The future of typed dimensions Eindhoven XBRL Conference

The future of typed dimensions? Eindhoven, XBRL Conference, 5 May 2008 Mark CREEMERS

Explicit dimensions Definition Schema Region. Dimension Total Belgium Other EMU Rest of World Total Governments Banks Institutions Corporates Retail Loans. And. Receivables Sector. Dimension A priori know or imposed members!! 2

What if members are unknown? Business cases: o Segment reporting: "relevant" segments o Director names and salaries, Client numbers, . . . Definition Schema Loans. And. Receivables Region. Dimension Region 1 Region 2. . . ► Before dimension specification, only "TUPLES" ► Dimension specification 1. 0, additionally: "TYPED DIMENSIONS" "OPEN EXPLICIT DIMENSIONS" 3

Tuples Schema Loans. And. Receivables Definition Region. Dimension Region 1 Region 2. . . ► Grouping/repeating ► XML attributes: ● min. Occurs (0, 1, . . . ) ● max. Occurs ● Choice ► BUT: Extensibility! 4

Typed dimensions Schema Loans. And. Receivables Definition Region. Dimension Region 1 Region 2. . . Schema Debt. Securities ► Very easy to add / delete elements ► Restrictions possible on values of typed dimension ► However: no XML attributes, so limited control on which facts are reported. 5

"Open explicit" dimensions Definition-B Schema Loans. And. Receivables Region. Dimension Definition-E Region 1 Region 2. . . ► Not known, so not in base taxonomy! ► Reporting agent creates its own extension and sends it with the instance. Structure can be added. ► Disadvantages: ● ● 6 Region 1 Subregion 1. 2. . . Region 2 Reporting agent must create extension. Collector must handle extensions. No grip on extension taxonomies! Quid: Client numbers? . . .

Conclusion / discussion ► All have advantages ► All have disadvantages ► Choice often depending on case and specific circumstances! ● ● Open versus closed environment? COFINREP: only typed! Taxonomy used for extensions? Client numbers versus relevant segments? IT-abilities of reporting agent and collector? ► Maybe good subject for Best Practices. . . to promote harmonisation in taxonomy design! 7

The future of typed dimensions? Thank you for your attention!