RE: Feedback on Ingredients for High Quality Linked Data section of Linked Data Cookbook

Dear Charles, Dear David,

Thanks for your messages and your exciting thoughts about making the RDF
Data Cube vocabulary (QB), XBRL, and CWM interoperable.

> What I believe would be a good thing is if your data cube, XBRL's data
cube,
> and the CWM data cube were 100% semantically interoperable.
I would agree. But there is probably some alignment work to do: For
instance, when translating XBRL into QB [1] we had difficulties in
retrieving all linkbase information from the filings and taxonomies (e.g.,
concept hierarchies and calculation arcs) and representing them in RDF.
Also, I am aware of the CWM multidimensional model and would be interested
in how it can be extended for sharing multidimensional data. 

> other data stores and metadata to XBRL.  I'm cc'ing Herm Fischer, who is a
> key person in our current effort to raise the level of abstraction at
which
> XBRL report design and creation operates, and who is doing some
> prototyping around the use of linked data with XBRL.
Since we have been working on using XBRL with Linked Data [1], I would be
happy to give feedback on your prototypes. 

> Formula).  Business rules provides important functionality to the sorts of
> things XBRL does with financial reporting (making sure the information is
> correct) and I believe that this same functionality is necessary for
quality
> business reporting of any kind; financial, nonfinancial, government,
> industry, anything.
Regarding business rules, we are considering refining QB to more formally
define relationships between data cubes (e.g., aggregations), which may help
to represent more complex formulae or business rules using QB data.

> The question is how to put all these things together?  
One way to start this effort would be to define a use case around XBRL, QB
and possibly CWM, which could help to derive requirements for them to become
interoperable. Some proposed use cases for QB are available at [2]. Their
technical detail varies, but in general they should give an overview of what
QB (e.g., together with XBRL, CWM) may allow to do. 

Best,

Benedikt

[1] <http://xbrl.us/research/appdev/pages/275.aspx#> 
[2] <http://www.w3.org/2011/gld/wiki/Data_Cube_Vocabulary/Use_Cases> 



-- 
AIFB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721 608-47946 
Email: benedikt.kaempgen@kit.edu
Web: http://www.aifb.kit.edu/web/Hauptseite/en 





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frankel, David [mailto:david.frankel@sap.com]
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 7:13 PM
> To: Charles Hoffman; 'Benedikt Kämpgen'; public-gld-comments@w3.org
> Cc: 'O'Riain, Sean'; 'Andreas Harth'; Herm Fischer
> Subject: RE: Feedback on Ingredients for High Quality Linked Data section
of
> Linked Data Cookbook
> 
> Thanks, Charlie.  I consider linked data to be important for semantic
> federation of the various XBRL taxonomies and report data, and for linking
> other data stores and metadata to XBRL.  I'm cc'ing Herm Fischer, who is a
> key person in our current effort to raise the level of abstraction at
which
> XBRL report design and creation operates, and who is doing some
> prototyping around the use of linked data with XBRL.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> --David
> 
> David S. Frankel
> Standards and Open Source Strategy
> Technology and Innovation Platform Group
> SAP Labs LLC; Palo Alto, California USA
> Phone & Cell +1 530 591-0212
> Email: david.frankel@sap.com
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles Hoffman [mailto:CharlesHoffman@olywa.net]
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 8:51 AM
> To: 'Benedikt Kämpgen'; public-gld-comments@w3.org
> Cc: 'O'Riain, Sean'; 'Andreas Harth'; Frankel, David
> Subject: RE: Feedback on Ingredients for High Quality Linked Data section
of
> Linked Data Cookbook
> 
> Benedikt;
> 
> (I added David Frankel to this list, you will see why in a moment as you
> read. David, you will likewise understand, please read this thread.)
> 
> Your RDF Data Cube Vocabulary is right on target in my view.  There is a
> group within the XBRL community which is modeling something similar for
> XBRL. David Frankel is leading that effort. David can explain this better,
> but in short as I understand it; XBRL is trying to leverage the work of
the
> on CWM, Common Warehouse Metamodel:
> http://www.omg.org/spec/CWM/
> 
> What I believe would be a good thing is if your data cube, XBRL's data
cube,
> and the CWM data cube were 100% semantically interoperable.
> 
> The second thing is that XBRL has a business rules language (XBRL Formula)
> and business rules engines (part of an XBRL processor which implements
> XBRL
> Formula).  Business rules provides important functionality to the sorts of
> things XBRL does with financial reporting (making sure the information is
> correct) and I believe that this same functionality is necessary for
quality
> business reporting of any kind; financial, nonfinancial, government,
> industry, anything.
> 
> The question is how to put all these things together?  We have the
> Government Linked Data Working Group, Data Transparency Coalition
> (http://datacoalition.org/) pushing on the DATA Act
> (http://keepthewebopen.com/data).  We have the ADMS folks in Europe
> pushing
> more on semantics (https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/asset/adms/home) and I
> am
> sure I left a few out.
> 
> How do we make all these things "play well" together and serve government
> and business well, globally?
> 
> So basically, that is my view.  XBRL and your RDF Data Cube Vocabulary
> should be interoperable.
> 
> I am sure you and David will have a lot to talk about!
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Charlie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Benedikt Kämpgen [mailto:kaempgen@fzi.de]
> Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 2:41 AM
> To: 'Charles Hoffman'; public-gld-comments@w3.org
> Cc: O'Riain, Sean; 'Andreas Harth'
> Subject: RE: Feedback on Ingredients for High Quality Linked Data section
of
> Linked Data Cookbook
> 
> Dear Charles Hoffman,
> 
> Thanks for your recommendation to look more closely into XBRL, for
> instance,
> w.r.t. the application of business rules on Linked Data.
> 
> What may be of interest in this regard:
> 
> 1) In GLD, we are considering to add XBRL use cases to the development of
> the "RDF Data Cube Vocabulary" (QB) for publishing statistics (such as
> financial disclosures). See [1] for the current vocabulary QB. Examples of
> possible use cases:
> 
> 1.1)  Colleagues and I have used QB at [2] (an XBRL challenge submission)
to
> publish XBRL filings from SEC as Linked Data and to consume those filings
> using Online Analytical Processing.
> 
> 1.2) At [3] of our current QB use case document (not official, reviewed or
> published), a possible use case (UC 10) is described that transforms
> financial statistics as Linked Data reusing QB into XBRL.
> 
> 2) There will be a paper on using rules on financial Linked Data (XBRL as
> Linked Data) in the FEOSW workshop at ESWC 2012 [4]
> 
> I would be happy to hear your opinion about using XBRL in use cases of the
> RDF Data Cube Vocabulary.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Benedikt
> 
> [1] <http://www.w3.org/TR/2012/WD-vocab-data-cube-20120405/>
> [2] <http://xbrl.us/research/appdev/pages/275.aspx#>
> [3]
> <http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/gld/raw-file/default/data-cube-
> ucr/index.html#transfo
> rming-published-statistics-into-xbrl--uc-10>
> [4] <http://nadir.uc3m.es/feosw2012/#ui-tabs-9>
> Title: Using SPIN to Formalise Accounting Regulations on the Semantic Web
> 
> Authors: Dennis Spohr, Philipp Cimiano, John McCrae and Seán O'Riain
> 
> Abstract:
> The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) has standardised
> financial
> reporting and provide a machine-interpretable format that makes financial
> and business reports easier to access and consume.
> Leveraging XBRL with Open Linked Data for purposes such as multi-
> dimensional
> regulatory querying and investigation requires XBRL formulisation as RDF.
> This paper investigates the use of of-the-shelf Semantic Web technologies
to
> formulise accounting regulations specified in XBRL jurisdictional
> taxonomies. Specifically the use of the SPARQL Inferencing Notation (SPIN)
> with RDF to represent these accounting regulations as rule constraints,
not
> cater for in the RDF abstract model is investigated. We move beyond
> previous
> RDF to XBRL transformations and investigate how SPIN enhanced
> formalisation
> enables inferencing of financial statement facts associated with financial
> reporting concepts and sophisticated consistency checks, which evaluate
the
> correctness of reported financial data with respect to the calculation
> requirements imposed by accounting regulation. The approach illustrated
> through two use cases demonstrates the use of SPIN to meet central
> requirements for financial data and regulatory modelling.
> 
> 
> --
> AIFB, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
> Phone: +49 721 608-47946
> Email: benedikt.kaempgen@kit.edu
> Web: http://www.aifb.kit.edu/web/Hauptseite/en
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Charles Hoffman [mailto:CharlesHoffman@olywa.net]
> > Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 4:28 PM
> > To: public-gld-comments@w3.org
> > Subject: Feedback on Ingredients for High Quality Linked Data section
> > of Linked Data Cookbook
> >
> > This is a great working group, nicely organized.  In particular the
> > Linked
> Data
> > Cookbook is quite useful.
> >
> >
> >
> > I do have some feedback for the High Quality Linked Data section of
> > that Linked Data Cookbook.
> >
> >
> >
> > It is my view that one thing missing from the list of items necessary
> > for
> high
> > quality linked data is business rules.  In particular computations or
> relations
> > between information items.
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a very good summary/example of what I am taking about and way
> > I have this position:
> >
> >
> >
> > http://xbrl.squarespace.com/journal/2010/5/27/census-bureau-confirms-
> > error-revises-data-set.html
> >
> >
> >
> > The cliff notes are that the US Census Bureau published data, the
> > format
> was
> > CSV.  If the data were in RDF, the same issue would exist.  The data
> > had
> an
> > error in it.  It was not until I created business rules to be sure
> > that my
> use of
> > the data was correct that I discovered an error in the US Census data.
> > I
> found
> > this error because I wanted to be sure the XBRL information I was
> > creating was correct. As such, I created business rules, using XBRL,
> > to verify that
> my
> > data set was correct.  And that is how I found the error.
> >
> >
> >
> > Said another way, if the data set had business rules provided WITH the
> data
> > set, then (a) those providing the data would have become aware of the
> error
> > and (b) those using the data could both better understand the
> relationships
> > because they are articulated and they can validate the information
> > prior
> to
> > use to confirm that there is no error.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you for considering this feedback.
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> >
> >
> > Charles Hoffman, CPA
> 
>

Received on Wednesday, 2 May 2012 09:32:10 UTC