XBRL International issues Calls for Participation in Formula and Base Specification and Maintenance Working Groups

31 October 2006

XBRL International (XII) is calling on all those interested in participating in the XII Formula Working Group and / or the Base Specification and Maintenance Working Group to step up and declare their interest and intent to involve themselves in the work of these groups. 

If either the proposed Formula Specification or the base XBRL Specification is important to your organisation, then your organisation is urged to contribute to these groups.  The creation of these two new groups out of what was formerly the Specification Working Group reflects more rigorous processes for the operation of working groups and production of technical material established by the XBRL Standards Board (XSB).  The new processes respond to the growth in use of XBRL around the world.  They will help working groups produce consistently high-quality material.

The Formula WG is essentially continuing work on the development of a Formula Specification which was being performed within the old Specification WG.  It is responsible for finalising a requirements document and then producing an extension specification that supports the declaration of XBRL formulae.  The XSB has appointed Geoff Shuetrim, one of the Editors of the XBRL 2.1 Specification, as the initial Chair of this group.

Instructions on joining the group, together with its draft charter and other information are available at http://www.xbrl.org/FormulaWGCall/. 

The Base Specification and Maintenance WG is charged with providing and documenting authoritative interpretations of the XBRL 2.1 specification and with resolving minor issues by way of errata corrections and extensions to the XBRL 2.1 conformance suite.

Instructions on joining the group, together with its draft charter and other information are available at http://www.xbrl.org/BaseSpecWGCall/.

Naturally, WGs cannot function without active contributors who are willing to commit to getting things done.  Participants can take part in many ways – from contributing to discussions to editing documents or writing test data.  All those within and outside the XBRL consortium who have an interest in these working areas are encouraged to respond to this call. 

Announced by:

Peter Calvert

XBRL International

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