facts and Taxonomies

• But who defined TotalRevenue?
• Our companies finance department?
• The GAAP?
• The Government?
• It must be defined in some relevant Taxonomy, and
  we must associate our fact with that Taxonomy

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Adding Taxonomy Reference to Facts

• This is done using XML Namespaces
• Let's say TotalRevenue comes from the GAAP
  Taxonomy, then we write
• ltgaapTotalRevenuegt
• 25544000.00
• lt/gaapTotalRevenuegt
• In fact, gaap is just a Namespace Reference
• We will have to define exactly which XBRL
  Taxonomy Namespace gaap is associated with later

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Facts and Contexts

• Now we must ask How will someone else know
  TotalRevenue is for the entire year, and not just
  this quarter, and which year are we talking about
  anyway?
• This is done using Contexts
• Every fact must specify a context
• Our fact would now appear as
• ltgaapTotalRevenue
• contextRefc_2003_FYgt
• 25544000.00
• lt/gaapTotalRevenuegt

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Defining Contexts

• But what does c_2003_FY mean?
• This is just a reference to a real context
  definition
• The definition must supply
• A time period during which the context applies
• Usually a range
• May be an instant
• May be indefinite (forever)
• An owning entity for the context

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Defining Contexts (II)

• ltcontext id"c_2003_FY"gt
• ltentitygt
• ltidentifier scheme"uriietf.org"gtacme.comlt/identi
  fiergt
• lt/entitygt
• ltperiodgt
• ltstartDategt2003-01-01lt/startDategt
• ltendDategt2003-12-31lt/endDategt
• lt/periodgt
• lt/contextgt
• Parts in Green Italics we have control over
• Contexts are typically reused by several facts

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Fact Uniqueness

• Imagine a comprehensive XBRL Report for an entire
  financial year
• Quarterly summaries
• Annual summaries
• Can imagine 5 occurances of TotalRevenue
• One for each quarter, and one for full year
• XBRL Specification requires that each
  Fact/Context pair be unique
• Illegal to have any ambiguity

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Facts and Units

• Questions still remain In what currency is
  TotalRevenue specified?
• This is similar to context
• A unitRef attribute is added to the fact
• ltgaapTotalRevenue
• contextRefc_2003_FY
• unitRefu_USDgt
• 25544000.00
• lt/gaapTotalRevenuegt
• A definition of that unit is made elsewhere
• ltunit id"u_USD"gt
• ltmeasuregtUSDlt/measuregt
• lt/unitgt

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Facts and Precision

• One last question
• How precise is the fact?
• How many significant figures?
• Has it already been rounded?
• Add precision (or decimal) attribute
• ltgaapTotalRevenue
• contextRefc_2003_FY
• unitRefu_USD
• precision5gt
• 25544000.00
• lt/gaapTotalRevenuegt

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Non-numeric Facts

• General text can also be used for XBRL Facts
• Very similar to the numeric facts we have looked
  at so far
• Only differences
• No precision (or decimals)
• No units
• Still need to include
• Taxonomy (via namespace)
• Context (via contextRef attribute)

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Summary of Facts Data Types and Attributes

• Available types
• monetary
• shares
• numeric
• fraction
• string
• boolean
• also other, arcane types
• Derived types

• Attributes
• contextRef
• unitRef
• precision
• decimals
• id
• Various rules
• Spec 4.6

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Tuples

• Group related items
• when not independent
• No context for the tuple itself
• context for contained items (facts)
• Example
• management information
• See the specification, section 4.9
• Together with items (facts), known as "concepts"

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Tuple Example

• We may want a structured fact to represent the
  Corporate HQ Address
• ltgaapCorporateAddressgt
• ltgaapBuildinggtLawrence Towerlt/gaapBuildinggt
• ltgaapStreetgtPenn Ave.lt/gaapStreetgt
• ltgaapCitygtPittsburghlt/gaapCitygt
• ltgaapStategtPAlt/gaapStategt
• ltgaapZipCodegt15733lt/gaapZipCodegt
• ltgaapCountrygtUSAlt/gaapCountrygt
• lt/gaapCorporateAddressgt
• Cheating every nested fact needs a context
  attribute

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ltxbrlgt Wrapper

• We can now create a collection of facts, with
  their associated context and unit definitions
• These pieces must be placed inside an ltxbrlgt
  wrapper element, along with some other special
  xbrl elements

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Outline of XBRL Instance Document

• ltxbrl
• xmlns "http//www.xbrl.org/2003/instance"
• xmlnsgaap
• "urnexample.comgaap-2003"gt
• lt!-- taxonomy refs --gt
• lt!-- linkbase refs --gt
• lt!-- facts --gt
• lt!-- tupples --gt
• lt!-- contexts --gt
• lt!-- units --gt
• lt/xbrlgt

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Namespace Declarations

• This declares the default (un-prefixed) XML
  elements are all defined by the XBRL Instance
  Document schema
• xmlns"http//www.xbrl.org/2003/instance"
• This declares that any element prefixed by gaap
  is part of the GAAP 2003 Taxonomy
• xmlnsgaap"urnexample.comgaap-2003"
• Other Taxonomy references can be included in a
  similar fashion
• For our purposes (slight over-simplification)
• Taxonomy ltgt Schema ltgt Namespace (synonyms)

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Discoverable Taxonomy Set (DTS)

• The set of Taxonomies to be used in the XBRL
  Instance Document must be specified using
  schemaRef elements
• ltlbschemaRef xltype"simple"
• xlhref"http//www.example.com/gaap/2003.xsd"/gt
• This says We are using Taxonomy items defined in
  the 2003.xsd Taxonomy Schema Definition
• Multiple Taxonomies can be included this way
• The set of all Taxonomies is called the
  Discoverabale Taxonomy Set (DTS)

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Linkbases

• Five types, used to make connections between
  Facts and Taxonomies or other sources
• Label
• Human readable name for a particular fact
• Definition
• Specific meaning of a particular fact
• Presentation
• Formatting details regarding how to display the
  bag of facts
• Calculation
• Indicates how a set of numeric facts result in
  another fact (creating an equality)
• Reference
• Cite authoritative literature or standard

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Linkbase References

• ltlblinkbaseRef xltype"simple"
• xlhref"some_linkbase.xml"
• xlarcrole
• "http//www.w3.org/1999/xlink/properties/linkbase"
  
• xlrole"SEE LIST BELOW"/gt
• There are five possible values for xlrole
• http//www.xbrl.org/2003/role/calculationLinkbaseR
  ef
• http//www.xbrl.org/2003/role/definitionLinkbaseRe
  f
• http//www.xbrl.org/2003/role/labelLinkbaseRef
• http//www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationLinkbase
  Ref
• http//www.xbrl.org/2003/role/referenceLinkbaseRef
  
• These depend on the type of linkbase specified
• Actual Linkbase file is separate from Instance,
  and is likely to be re-used between many instance
  documents

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Summary To Date

• We have now covered all the essential parts
  contained within an XBRL Instance Document
• Facts
• Tuples
• Contexts
• Units
• Taxonomy References (DTS)
• Linkbase References
• Any questions?

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XBRL Within the Enterprise

• Consider where financial business reporting
  information exists within the enterprise
• Accounts Receivable paper invoices
• Ledgers, notebooks, and desktop PCs
• Excel files
• Corporate Financial Management software
• Annual and quarterly reports
• Historical archives

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Lifecycle

• Gather
• Verify
• Collate/Summarise
• Publish
• Distribute
• Consume
• Archive

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Managing XBRL

• In a production environment, no one should ever
  see any angle brackets, namespaces, or XML
• XML is simply the standard underlying data format
  for all XBRL information
• We have focused on it here to present the XBRL
  standard pedagogically, but these details are
  only important for the technical
  developer/integrator
• Tools Tools Tools

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Working with XBRL

• Database integration/interfacing
• Many databases can output XML
• Conversion from custom applications
• Excel
• Financial Management Software
• Validating XBRL Reports
• Displaying XBRL Reports
• Managing collections of Reports
• Versioning
• Archiving

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Technology stack
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Tools and Integration

• XBRL, at its core, is just XML
• Therefore an enormous number of tools already
  exist to work with XML
• However there are two problems
• You are left with a constructor set
• Aspects of XBRL processing require special
  handling
• Many vendors here at the Conference with XBRL
  Tools and Integration Support
• DecisionSoft and Software AG among them

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DOM and SAX APIs

• There are two standard XML processing APIs
• DOM Document Object Model
• Creates in-memory tree representation of XML
  files
• SAX Simple API for XML
• Produces event messages as it parses XML
• Developer responsible for implementing listeners
  to process events
• Both available in all languages

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Transforming XML

• XSLT XML Stylesheet Language Tranfsormation
• Standard way to convert one XML file into another
  XML file
• Requires a different way of thinking
• Programmatic XML transformation via DOM or SAX
  also possible
• And sometimes preferrable
• This is also important when attempting to merge
  Reports

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Validation

• This is one of the most critical component of all
  XBRL processing
• Make sure the data is correct
• Facilitate interoperability
• Reduce programming effort
• Most code is often input data checking and
  exception handling
• Reject rubbish

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Levels of Validation

• Well-formedness
• Correct syntax
• Validity XML Schema
• Structures
• Datatypes
• Application level
• Cross-field
• External
• XBRL specific

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Validating XBRL

• Must check taxonomies and reports
• Levels of correctness
• Well-formed XML
• XML Schema validity
• XBRL specification
• Taxonomy
• Including linkbases
• Need tools
• See xbrl.decisionsoft.com

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XML Validation

• Well-formed
• syntax not content
• Examples
• Correct nesting of tags
• Acceptable tag and attribute names
• Character set and encoding

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XML Schema Validation

• Structure
• Vocabulary
• The right tags and attributes
• Correct occurence of elements
• Correct nesting of elements
• Data-type
• Type string, date, integer, etc.
• Static constraints
• EG minimum and maximum values

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XBRL Validation

• Covers specification and taxonomy
• Builds on XML Schema
• Additional validation includes
• Linkbase integrity checking
• Cross-field validations
• Calculations
• Formula linkbase

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DemonstrationXBRL Instance DocumentsValidation
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Conclusion Systems
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Conclusion Standards
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Questions?Also talk to us at the Break or at
the DecisionSoft booth
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System considerations

• Validation
• Components
• Documentation

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Key Components of an XBRL System

• Taxonomy definition
• Additional rules
• Submission mechanism
• Transport
• Protocol
• Security

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Developers' Perspective

• What do they want?
• Schema/taxonomy
• How do I map to it?
• Simplicity
• Clear documentation
• How do I check my implementation?
• Test services
• How do I get it to them?
• Standard transport mechanisms

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Ensuring adoption

• New technology
• Make it easy
• Publish
• Taxonomy
• Additional validation rules
• Documentation
• Samples
• Test service

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When To Choose XBRL

• XBRL is good for
• Tabular data
• Data intended for humans
• Reports
• Extensibility
• Meeting existing standards UK GAAP, IFRS

• Other XML is better for
• Structured data
• Data intended for systems
• Transactions
• Rigidity

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Sample Financial Report