XBRL Glossary Collection

abstract property - A property of a concept within a taxonomy used to indicate that the concept is only used as a node in a hierarchy to group related concepts together. An abstract concept cannot be used to define a fact in an instance document.

arc - A relationship that defines an origin concept, destination concept(s), and the nature of the behavior of the connection.

arcrole - A description of the arc between two or more concepts.

Arelle - A freely available, open source software platform for viewing XBRL instance documents and designing XBRL taxonomies.

ASCII - A method of character encoding that represents 128 characters with seven-bit integers (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). See encoding.

attribute - A value for a property specific to an XML element (for example, specifying the decimal precision of a fact). The attributes that may be used are specified by the XML schema.

authoritative reference - Citations to specific literature (pronouncements, standards, rules, and regulations) derived from various authoritative sources for the business, industry or regulatory agency used to help define a concept.

axis or axes - Intersecting lines that identify a fact as being in a plane or dimension (for example, x, y and z, or line items and periods). An axis is synonymous with a dimension.

balance or balance type - A property of a monetary concept designated as debit, credit, or neither. A designation, if any, should be the natural or most expected balance of the element "credit" or "debit" and thus indicates how calculation relationships involving the concept may be assigned a weight attribute (-1 or +1).

build phase - The stage of the taxonomy lifecycle during which taxonomy design and documentation occurs.

business data model - A semantic data model used to organize business data. Such data can contain customer/client information, products, inventory, research, accounting, and modeling information.

calculation - An additive relationship between numeric items expressed as parent/child hierarchies. Each calculation child has a weight attribute (+1 or -1) based upon its natural balance of the parent and child items. Calculations must occur between concepts along the same XBRL dimension.

calculation linkbase - An optional XML file containing the calculation relationships between concepts provided with an instance.

camel case - A method of naming a concept (XML legal name or programmatic name) that does not contain spaces or punctuation. In addition, words typically have their first letter capitalized. In upper camel case, the first word also follows this style. For example, "Net Change in Assets" becomes the concept name "NetChangeInAssets". The XBRL US Style Guide specifies naming rules.

child relationship - A hierarchical node (concept) that has a parent node. Note that in XBRL parent/child relationships have no implied or explicit inheritance.

closed property - A property of a hypercube that specifies that all taxonomy-defined dimensions in the hypercube must intersect on a fact in order for that fact to be part of the hypercube.

closed reporting or closed reporting system - A reporting system that has a strictly defined structure whose taxonomy cannot be extended.

comma separated values (CSV) - A method of representing a two-dimensional data set without any intrinsic meaning. CSV separates data fields with commas and rows as lines of data. A certain level of protected character control is provided by using quotes around the data fields. CSV can be combined with a specified structure for representing instance data for XBRL. CSV is a de facto standard without a formal specification or governing body.

comparability - The ability of two or more XBRL reports to be compared. The goal of a structured XBRL taxonomy is to ensure comparability of data. Some features of XBRL, such as extensibility, can reduce comparability.

complex data type - An XML construct that describes the allowable content of an element, including its attributes and permissible children elements.

concept - A defined item within a taxonomy describing semantic context for a fact. Concepts may represent a line item, an axis, a dimensional member, or an abstract used to group other concepts. For XML, element is the same as concept.

concept core dimension - The primary concept that defines the semantic meaning of a fact. The concept core dimension is required for each XBRL fact.

concept definition - The definition within a schema of the properties of the concept. A human-readable description of a reporting concept can also be provided with one or more labels. From a technical point of view, the concept definition is the label with the type "documentation". The deprecated version of this term is element definition.

concept group - A higher level of a parent/child hierarchy used to categorize concept relationships in a table, presentation, or entry point. Abstract concepts are used as container concepts to accomplish this organization.

concept-label - A concept relationship that associates human-readable descriptive text with machine-readable concept names. The concept-label arcrole is used in a label linkbase.

concept-reference - A concept relationship that associates human-readable reference text with machine-readable concept names. The concept-label arcrole is used in a reference linkbase.

concept name - A concept name is the XML legal name used to identify a concept within a taxonomy. A concept name may be considered a qualified name (qname) in that it will have a namespace prefix and then a name. Concept names should follow the XBRL US Style Guide rules.

concept property - A definable attribute of a concept that characterizes aspects of that concept, including the data to which the concept can be linked or how the concept can be used within the taxonomy.

conceptual data model - An early modeling step that focuses on static, overarching requirements and use cases. Conceptual data models also explore how the minimum data set fulfills these requirements.

consumer - The party or parties that receive and process XBRL instance (and linkbase) data. Consumers can include, but are not limited to, regulatory agencies, data analysts, internal departments, industry groups or the public.

consumer data model - A data model that a consumer might use to apply one or more use cases to consume instance documents from preparers to perform analysis.

content - The human-readable data stored within the XML document. The content is the information the document is meant to convey.

context - A term used in XML instance documents to group certain XBRL dimensions, such as the period, legal entity, and other dimensional information. Contexts are defined within the XML-based and Inline XBRL instance documents that can be later refenced to place facts within those contexts.

core dimension - An XBRL dimension whose semantic meaning is defined by the XBRL Specification. With the exception of the concept core dimension, core dimensions are specified in the XBRL instance document rather than the taxonomy schema. Certain core dimensions can default, be optional, or may not be allowed depending on the fact's data type and other considerations. For example, the language core dimension is applicable to a text fact while the unit core dimension is applicable to numeric facts.

cube - A multi-dimensional structure having more than one data plane (also known as a hypercube when more than three planes are involved).

Data Consumer Guide - A document explaining common use cases relevant to the taxonomy. The Data Consumer Guide should contain a discussion of the taxonomy itself in so far as it is needed to understand how the taxonomy structures data relevant to the use cases. This document may be intended for data analysts, regulators, data intermediaries, or other individuals interested in using the taxonomy to derive data about a particular industry.

data dimensionality - The inherent structure of a data set, such as a list, table, tree, or other extended data. Well defined data should have obvious dimensionality. Within XBRL, data dimensionality for a fact is defined by, at a minimum, the period core dimension, the concept core dimension, and entity core dimension. Additional dimensionality may be added by language or unit core dimensions and one or more taxonomy defined dimensions.

data model - An abstract model that organizes data points and defines how the data points within the model relate to each other and to other real-world entities.

data point - A discrete value, data item, or slot that exists within a data model. When placed into an XBRL instance, a data point becomes a fact.

data quality - The semantic integrity and factual accuracy of data.

data quality committee - A group of individuals (typically data architects, industry specialists, and other experts on data structuring and integrity) who convene to create data quality rules. These rules help ensure XBRL reports meet taxonomy-specific data quality standards.

data type - A property of a concept that constrains a fact's content while also defining concept usage. Data types are defined in XML with derived types indicated by XBRL in the Data Type Registry. A taxonomy may employ several DTR references and contain custom data types.

data type registry (DTR) - A registry of well-known well-defined data types based on standard XML types and expanded by XBRL specifications and taxonomies. See the XBRL Data Type Registry 1.x.

debit - A value for the balance type property of a concept such that, in accounting, this concept represents a debit or a monetary amount owed or paid.

decimals - A number that has both a whole number and a fractional component. This is also the XML data type for representing fractional numbers.

decimals property - The specified precision with which consumers should process a numeric fact. See the XBRL Precision, Decimals and Units 1.0 specification for more information.

default - An expected condition where none is specified.

definition or definition relationship - A relationship that arranges pairs of concepts in a specific semantic relationship. These relationships may be above and beyond calculation or presentation relationships. Concept core dimensions cannot be used in a definition relationship.

definition linkbase - An optional XML file containing additional relationships between concepts.

dependent dimensions - Data dimensions whose values rely upon the values of another dimension. Dependent dimensions cannot establish uniqueness within a data set. XBRL inherently does not permit the use of dependent dimensions as taxonomy-defined dimensions.

deprecated date label - The label for a concept when the concept has been or will be deprecated.

deprecated label - A label to indicate a concept has been deprecated.

derived data type - An XML data type defined in XSD that is derived from the primitive data types. These data types can be built upon other data types by restrictions on the set of permitted values, by listing a sequence of values based on primitive types, or by unions of multiple primitive types.

dimension - A data dimension is an axis intersecting or defining data points. XBRL constructs used to express data dimensionality are termed XBRL dimensions and are either core dimensions or taxonomy-defined dimensions.

dimension-default - A definition relationship indicating a concept is the default value for a taxonomy-defined dimension.

dimension-domain - A definition relationship indicating a concept represents the domain of a taxonomy-defined dimension.

Discoverable Taxonomy Set - A set of all linkbase and schema documents referenced within a taxonomy. The Discoverable Taxonomy Set (DTS) allows taxonomy developers to define all documents and linkbases required for the taxonomy.

documentation - A set of explanatory guides to aid readers in understanding and using an XBRL taxonomy. There can be numerous different types of documentation available to readers in either print or electronic form. Documentation needs vary by taxonomy size and complexity.

documentation label -A longer, more descriptive label for a concept that usually provides a description of the concept's meaning and how it should be used

domain - A set of allowable values. In XBRL, a domain refers to an abstract concept that represents an entire set of other concepts for explicitly defined domains or whose data type represents the entire domain for the dimension (a typed domain). The domain and its members are used to classify facts along the axis. For example, "Arkansas" is a domain member in the domain "States" and would be used to classify elements such as revenues and assets in Arkansas as distinct from other states.

domain-member - A definition relationship indicating one concept is a member of the domain of the other concept, which is part of a taxonomy-defined dimension.

draft taxonomy - A version of the taxonomy that has passed internal changes and validation and is now ready for public review. Given comments from the public review and how they are addressed, the taxonomy can either return to a candidate stage or be implemented as a release taxonomy.

duration - A value for the period type property of a concept core dimension or a type of period core dimension that indicates the reported fact is relevant to a time period. If a concept core dimension's period type is duration, that concept must intersect with a duration-type period core dimension.

element - A specific tag in XML. For XML based XBRL instance data, the element name with its associated namespace represents the concept core dimension applied to the contained fact data. For XBRL in XML and Inline XBRL, the terms element and concept are used interchangeably.

element nesting - The act of containing one or more elements within an element. XSD specifies which elements can be nested and how.

encoding - Encoding is the method of representing characters and character positions. The simplest encoding mode is ASCII (96 printable US-EN characters). Unicode represents more than 65 thousand character. Unicode Transformation Format (UTF) allows Unicode to be represented in an 8-bit wide channel or data store. XML, by default uses UTF encoding, but some systems are limited to accepting only ASCII. In HTML and XML, extended characters can also be represented as character entities for example, † is a Unicode dagger "†".

entity - A business, department, school, group, or individual functioning as a data reporter. Generally, entities have some specific identifier, such as a tax number, LEI, or CIK number, that can be used in an XBRL report with the entity core dimension. Entity identifiers are required when combining instance data for comparison to separate reporters. Note that a reporting entity may not be the report preparer.

entity core dimension - A required XBRL dimension that identifies the entity.

entity-specific reporting or entity-specific disclosure - A reporting situation where preparers can create or use their own methods of representing their data. Entity-specific reporting requires an open reporting system and extensibility. It can also lead to less comparable XBRL reports.

entry point - A specific top-level default presentation or subset within a taxonomy. Taxonomies will often provide multiple entry points for different reporting purposes and use cases. There should be an entry point to define an entire taxonomy.

enumeration - A complete, ordered list of all items within a set. In XBRL, enumerations can often be found in relation to data types.

essence-alias - A definition relationship indicating one concept of a pair essentially has the same meaning as the other concept.

explicit taxonomy-defined dimension - A taxonomy-defined dimension whose domain of allowable values is explicitly enumerated within the taxonomy. Explicit taxonomy-defined dimensions have member concepts that represent allowable values for a domain. If extensibility is allowed, preparers may be able to add further domain member concepts.

extended link - A link type in XLink that provides for multiple resources at the source or destination to be connected via multiple arcs. The origin resource and the destination resource are defined by labels.

extensibility - The ability of a reporting system to allow additional XBRL constructs beyond those defined in its taxonomy. For an open, extensible reporting system, this can involve extension labels, footnotes, concepts, dimensions, presentations, data types, or even incorporating entire extension taxonomies. Extensibility can increase user flexibility but decrease comparability among XBRL reports.

extension or extension taxonomy - A published, existing set of concepts which another taxonomy can include. In an open reporting system, preparers can define their own concepts to extend one or more existing taxonomies. An extension taxonomy will have a unique namespace separating the concept names from the base taxonomy.

fact - A unique and discrete piece of information within an XBRL report as defined by the intersection of various XBRL dimensions. When all dimensions are defined correctly, a fact will not only be unique within the report but also globally amongst all data. The content of fact is dictated by the data type of its concept core dimension.

factset - The result of the execution of a XULE statement. A factset contains all the facts from and XBRL report that meet the criteria stipulated in the statement.

factset filtering - The act of using XULE statement(s) to filter the facts of an XBRL report per specific conditions.

fixed or floating point - A description of arithmetic approaches to representing fractional numbers in terms of bits while balancing range and precision. For XBRL, numeric values are defined by the concept core dimension's data type, as well as the precision and decimals properties of the fact. See decimals and precision.

footnote or note - A footnote is used to add additional explanatory information to one or more facts. A footnote is added to a fact through the note core ID dimension. Note that footnotes and the note core ID dimension can add the same context to multiple facts and therefore cannot confer uniqueness.

formula - A mathematical relationship between two or more concepts. Note formulas are separate from calculations and can represent more complicated relationships.

formula linkbase - An optional XML file containing the formula relationships between concepts provided with an instance.

functional requirement - A specification of operations of a system or its components as a furtherance of what that system is meant to accomplish. Functional requirements may involve technical details, data manipulation and processing, calculations, and data modeling.

general-special - A definition relationship indicating one concept of a pair is a more specialized form of the other concept.

governance - The act of overseeing the creation, testing, implementation, support, and maintenance of a taxonomy or a structured reporting environment. A governance system sees a taxonomy through its lifecycle and may be comprised of one or more taxonomy working groups and committees.

hierarchy - A structuring of data such that items are ranked in relation to other items. A position within a hierarchy is considered a node, and the highest node (to which all other nodes are subordinate) is considered the root. Hierarchies make use of parent/child and sibling relationships between and among nodes. In XBRL, hierarchies are comprised of concept trees (presentation, calculation, and so forth) and are used to express and navigate concept relationships.

human-readability - The ability of humans to read and digest information presented in a report. Aside from reports submitted in Inline XBRL, XBRL reports are generally not considered human-readable.

hypercube - A multi-dimensional structure (cube) having more than three data planes. Most XBRL facts involve a hypercube structure.

identifier - A set of characters or digits that serves to uniquely identify an entity. Examples of identifiers include legal entity identifiers, social security numbers, central key index numbers, and tax ID numbers. Developers should use care in selecting identifiers that are publicly known.

implementation phase - The stage of the taxonomy lifecycle during which the taxonomy is implemented in the reporting environment.

imputed value - A value that is not specifically provided but could be calculated based on other provided numbers and calculation weights.

information supply chain - A system of organizations, people, activities, and resources involved in moving data from preparers to consumers. In this document, the supply chain refers specifically to data moving from the preparer's business data model to a consumer's model via the transport model (or the XBRL taxonomy).

independent dimensions - Data dimensions whose values so not rely upon the values of another dimension. Independent dimensions within a data set are often said to be orthogonal to one another.

inheritance - The act of assuming the properties or characteristics of a parent item or element. Hierarchical relationships in XBRL do not imply inheritance.

Inline XBRL - An XBRL transport format that embeds XBRL tagging directly into an XHTML document. This produces a single human-readable and machine-readable document.

instant - A value for the period type property of a concept core dimension or a type of period core dimension that indicates the reported fact is relevant to a particular point in time. If a concept core dimension's period type is instant, that concept must intersect with an instant-type period core dimension

intellectual property agreement - A legal document specifying that ideas and work contributed to a project has been freely provided and not eligible for a creative property claim.

integer - A data type indicating that the fact is stated in whole numbers. 

javascript object notation (JSON) - A text format that provides for the expression of complex structured data through parameter:value pairs. A number of programming languages will natively create and read JSON.

key - A set of values in a combination of data dimensions that serves to uniquely identify a data point.

label - A human-readable name for a concept. Each concept has a standard label that corresponds to the concept name and is unique across the taxonomy. Other labels can also be applied.

label linkbase - An optional XML file containing information to associate labels to concepts.

label role - A distinguishing name for each distinct concept indicating the circumstances in which it should be used. Each concept may be given a separate defining label role to use in different presentation situations.

language core dimension - An optional XBRL dimension that identifies the language of a textual fact.

lifecycle - The stages of taxonomy development, validation, implementation, and maintenance. The size and complexity of the taxonomy and the reporting requirements should dictate the level of governance required to oversee the taxonomy lifecycle.

line item - An element that conventionally appears on the vertical axis (rows) of a table.

linkbase - An XML file containing information that defines relationships among the concepts of an XBRL taxonomy. Linkbase files end with a ".xml" file extension. Some types of linkbase files are optional. 

logical data model - A model that defines the data points in the conceptual data model and how they relate to each other and other data constructs.

machine-readability - The ability of computers to read and parse information presented in a report. XBRL reports are formatted in a structured, pre-determined manner and are thus designed to be machine-readable.

many-to-many relationship - A data dimension where many data points are related to many other data points.

markup - The machine-readable code that is meant to be processed by the XML parser. Markup instructs the XML parser on how to process the XML document's content.

member - A concept that belongs to an explicit taxonomy-defined dimension as a possible value within a domain of values.

minimum data set - The amount of data necessary to meet all the use cases, requirements, and regulations involved in a taxonomy without including redundant or extraneous information.

namespace - A Universal Resource Identifier (URI) identifying the organization that maintains the concept definitions. Namespaces are used to identify specific taxonomy components that make up an entire set of data. Namespaces are usually shortened a namespace prefix, which then becomes part of a qualified name (qname). Many prefix names are conventionally used, such as "ix" for Inline XBRL or "us-gaap" for the US GAAP taxonomy. Namespaces are used both within XML as part of the element name and also as part of XBRL to identify taxonomies.

negated label - A label type that causes numeric values of a concept to be displayed with their sign flipped.

negative label - A label to indicate a concept's fact value must be reported and interpreted as a negative value.

net label - A label to indicate a concept is presented as a net of a set of fact values associated with other concepts.

nillable - A concept property that indicates if the fact intersecting with that concept can be empty (nil or not reported). If the nillable property is "false", the fact must have a non-empty value. XBRL taxonomy tools normally have the default value for nillable as "true". Note that nil is not synonymous with a value of zero.

node - A position in a hierarchy.

non-functional requirement - A requirement that imposes a constraint on the system's design or implementation, quite often for quality or ease-of-use purposes. Non-functional requirements may be posed as requests/recommendations and must be weighed carefully in terms of their cost versus their benefit and their impact on the overall taxonomy.

non-numeric data - Data that is not quantifiable. In XBRL, non-numeric data is quite commonly text. Non-numeric data cannot be used in mathematical operations.

non-relational data - A data set that has no semantic relationships among its data points.

note core ID dimension - An optional XBRL dimension that links one or more XBRL facts to footnote data through a unique ID number specific to that footnote or set of footnotes.

numeric data - Data that is quantifiable, measurable, and can be expressed with solely numerals. Numeric data can be used in mathematical operations.

one-to-many relationship - A data dimension where one data point is related to many other data points.

one-to-one relationship - A data dimension where one data point is related to one other data point.

ontology - A set of concepts in a subject area or domain showing the properties of those concepts and the relationships between them. An ontology is commonly referred to as a taxonomy.

open property - A property of a hypercube that specifies that any of the taxonomy-defined dimensions in the hypercube can intersect on a fact in order for that fact to be part of the hypercube.

open reporting or open reporting system - A reporting system that allows its XBRL taxonomy to be extended or customized. An open reporting system permits entity-specific reporting.

parent relationship - A hierarchical node (concept) that has one or more child node(s). Note that in XBRL parent/child relationships have no implied or explicit inheritance.

parent/child relationship - A relationship between concepts that indicates subordination of one concept to the other in a hierarchy. Linkbase files often use parent/child hierarchies to model several different relationships, including presentations, calculations, and membership of concepts within a domain used as the axis of a table. Note there is no inheritance of values or properties implied by the parent/child relationship in XBRL.

period core dimension - A required XBRL dimension that identifies the time period relevant to a fact. A period core dimension can either be instant or duration.

period end label - A label to indicate a concept represents the end of a period value.

period start label - A label to indicate a concept represents the beginning of a period value.

period type - A property of a concept that reflects whether it is reported for an instant or duration time period. The period type indicates the type of period core dimension (instant or duration) with which the concept core dimension may intersect.

physical data model - A physical data model includes all the concepts of the taxonomy, including their properties, as well as the relationships among the concepts (as arcs or through an abstract hierarchical structure for example).

pilot or candidate taxonomy - A version of a taxonomy set forth for testing and validation. Once the taxonomy has been validated to internal standards, the pilot or candidate version becomes a draft taxonomy set for public review.

pilot phase - The stage of the taxonomy lifecycle during which the taxonomy is validated and opened to public review. Changes to the candidate and draft taxonomies should be incorporated before an official release.

positive label - A label to indicate a concept's fact value must be reported and interpreted as a positive value.

primitive data type - A data type defined in XML that serves as the basis for other data types. There are 19 primitive XML data types.

precision - The specified level of numeric precision with which a consumer should process a numeric fact. See the XBRL Precision, Decimals and Units 1.0 specification for more information.

prefix or namespace prefix - A shorthand sequence of letters for a namespace (for example, "US GAAP" is a common prefix for the namespace http://xbrl.us/US GAAP/2008-01-31). The prefix precedes a concept name and indicates to which namespace that concept belongs. See namespace and qname.

preparer - The party or parties that produce XBRL instance (and linkbase) data. Preparers can include, but are not limited to, companies, filing agents preparing XBRL reports on the behalf of others, and other industry reporters.

Preparer Guide - A document detailing how to use the taxonomy to produce XBRL reports. The Preparer Guide should cover data preparation, transformation, validation, and dissemination as applicable. Supporting software systems should be documented as well.

presentation or presentation relationship - A relationship that arranges concepts in a hierarchy. Presentations often group concepts by semantic similarity or common use case.

presentation linkbase - An XML file containing information to link concepts together in a presentation structure. The presentation linkbase defines the organizational relationships of concepts using parent/child hierarchies.

project scope - The work that must be done to deliver a product with a predetermined set of features and functions.

public review - The opportunity for the public (which may vary given the size and impact of the taxonomy) to comment on and suggest changes for a candidate/pilot XBRL taxonomy. Public reviews generally last for a pre-determined amount of time before the suggestions are gathered, evaluated, and changes are made if warranted in a new draft taxonomy.

qname - A qualified XML name with both a namespace prefix and the concept (element) name (for example, "ix:nonFraction" or "us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalents" are qualified names).

reference - Information that adds sources, interpretations, and other important industry-based context to a concept. See authoritative reference.

reference linkbase - An optional XML file containing information to provide authoritative literature (references) for concepts.

regulatory or NGO requirements - The rules, mandates, or stipulations to which data represented by an XBRL must adhere. These types of requirements may come from governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry groups, or internal oversight within the industry. They are often a large, driving force in determining the taxonomy's functional requirements, and preparers typically must be in compliance with these requirements when they prepare an XBRL report.

relational data - A data set that has one or more semantic relationships among its data points. XBRL is designed to represent relational data.

render or rendering - The processing of displaying a taxonomy or an instance document in a layout that facilitates readability and understanding of its contents. XBRL software is typically required for rendering.

reporting entity - An entity reporting data (synonymous with entity).

reporting system - A system that receives, validates, accepts, stores, and potentially distributes XBRL data. Reporting systems may be as simple as a single entity to another single entity transmission, or they may be as large and complex as a multiple entity repository.

requires-element - A definition relationship indicating the value of one concept is required should the value of the other concept in the pair be present.

root - The top node of a hierarchical tree. The root can appear only once in that tree.

rule name - The name assigned to an XBRL formula rule.

scaling - A process that automatically scales numeric data by a defined value.

scenario - An XBRL construct that allows for additional information to be associated with facts in an instance document. This information encompasses the reporting circumstances of that fact (for example, "actual" or "forecast" describe contextual reporting circumstances). The scenario of any fact can be left unspecified. Scenarios can only be used in XBRL as XML or Inline XBRL.

schema - An XML file that defines the elements, structure, and data types of another XML file. XBRL schemas only define the concepts and data types; linkbases contain the structural information and relationships among the concepts. Schema files end with a ".xsd" file extension. A schema file can include and/or reference multiple other schema and linkbase files.

segment - An XBRL construct that allows additional information to be included in the context of an instance document. This information captures information such as an entity's business units, type of debt, type of other income, and so forth. The scenario of any fact can be left unspecified. Scenarios can only be used in XBRL as XML or Inline XBRL.

semantic data model - A model that structures data in a specific, logical way. A semantic data model adds basic semantic and/or qualitative meaning to data points and the relationships that lie between them.

semantic interoperability - A data structure that is interpreted by the receiving system with all the meaning required to interpret that data, regardless of the originating system, time of interpretation, or the method of transmission. Semantic interoperability is achieved through adding information that links each data element to a well-defined, shared vocabulary among the systems.

sibling relationship - A relationship between concepts that indicates two or more nodes in a hierarchical structure have the same parent node (are located at the same level in hierarchy).

similar-tuples - A definition relationship that is operationally the same as the essence-alias definition but reserved for usage with tuples. Tuples are not commonly used.

simple data type - An XML construct constrains the textual values that may appear within an element or as a value for an attribute. Simple data types can either be primitive or derived.

simple link - A link type in XLink that creates a unidirectional hyperlink from one element to another through a URI.

specification - An industry-developed set of precise precepts and instructions for creating a technical document. XBRL has multiple specifications that underlie and define its usage, include the XBRL Specification, the XBRL Dimensions Specification, and the XBRL Open Information Model.

stakeholder - An entity with interest or concern in a project. A stakeholder may be comprised of a single person, a group of people, or an entire organization. In XBRL taxonomy development, stakeholders typically offer opinions, insight, and experience concerning the nature of the data to be reported and how that reporting process should operate.

standard label - The default label for a concept. An extension may override the standard label.

substitution group property - A property of a concept categorizing that concept as one of a number of types, such as item, dimension, or hypercube.

suffix - An ending to a concept name that specifies that concept's role in the taxonomy ("Axis," "Table," or "Member", for example). Abstract concepts are often named with a suffix.

support and maintenance phase - The stage of the taxonomy lifecycle during which the taxonomy is regularly updated to reflect new or altered regulatory requirements, technological updates, or other changes. Changes must be disseminated to the reporting environment.

syntactic interoperability - A common syntax by which two or more systems communicate with each other. XBRL provides for syntactic interoperability through a syntactical specification that relies on XML and a means of providing an ontology (an XBRL taxonomy) to identify the meaning of that information within a well-defined semantic framework.

table - A method of organizing relational data along a set of dimensions (columns) and a set of line items (rows). In XBRL, each fact of one of the line items can be further characterized along one or more of its dimensions.

tag - Markup information that describes an XBRL fact in an instance document expressed in XML or Inline XBRL. Angle brackets ("<>" and "</>") enclose tags around XBRL facts.

taxonomy - An electronic library of XBRL concepts used to report data, describing both those concepts' semantic meanings and their relationships with each other. A taxonomy is composed of a schema file (.xsd) and linkbase files (.xml) directly referenced by that schema. An XBRL taxonomy can be considered a transport data model or the structured model by which information is transferred from a source business model to a data consumer model.

taxonomy committee - A combination governance structure of the taxonomy steering committee and the taxonomy working group. This setup is well suited for the support and maintenance phase of taxonomy development or for taxonomies that are smaller in size and scope.

taxonomy-defined dimension - An optional XBRL dimension that expresses additional contextual and semantic information about a fact. Taxonomy-defined dimensions are comprised of abstract concepts and can be either explicit or typed. Taxonomy-defined dimensions are defined with a combination of the taxonomy schema file and one or more linkbase files.

Taxonomy Guide - A document explaining the nature of the XBRL taxonomy, including the design decisions that went into its creation, to an audience of developers. The Taxonomy Guide should contain an in-depth discussion of the taxonomy itself, its structure, validation methods, and other relevant information that aids developers in understanding how the taxonomy functions as a data transport model.

taxonomy navigation - The act of using XULE to traverse the hierarchical structure of a taxonomy and return a set of concepts along a defined path.

taxonomy manager - The individual(s) functioning as a point of contact for all stages of the taxonomy lifecycle. The taxonomy manager maintains detailed knowledge of the taxonomy and the project as a whole and provides day-to-day staff support for the taxonomy working group, as well as receiving and reviewing comments, overseeing and testing changes, and coordinating with regulators or other stakeholders.

taxonomy sponsor - The individual, group, or organization championing the development of the XBRL taxonomy. For large taxonomies with a wide impact on the information supply chain, a regulator, standards organization, or non-profit industry body may act as sponsor to successfully bring together stakeholders. For small taxonomies, the sponsor may be internal to a company.

taxonomy steering committee - The group overseeing the development of the taxonomy during the build and pilot phases. This group can be comprised of technical and subject matter experts, and it can evaluate the major milestones, reviews and approves taxonomy deliverables, and serve as a "tie breaker" on major decisions. A taxonomy steering committee is often applicable to a large taxonomy development project.

taxonomy working group - The group conducting and implementing the development of the taxonomy during the build, pilot, and implementation phases. This group may include preparers, data intermediaries, and data consumers, as well as software and database providers and taxonomy developers. Regulators, legislators, and industry experts can serve as observers to ensure legislative requirements and regulatory goals are correctly implemented.

terse label - A label that contains a short description for a concept.

test expression - The portion of an XBRL formula that contains the logical statement that will be evaluated.

total label - A label to indicate a concept represents a sum of a set of fact values associated with other concepts.

transformation - An Inline XBRL construct that describes how the descriptive language can be converted to an appropriate XBRL format. For more information, see the XBRL Transformation Registry.

transport data model - A semantic data model intended to organize and transport data from a business data model to a consumer data model. An XBRL taxonomy, which is highly structured and standardized, serves as a machine-readable transport model.

transport format - The format in which XBRL data is transmitted from preparers to consumers. The transport format, which may be XBRL in XML, JSON, CSV, or Inline XBRL, stipulates the syntactic structure of the XBRL report. XBRL taxonomy documents (schema and linkbase files) are always formatted in XML.

tree - The common name for the visual display of a hierarchy, with a root node, branching nodes, and further child nodes.

tuple - A method of expressing an XBRL fact such that the fact is comprised of two or more data point pairs. Tuples are rarely used in XBRL taxonomies.

typed taxonomy-defined dimension - A taxonomy-defined dimension whose domain of allowable values is determined by the data type of its domain concept. This data type can be loose or tightly constrained, and it can contain an enumeration of allowable values.