Mike,

The XBRL standard is not only a great idea for a project of this magnitude, the assumption should be that it would be mandated.  As mentioned in the thread on Rebuilding Management, complete transparency with this project is tantamount to success since the major consumable is labor and as we all know, labor is typically where fraud is introduced.  I agree completely with your assessment on adopting the XBRL standard.

Two more thoughts for this idea.

Standardizing supply chain intellectual property allows for more efficient, effective and agile management of the related processes.  There is an example of this here in the  "How XBRL transformed Fujitsu's IT Platform" presentation here by the Fujitsu Global CIO: http://18thconference.xbrl.org/sites/18thconference.xbrl.org/files/hanaoka.pdf

Additionally, this standards based SOA approach also enables a highly collaborative reporting and analytical environment for consumers of business information.   Within PwC we deployed a consumer driven collaborative reporting and analytical environment less than 1 year ago by asking for feedback from 10 of our internal analysts.   There was no training, no internal marketing and no communications about the new collaborative consumer driven analytical platform.   Today, it draws over 65,000 unique monthly users making it the number 1 trafficked platform within our entire infrastructure.   Other examples of consumer driven collaborative analytical platforms based upon open standards such as XBRL include Morgan Stanley's Modelware platform and the Edgar-Online IMetrix product outlined here:  http://www.edgar-online.com/OnlineProducts/IMetrixProfessional.aspx

Note: This is NOT a pitch for an of these products (most specifically not the PwC platform which is for internal only use) , rather examples of how standardized supply chain IP facilitates collaboration by consumers on analytics and reporting.   

Empowering consumer's to collaborate, particularly around analytics and reporting, is a very powerful adoption model.  There are several posting that also lead to this type of outcome:

- Tim's comments in his posting on 'Linked Open Data': http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/linked-open-data

- http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/open-data-will-enable-democratized-analysis-and-accountability

- http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/xbrl-the-standard-for-pubic-sector-fiscal-reporting-transparency

- http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/provide-data-in-common-formats

- http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/make-collecting-recovery-data-agile-using-semantic-web-technology

- http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/data-quality-and-data-standards-are-key-to-gaining-public-trust

Data is at the center of all attempts to collect meaningful information.  With the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) you get a well tested method for marking up data that has rich metadata already in place.  As Mike Willis mentions above, successful projects around the world are finding that XBRL can easily handle diverse data collection and reporting needs.  The Dutch Taxonomy Project mentioned above is a wonderful example of changing the focus from government agencies acting on their own driving compliance costs up to agencies acting together driving compliance costs down.  We need a proven method to lower the compliance burden on companies.  We need a data-centric approach centered on XBRL.

I absolutely agree that existing information standards and taxonomies, such as XBRL, should be used when available.

The challenge here will be that it is expected that Recovery.gov will have a significant amount of data for which there is no agreed upon standard format.. and I wouldn't want to keep that information from the public while some group goes off and tries to implement a master data/meta model...

So yes - use the standard formats when we can, but don't let the lack of defined standards for new data structures hold back any publication.  The beauty of making the data available via APIs is that it'll be fairly easy to implement transforms that generate the formats needed... so as new taxonomies develop over time, the data will easily be mapped in.

Absolutely! Your point that XBRL is also valuable within ledger & sub-ledger systems is very important. As I point out in my own idea, Recovery.gov shouldn't be a standalone reporting mechanism, but the opening wedge in an integrated one similar to the Dutch Taxonomy Project.

Between OMB, GAO, Congress, existing statutes and regulations at the national, state, and local levels, and taxpayer and other demands, there's a highly diverse appetite for types of information about the use of taxpayer money and debt proceeds. Because XBRL-tagged data is easily (and should be automatically) tagged at the transaction level, the standard can be the touchstone that changes the game when it comes to creating a truly standard format for private and government business alike.

Another XBRL advantage is that no "group" must go "off and" try "to implement a master data/meta model." A tool called SpiderMonkey was used to crowd source a much more complex taxonomy (U.S. GAAP) than what is needed for recovery.gov, and SpiderMonkey or other tools could be easily adopted to crowd source recovery.gov taxonomy version 1.0, or perhaps "Federal Spending Taxonomy Version 1.0." (Step 2: "Federal Revenue Taxonomy Version 1.0; Step 3: merge the taxonomies?) Existing XBRL software will be capable of processing FST 1.0 as well as it processes data in other XBRL compliant taxonomies, and the software itself won't need to be updated to deal with versions 2, 3, and 4.

Pending the definition of XBRL tags for FST 1.0, no publication of existing data should be delayed. In fact, publication of existing data via API's or otherwise will help improve FST 1.0, and thereby help data users use the data more effectively.

XBRL tagging would revolutionize auditing of the use of tax and debt revenue. Most government corruption involves people "playing the seams" between government spending or revenue and the private sector. The benefits of using a common global XML standard (with the advantage over XML being that XBRL can monitor and enforce compliance with business process/government process rules) to make transactions not only more transparent, but more reliable, are considerable. XBRL is the leading global data standard for commercial transactions, and making it the standard for the non-commercial government transactions funded with profits from the commercial transactions can only reduce the opportunities for fraud by making it easier to track and audit transactions and business information.

It's simple: Get rid of the data seams and you raise the cost of corruption. There's also likely to be more significant cross-pollination between private and government audit tools if the U.S. government joins the numerous other government entities using the common global XBRL data standard.

FYI, as of now, eight ideas here are tagged "XBRL," including http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/ideas/data-quality-and-data-standards-are-key-to-gaining-public-trust, which has an extensive discussion. XBRL is mentioned with respect to 15 ideas: http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/search?SearchableText=xbrl

The case studies at the links provided in this comment -- with its simple yet brilliant headlind, "Collaboration" -- are particularly informative. Recovery.gov should be easy compared to many of these case studies. Based on my experience with the selfless and dedicated XBRL community, I expect National Academy of Public Administration and all other interested parties will be impressed with its work.

I fully agree with Mike's recommendation for leveraging XBRL standard and extensive knowledge gained over the years in this area. I also suggest to integrate XBRL standard and enhance it using RDF/XML using Linked Data standard as proposed by Tim Berners-Lee. I describe this in another submission here.

XBRL provides the standard for the tagging of information, enabling the effective and efficient provision of business information to and from users. In our particular situation, XBRL (with the appropriate taxonomy) would allow the tracking and monitoring of information provided through the grants process, from central government appropriation, to end program use, and reporting of such use all the way back up through the reporting chain. XBRL will also allow and support reporting at any level of that process, and provide easy to use reporting to citizens interested in the effectiveness of allocation and spending of government fund.

Mike, you point out quite correctly that international implementations are or are expected to deliver efficiency improvements of around 25% for business reporting to governments. These improvements will also be available where government is both the reporting entity and the consumer and user of the information. In addition, existing XBRL rendering technology such as that provided by the SEC, demonstrates the capability for XBRL to deliver such reporting simplicity to individuals interested in seeing just how their tax dollars are being used.

=========================

Daniel Roberts

Innovation, Strategy, Governance,

IT Audit, XBRL and Sustainability

E-mail: Daniel.Roberts01@gmail.com

E-mail: D.Roberts@RAASConsulting.com