About XBRL files

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is an XML-based standard for defining and exchanging business and financial data. XBRL can be used to submit financial data to regulators, and to transfer data between companies or between systems within a company. Analytics supports the current XBRL 2.1 standard.

An XBRL instance document is an XML file that uses XBRL elements and conforms to the XBRL standard. XBRL elements are also referred to as items. Examples of XBRL instance document types include balance sheets, general ledgers, and financial statements.

An XBRL document is a valid XML file that often uses the standard XML file extension (.xml). The root element <xbrl>, the first element in the file, identifies the file as an XBRL file.

About XBRL contexts

An XBRL document includes elements and data that define one or more contexts. Contexts categorize the main body of data contained in the file. Each element or item in the file must reference a particular context. Contexts specify the following:

  • Entity – The company, business unit, etc., to which the data pertains.

  • Period – The period for which the data is valid. There are three possible periods:

    • Instant – The data is valid for a specific date or datetime. For example, the value of a bank balance on 01 Jan 2012 at 9:00 a.m.

    • Period – The data is valid for a specific date range or datetime range. For example, financial transactions occurring between 01 Jan 2012 and 31 Dec 2012.

    • Forever – The data is not date or time dependent. For example, an account number is valid for an indefinite or undefined period of time.

  • Scenario (optional) – Additional contextual information about the associated elements. For example, whether the values contained in the elements are actual, projected, or budgeted.

An XBRL document can contain multiple contexts. For example, a document may contain one context for the period 01 Jan 2011 to 31 Dec 2011, and another for the period 01 Jan 2012 to 31 Dec 2012. In the Data Definition Wizard, each context is available as a separate block of data that you can choose to import or not.