Working Groups and Work Product Development Process 1.4

Process Document 08 August 2018

Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2018 XBRL International Inc., All Rights Reserved.

This version:
<http://www.xbrl.org/Process/working-group-and-work-product-development-process/Process-2018-08-08/working-group-and-work-product-development-process-2018-08-08.html>
Editors:
Angela Rose, XBRL International Inc. <angelar@xbrl.org>
Paul Warren, XBRL International Inc. <pdw@xbrl.org>
Contributor:
Trevor Pyman, Iris Business <trevor.pyman@irisbusiness.com>

Status

Circulation of this Process Document is unrestricted. Other documents may supersede this document.

Abstract

This document describes the process for the development of XBRL International technical work products by working groups under the governance of the XBRL Standards Board.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction
2 Background
3 Sources of Input
4 Definitions
5 Working Group Life-Cycle and Internal Processes
5.1 Working Group Formation
5.1.1 Interest Groups
5.1.2 Call for Participation
5.1.3 Process for Member-Initiated Working Group Formation
5.1.4 Proposal for Working Group Creation
5.2 Working Group Membership and Participation
5.3 Termination of Group Membership or Observer Rights
5.4 Leaves of Absence
5.5 First Meeting of a Working Group & Appointment of Chairs
5.6 Group Chairs and Vice-Chairs
5.7 Group Recordkeeping
5.7.1 Mailing Lists
5.7.2 Collaborative Workspace
5.8 Working Group Procedure
5.9 Official Language and Translations
5.10 Working Group Meetings & Minutes
5.11 Working Group Charter Revision
5.12 Working Group Resolutions & Voting
5.12.1 Eligibility
5.12.2 Electronic Voting
5.13 Group Subcommittees
5.14 Closing a Working Group
5.15 Intellectual Property Rights Procedures
5.16 Specification Quality
5.16.1 Requirements
5.16.2 Conformance Suite
6 XII Work Product Development Process
6.1 Implementable Work Product
6.2 Supporting Document
6.3 Working Group Note
6.4 Editing Work Products
6.5 Version Numbers for Implementable Work Products
6.6 Statuses for Implementable Work Products
6.6.1 Internal Statuses
6.6.1.1 Working Group Working Draft
6.6.1.2 Internal Working Draft
6.6.2 Public Statuses
6.6.2.1 Public Working Draft
6.6.2.2 Candidate Recommendation
6.6.2.3 Proposed Recommendation
6.6.2.4 Recommendation
6.6.2.5 Proposed Edited Recommendation
6.6.2.6 Edited Recommendation
6.6.2.7 Rescinded Recommendation
6.7 Statuses for Supporting Documents
6.8 Statuses for Working Group Notes
6.9 Public Calls relating to Implementable Work Products
6.9.1 Call for Implementations
6.9.2 Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation
6.9.3 Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation
6.9.4 Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation
6.10 Progression of an Implementable Work Product to Recommendation
6.10.1 Publication of Implementable Work Products
6.10.2 Review Process
6.10.3 Change Types relating to the Promotion of Implementable Work Products
6.10.4 Progression of an Implementable Work Product to Recommendation
6.10.4.1 Publication of a Public Working Draft
6.10.4.1.1 Next step
6.10.4.2 Publication of a Candidate Recommendation
6.10.4.2.1 Next step
6.10.4.3 Publication of a Proposed Recommendation
6.10.4.3.1 Next step
6.10.4.4 Publication of a Recommendation
6.10.4.4.1 Next steps
6.11 Modifying an XII Recommendation
6.11.1 Substantive Errata
6.11.2 Editorial Errata
6.11.3 Errata Management
6.11.3.1 Publication of a Proposed Edited Recommendation
6.11.3.1.1 Next steps
6.11.4 Publication of an Edited Recommendation
6.11.4.1 Next steps
6.12 Concluding development of a Work Product
6.13 Rescinding a Recommendation

Appendix

A Document history (non-normative)

Figure

1 Progression through Implementable Work Product Statuses

Definitions

Additional Work Product Document
Call for Implementations
Call for Participation
Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation
Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation
Candidate Recommendation
Charter
Conformance Suite
Draft Supporting Document
Draft Working Group Note
Edited Recommendation
Editorial Changes
Editorial Erratum
Eligible Participant
Erratum
Fundamental Changes
Group Chair
Group Meeting
Group Organiser
Group Subcommittee
Implementable Work Product
Interest Group
Internal Working Draft
Leave of Absence
Mailing List
Majority Vote
Minimum Membership
Non-voting Member
Observer
Primary Work Product Document
Proper Majority Vote
Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation
Proposed Edited Recommendation
Proposed Recommendation
Public
Public Working Draft
Quorate Meeting
Quorum
Recommendation
Rescinded Recommendation
Resolution
Review Comment
Scheduled Substitution
Substantive Changes
Substantive Erratum
Super-Majority Vote
Supporting Document
Supporting Document (status)
Versioning Changes
Voting Member
Work Product
Working Group
Working Group Member
Working Group Note
Working Group Note (status)
Working Group Working Draft
XII BoD
XII Group Administrator
XII IP Policy
XII Member
XII Member Organisation
XII Participant
XII Recommendation Path
XSB


1 Introduction

The XBRL International Standards Board (XSB) Working Groups and Work Product Process Document provides the operating rules for Working Groups and the product development guidelines for the Work Products of XBRL International Inc. (XII) undertaken by the XSB. This document should be read with an understanding of XBRL International Inc current Bylaws, the XSB Charter and the XII Intellectual Property Policy available through the XII web site at www.xbrl.org in the governing documents section.

2 Background

With the formation of the XSB, both the structure of Working Groups and the processes to be followed in the production of Work Product were reformed. The concept of ad hoc Working Groups organised around a specific Charter has become the norm within XII. This document defines a set of processes and structures to enable XII to manage Working Groups which create quality products based upon market needs that have ample opportunity for XII Member and market input. As XBRL shall remain a royalty-free standard these rules and guidelines are important aspects of governance of XII Work Products.

3 Sources of Input

The following organisations bear certain resemblances to XII: OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) and the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), in that all are dedicated to the creation of royalty-free standards related to computer data and meta-data representation. W3C and OASIS are consortia that have a membership structure similar to XII and there are certain overlaps between the work of XII and these bodies Much of the XII process described here is either derived from or consistent with related industry practice.

4 Definitions

This section provides definitions of terms that are used elsewhere in the document and should be referred to in order to understand the precise meaning where the terms defined herein are encountered.

The XII BoD is the XBRL International Board of Directors.

Charter is the document that defines the scope, deliverables, timeline etc. for a Working Group.

A Mailing List is an electronic discussion list that is designated by XBRL International for carrying out the business of a Working Group or an Interest Group .

Eligible Participant means someone who is either an XII Participant or who has been deemed by the XII BoD or the XSB to be entitled to the same privileges as an Eligible Participant with respect to the processes defined herein. Refer to the XII Membership Policies and Procedures, which takes precedence over this document on XII Membership related topics.

XII Participant refers to an XII Participant, as defined in the XII Membership Policies and Procedures.

XII Member refers to an XII Member, as defined in the XII Membership Policies and Procedures.

XII IP Policy is the XBRL International Intellectual Property Policy, as published at http://www.xbrl.org/GoverningDocuments.

Leave of Absence is a period in which a Voting Member is exempted from the Working Group's participation criteria. The rules constraining a Leave of Absence are described in Section 5.4.

Majority Vote is either a vote held at a Quorate Meeting in which the number of "yes" votes cast is greater than the number of "no" votes cast, or an electronic vote in which the number of "yes" votes cast is greater than the number of "no" votes cast and in which responses (including abstentions) are received from more than half the Voting Members of the Working Group.

Minimum Membership means five Voting Members of a Group representing at least three XII Member Organisations.

Proper Majority Vote is a Group vote in which more than 50% of the Voting Members vote “yes”, irrespective of the number of Voting Members present in the meeting and not counting abstentions.

Public and publicly mean available to all persons, whether XII Participant or not.

Quorate Meeting is a Working Group Meeting at which a Quorum is present. A meeting that is not quorate is "inquorate".

Quorum is the minimum number of Voting Members of a Group that must be present so that resolutions may be voted on. The quorum for Working Group Meetings is a majority (more than half) of the Voting Members.

Resolution means a decision reached by a Group as a result of a vote.

Super-Majority Vote is a Group vote in which at least 2/3 (two thirds) of the Voting Members vote "yes" and no more than 1/4 (one quarter) of the Voting Members vote “no”. These numbers are based on the total number of Voting Members, irrespective of the number of Voting Members present in the Working Group Meeting, without counting abstentions.

Working Group Meeting is a meeting of the Group that is properly called and scheduled in advance.

Group Organiser is an Eligible Participant who performs the function of organizing the first meeting of a Group.

Group Chair is a Voting Member who is appointed to take responsibility for organizing Working Group Meetings.

Group Subcommittee is a subset of Working Group Members producing work product for consideration or adoption by the parent Working Group.

A Working Group is a group of Eligible Participants formed by the XSB for the purpose of fulfilling the group's Charter.

XII Group Administrator is the person or persons responsible for group-related administrative matters.

XII Member Organisation is a firm that is a member of a Jurisdiction, or a direct member of XII as defined by the XII Membership Policies and Procedures , which takes precedence over this document on XII Membership related topics.

XII Recommendation Path is the process of advancing a Work Product from early draft to mature deliverable (“Recommendation”)

Work Product is any document or other artefact developed by a Group that is intended for publication.

5 Working Group Life-Cycle and Internal Processes

This Section describes the stages in the Working Group Lifecycle. In summary, they are as follows:

  1. Formation. A Working Group is formed by the XSB, either directly, or as a result of a recommendation by an Interest Group.
  2. Conduct of Business. The Working Group works to fulfil its Charter.
  3. Closure. The XSB closes the Working Group once its work is complete.

5.1 Working Group Formation

Working Groups are formed by resolution of the XSB. The XSB may consider the creation of a Working Group at any time, but it is obliged to give due and prompt consideration to a request made by a collection of XII Members meeting certain requirements (see Section 5.1.3). In order to support the co-ordination of such a request from XII Members, an Interest Group may be formed.

5.1.1 Interest Groups

An Interest Group is a group of Eligible Participants formed for the purpose of determining interest in the creation of a Working Group, and for co-ordinating the creation of a suitable request for formation to the XSB.

The XSB will create an Interest Group if it receives a request to do so from at least three Eligible Participants representing at least two different XII Member Organisations. The request must include:

  1. A name for the Interest Group. Note: This name may not be the Working Group name proposed in the Charter.
  2. The names, e-mail addresses and membership affiliations of the three or more Eligible Participants requesting the Interest Group.
  3. The name of the Interest Group leader(s).
  4. A brief statement of purpose for the Interest Group.

Within 15 days of the request being approved by the XSB, the XII Group Administrator will announce a Call for Participation inviting members to subscribe to and participate in the Interest Group.

Interest Group discussions are restricted to evaluating interest in forming a new Working Group and co-ordinating a request for formation to the XSB. The list of subscribers to the Interest Group shall be available to all other subscribers of the group. The Interest Group shall automatically close 90 days after the Call for Participation is issued.

5.1.2 Call for Participation

A Call for Participation is an announcement of the formation of a new Interest Group or Working Group seeking membership by Eligibile Participants.

5.1.3 Process for Member-Initiated Working Group Formation

The XSB is obliged to give prompt and due consideration to a request for the formation of a Working Group that is made by a collection of individuals meeting the following requirements:

  • The individuals would meet the Minimum Membership requirements of the proposed Working Group.
  • The request is made to the XSB, written in English and provided in electronic form.
  • The request includes all required items listed in Section 5.1.4.
  • The request includes names, e-mail addresses, and membership affiliations of at least the Minimum Membership requirement supporting this proposal and are committed to the Charter and proposed Working Group meeting schedule.

As soon as practical following the submission of the required materials the XSB will consider the request.

The XSB may approve the Working Group formation, request modifications or clarifications or reject the request.

If the XSB may request that the submitters make modifications or clarifications, by providing necessary details of the requested information and suggested timeline for resubmission.

If the XSB rejects the request, submitters will be notified of the decision and the rationale. The submitters may request a meeting with the XSB or appeal the decision directly to the XII BoD. An appeal to the XII BoD shall be written and provide all submission materials originally provided to the XSB, the decision and rationale provided by the XSB and whether a meeting with the XSB was requested and held. An appeal to the XII BoD may be delivered to the XII Group Administrator.

The XII BoD may process the appeal as it sees fit based on the individual circumstances.

5.1.4 Proposal for Working Group Creation

Whether initiated by XII Members or the XSB, a proposal for the creation of a Working Group must include:

  • A proposed Charter for the Working Group. The Charter must include:
    1. The name of the Working Group. This name must not have been previously used for any XII Group and must not include any trademarks or service marks not owned by XII. The proposed name may not include any misleading or inappropriate names. It must specify any acronyms or abbreviations of the name that is intended to be used to reference the Group.
    2. A statement of purpose, including a definition of the problem to be solved. The purpose of the Group should be relevant to the mission or directly relate to the strategic or operational plans of the XSB or XII.
    3. The scope of the work proposed. These statements must include a definition of what is and what is not within scope for the Group. The scope may include a specific contribution of existing work as a starting point.
    4. List of deliverables with projected completion dates.
    5. The expected audience or users of the work.
  • A listing of the desired skills within the Working Group.
  • Identification of similar or related work that is being done in other Working Groups or by other organisations.
  • A statement of the need for additional work in this area and how the proposed Working Group will complement other works in the area including the level of liaison sought with such other organisations.
  • List of contributions of existing work that will be made to this Working Group, if any, and any acknowledgement or IP conditions related to such contributions.
  • The date, time, and location of the first Working Group Meeting (see Section 5.5).
  • The name of the Group Organiser. This individual must be an Eligible Participant.

The request may optionally include:

  • A proposed working title and acronym for any Work Product to be developed by the Working Group.
  • The projected meeting schedule for the year.

If approved, the XII Group Administrator will publish a Call for Participation including the skills sought and details of the first Working Group Meeting (see Section 5.5).

5.2 Working Group Membership and Participation

A Working Group Member is an Eligible Participant who has been granted Observer, Non-voting Member or Voting Member status in a Working Group.

Working Group Member status is granted on an individual basis, not on a per organisation basis and may not be transferred from person to person. Only Working Group Members are entitled to attend Working Group Meetings.

Working Group Members have one of three statuses:

An Eligible Participant may become a Working Group Member by making a request in writing to the XII Group Administrator. The request must include the name of the group, and the requested membership status.

If requesting Voting Member or Non-voting Member status, the individual must confirm to the XII Group Administrator that they individually agree, and that their employing organisation agrees, to abide by the XII IP Policy with respect to their participation and contributions. Upon receiving such confirmation in writing the XII Group Administrator will approve the request to participate.

There are no attendance or participation requirements in order to maintain Observer or Non-voting Member status beyond remaining an Eligible Participant.

A Voting Member must remain active in a Working Group to maintain voting rights. A Voting Member who is absent from three consecutive Working Group Meetings or six consecutive weeks, whichever is the longer period of time, loses his or her voting rights immediately and without requirement of notice. Voting Members who lose their voting rights remain Non-voting Members of the Working Group.

A Working Group Member who has lost his or her voting rights, for whatever reason, may regain them by attending two consecutive Working Group Meetings, and then re-applying for Voting Member status as described above.

5.3 Termination of Group Membership or Observer Rights

Termination of Working Group Member rights will occur under the following circumstances:

  • The individual may provide notification of resignation or withdrawal to the Mailing List , Group Chair or XII Group Administrator;
  • The individual ceases to be an Eligible Participant; or
  • The Chair, after providing written notice, may immediately terminate the membership of any individual who behaves in a manner deemed unprofessional. An individual whose membership is so terminated may appeal the termination to the XSB.

Termination of Working Group membership for any reason shall automatically end participation rights, in any capacity, in the Working Group and any Group Subcommittee.

5.4 Leaves of Absence

A Voting Member of a Working Group is permitted one Leave of Absence during any consecutive twelve month period. During a Leave of Absence a Voting Member is exempt from the participation criteria specified in Section 5.2. The first Leave of Absence during any twelve month period is granted automatically upon application to the Chair. The Chair must notify the Working Group of any Leave of Absence by reporting at the Working Group Meeting immediately following the granting of such Leave of Absence.

A Voting Member who has taken a Leave of Absence during the previous twelve months may apply for a maximum of one additional Leave of Absence during the same twelve month period. A second Leave of Absence may be granted only upon majority approval of the Working Group.

The length of a Leave of Absence shall be specified in advance by the Voting Member requesting it and shall not exceed 60 days. A Leave of Absence shall begin no earlier than seven days after the date upon which the request is submitted to the Chair and shall end on the date specified.

5.5 First Meeting of a Working Group & Appointment of Chairs

The first meeting of a Working Group shall be chaired by the Group Organiser, and may be attended by Non-voting Members, Voting Members and Observers whose membership has been approved before the first meeting.

The first Working Group Meeting must occur within 30 calendar days, or within 45 calendar days if a face-to-face meeting is planned, of the announcement of a Working Group.

The first Working Group Meeting must take place when, where and how it has been described in the announcement. If a change is required the XII Group Administrator must make a reasonable attempt to reschedule as soon as possible at a time agreeable to a majority to meet the Minimum Membership. At least the Minimum Membership must become Voting Members before the first Working Group Meeting or the Working Group shall not be considered successfully started. In this situation either the meeting can be rescheduled within 30 days or the Working Group shall be immediately dismissed on the 31st day.

The Group Organiser acts as Chair until a recommendation for Chair has been made by the Working Group and approved by the XSB. During the first Working Group Meeting the Working Group must recommend the names of a Chair and Vice-Chair(s) (Optional) to the XSB. Candidates for these positions must be Voting Members of the Working Group. The XSB will consider the request as soon as practical and either confirm the recommendation of the Working Group or appoint alternate individuals from among the Voting Members of the Working Group. The Group Organiser responsibilities conclude upon approval of a Chair by the XSB.

5.6 Group Chairs and Vice-Chairs

Each Working Group must have a Chair and is recommended to have a Vice-Chair(s). Only Voting Members of the Group are eligible to be Chair or Vice-Chair(s). The initial Group Chair and any Vice-Chair(s) are appointed by the XSB upon recommendation of the Group as defined in Section 5.5.

If a Group does not have a Chair and does not have a Vice-Chair(s), for whatever reason, then all Group activities, with the exception of forming a recommendation of a new Chair and/or Vice-Chair(s), are suspended.

The responsibilities of the Chair of a Working Group may be discharged by no more than two Vice-Chairs(s) at the discretion of the XSB. In the event that the Chair position is shared between two Vice-Chairs the role of each shall be documented as to duties and responsibilities. Any notification required shall be made to both Vice-Chairs.

A Group Chair or Vice-Chair(s) may be removed by the XSB or by a Super-Majority Vote of the Working Group. In the event that a Group has Vice-Chairs each may be removed individually or both may be removed by a single action.

A vacancy shall be deemed to exist when (a) the Chair or one or both Vice-Chairs has been removed, (b) the Chair or one or both Vice-Chairs has resigned the position, or (c) the Chair or one or both Vice-Chairs ceases to be a Working Group Member for whatever reason. Vacancies of the Chair or Vice-Chair(s) shall be filled by following the same process as for the initial appointment of Chair and Vice-Chairs, as described in Section 5.5.

The same provisions regarding Leaves of Absence shall apply to the Chair or Vice-Chair(s) of a Working Group as to the other Working Group Members. The Chair must notify both the XII Group Administrator and the Working Group at least 30 days prior to any non-emergency leave of absence. In the event of the Chair being on Leave of Absence the duties of the Chair are to be carried out by the Vice-Chair(s) or other Group Member as determined by the Chair.

The Vice-Chair(s) may carry out all duties of the Chair in the Chair’s absence. Where a Working Group is expected to continue its work for a period of more than 12 months the Working Group should consider periodic changes to the Chair or Vice-Chair(s) and advise the XSB of its recommendation. The XSB will determine what, if any, changes it will approve to the Chair positions.

5.7 Group Recordkeeping

Official copies of all resources of the Working Group and any associated Group Subcommittees, including web pages, documents, Mailing Lists and any other records of discussions, must be located on facilities designated by XII. Working Groups and Group Subcommittees may not conduct official business or technical discussions, store documents, or host web pages on servers or systems not designated by XII.

5.7.1 Mailing Lists

Upon formation each Working Group will be provided with a general discussion Mailing List and a means to collect public comments. Subscription to the general Mailing List shall be required for all Working Group Members.

The minutes of each Working Group Meeting and a record of all decisions must be published to the relevant Mailing List(s) on a timely basis, and at least 2 working days before the next meeting. All official communications and non-verbal discussions of the Working Group must take place on the Mailing List. All Mailing Lists shall be archived for the duration of the consortium, and all Mailing List archives shall be available to all XII Members upon request to the XII Group Administrator.

5.7.2 Collaborative Workspace

The Working Group must keep make the following information readily available to Working Group Members using designated facilities (see Section 5.7):

  • the Working Group Charter;
  • any adopted standing rules (see Section 5.8);
  • Group Meeting schedule;
  • anticipated deliverables and delivery dates;
  • list of Working Group Members (including status);
  • list of any Group Subcommittees, their deliverables, and members;

5.8 Working Group Procedure

The operation of Working Groups shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, insofar as such rules are not inconsistent with or in conflict with this Working Group Process, the XII IP Policy, the XII Bylaws, other XSB-approved policies, or with provisions of law.

Standing rules may be adopted by Proper Majority Vote of the Working Group and must be communicated to the XSB. The Working Group may not adopt standing rules or other resolutions related to the XII IP Policy, quorum requirements, membership, voting, eligibility to participate, or that otherwise conflict with or supersede any XII policy The XSB may override them if they conflict with XII policy. Approved standing rules must be published in the Working Group's collaboration tool.

5.9 Official Language and Translations

The official language of all Groups shall be English with all written material being in United Kingdom English. Working Group Members who wish to communicate with each other on Working Group business in other languages may do so between themselves provided that they provide an English language translation of their communication for the benefit of other Working Group Members and other XII Participants.

5.10 Working Group Meetings & Minutes

Working Group Meetings must be scheduled in advance and properly called by publishing an announcement of the date, time and place (or phone number) of the meeting to the Working Group's Mailing List. The announcement must include a list of the current Voting Members of the Working Group, either directly or by means of a hyperlink.

Working Group Meetings scheduled or conducted so as to exclude any Working Group Member are subject to appeal to the XSB. Working Group Meetings may be conducted face-to-face or via telephone conference or other electronic media that allow participation of all Working Group Members.

If a meeting is inquorate, discussions may take place but no business leading to a vote may be conducted; those present may act as a "Committee of the Whole" as defined in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, and make a report to the entire Working Group. Attendance must be recorded in the Working Group Meeting minutes. Inquorate Working Group Meetings shall count towards attendance for purposes of the participation criteria for Voting Members (see Section 5.2).

Meeting minutes must be recorded and published to the relevant Mailing List and archived in the Working Group's collaboration tool.

5.11 Working Group Charter Revision

A Working Group may revise its Charter only to remove ambiguity or to adjust the scope defined by the Charter. The Working Group may not change its scope of work without XSB approval. The list of deliverables may be expanded only if the new deliverables are within the scope of the existing Charter.

Approval for revision shall require a Super-Majority Vote of the Working Group. A revision of the Charter may occur only after the first Working Group Meeting. The Chair shall notify the XII Group Administrator that a motion has been made to revise the Charter, and the XII Group Administrator shall set up and conduct the ballot.

The Chair shall ensure that the proposed revision is in conformance with existing XII Policies. Within 15 days, the Chair will direct the XII Group Administrator to either open the ballot or reply to the Group with the reason why the revision cannot be voted upon. A decision by the Chair may be appealed to the XSB. The revised Charter shall not take effect until approved by the XSB and announced by the XII Group Administrator. The XII Group Administrator shall publicise approved changes in the same manner as the initial formation of the Working Group was publicised.

The XSB may revise the Charter of a Working Group at any time. Any such change must be communicated via the Working Group's Mailing List and must include the rationale for the decision.

5.12 Working Group Resolutions & Voting

Resolutions require a Majority Vote to pass, unless this document dictates that a Proper Majority Vote or Super-Majority Vote is necessary.

All Working Group ballots requiring a Super-Majority Vote for approval must be conducted by the XII Group Administrator. The Group Chair must notify the XII Group Administrator that a motion has been made that requires a Super-Majority Vote, and the XII Group Administrator will set up and conduct the ballot.

5.12.1 Eligibility

Only Voting Members may make or second a motion, and must have voting rights at the time a ballot is opened in order to vote on that ballot. Every Voting Member has a single vote. Organisations may not vote as a block. Proxies are not allowed in Working Group voting.

5.12.2 Electronic Voting

Working Groups may conduct electronic ballots, either by using their Mailing List or any other electronic voting functionality provided by XII.

An electronic ballot may be initiated in one of two ways.

  1. The Group Chair may at any time announce an electronic ballot with a period of not less than seven calendar days for members to cast their votes.
  2. The Working Group may pass a Resolution at a Working Group Meeting that resolves to hold an electronic vote, and that specifies a minimum period for the vote. In this case, the minimum period of the vote may be less than seven calendar days.

5.13 Group Subcommittees

A Group may by Resolution create a Group Subcommittee. The Resolution must be recorded in the Minutes, and must include:

  • the Name
  • Statement of Purpose,
  • List of deliverables,
  • Name of the Chair of the Group Subcommittee

The activities of the Group Subcommittee must fall within the Charter of the Working Group and conform to XII policy.

The deliverables of the Group Subcommittee are made only to the Working Group. Members of the Group Subcommittee must first be Members of the Working Group. Observers of a Working Group may be Observers of a Group Subcommittee, but may not become Members of the Group Subcommittee without first becoming a Member of the Working Group. A Group Subcommittee Member may resign from the Group Subcommittee and remain a Member of the Working Group.

5.14 Closing a Working Group

A Working Group may be closed by either:

The XSB must close a Working Group once it has completed the deliverables listed in its Charter.

The XII Group Administrator may recommend to the XSB to close a Working Group that fails to conduct at least one Quorate Meeting during any six month period; whose membership falls below the Minimum Membership; which has not completed its deliverables within the schedule listed in its Charter; or which has failed to show progress towards achieving its purpose as defined by its Charter.

5.15 Intellectual Property Rights Procedures

The Working Group shall operate in accordance with the XII IP Policy.

Notices of Disclosed Claims, as defined in and required by the XII IP Policy, shall be made by sending an email message to the XII Group Administrator, who shall post the disclosure in the Working Group's collaboration tool and on the Mailing List. The Working Group shall make no formal decision with regard to the applicability or validity of an IP disclosure.

Contributions, as defined in the XII IP Policy, shall be made by sending to the Mailing List either the contribution, or a notice that the contribution has been submitted to the Working Group's collaboration tool; a URL or other reference is not adequate. Written contributions must be converted to electronic format and submitted to the relevant Mailing List or collaboration tool. The Working Group is not required to acknowledge or use any Contribution.

Additionally a call for claims MUST be made at the start of every Working Group Meeting by the Chair putting the following question to the meeting:

" Please be aware that this meeting is being held under the XBRL International IP Policy, which is available at the "Governing Documents" section of the XBRL.org website. Is anyone here aware of any claims under any patent applications or issued patents that would be likely to be infringed by an implementation of any work product that is the subject of this meeting? You need not be the inventor of such patent or patent application in order to inform us of its existence. No-one will be held responsible for expressing a belief that turns out to be inaccurate. "

Adequate time shall be provided for any such claims to be heard and the Chair may decide to repeat the question if they feel it is appropriate or necessary. The calling of this question, and its wording, must appear in the published agenda for every Working Group Meeting.

5.16 Specification Quality

All documents and other files produced by the Working Group, including specifications at any status, must use the XII file naming scheme, and must include the following XII copyright notice:

" Copyright © 20YY XBRL International. All Rights Reserved. http://www.XBRL.org/legal/ "

The name of any specification may not include any trademarks or service marks not owned by XII.

The specification must include a list of people who participated in the development of the specification. This list shall be initially compiled by the Chair and any Voting Member or Non-voting Member may add or remove their names from the list by request. The final list shall be approved by the Chair and Vice-Chair(s) taking into account the contribution made by each individual. Criteria such as "providing deliverables or drafts of deliverables in a timely fashion", "being familiar with the relevant documents of the Working Group, including minutes of past meetings", "following discussions on relevant mailing list(s)" are to be applied in making this evaluation. If a person’s name is omitted following this evaluation and they object to its omission they have the right of appeal to the XSB.

The list of contributors should include the names of all XII Member organisations on behalf of which a Working Group Member has made contributions. The list should not be updated to reflect changes to the Working Group Member's affiliation, unless the Working Group Member has also made contributions on behalf of the new organisation to which they are affiliated.

All Working Group documents must be stored in the Working Group's collaborative workspace. Where published documents are generated from another format, at least the source version of the document must be stored in the Working Group's collaborative workspace. The XSB may set specific standards for the format of such documents from time to time.

All schema and XML instances, whether by inclusion or by reference, including fragments of such, must be well formed. All expressions must be valid. All machine-processable schemas, XML instances etc., that are part of the specification must be available separately in their own plain text file with their own file name. There shall be only one normative version of any such artefact and non-normative copies provided for “ease of processing” or other purposes shall be identified as non-normative appropriately.

5.16.1 Requirements

In order to ensure that Work Products meet the needs of the market, a requirements document for all proposed development must be prepared in writing and approved by the Working Group and the XSB. Requirements must include the following information: the problem(s) identified, the business needs and the functional needs of the proposed Work Product.

5.16.2 Conformance Suite

A Conformance Suite is a set of test cases with expected outputs that are designed to test the conformance of an implementation to a specification.

Wherever practically possible, Implementable Work Products must be accompanied by a comprehensive Conformance Suite. Conformance Suites are published as Supporting Documents.

6 XII Work Product Development Process

This section defines the process that must be followed by Working Groups when developing deliverables in order to fulfill their Charter. There are three types of Work Product that a Working Group may produce:

6.1 Implementable Work Product

An Implementable Work Product is any specification that is expected to be implemented, in whole or in part, in software. A key characteristic of an Implementable Work Product is that after it is adopted, any change to it is disruptive and compromises interoperability. As such, it is essential that it follows a thorough development process in order to ensure that the final product is fit for purpose.

An Implementable Work Product comprises of a Primary Work Product Document, and zero or more Additional Work Product Documents.

A Primary Work Product Document is a human-readable description of the Implementable Work Product. All new Primary Work Product Documents must be developed using the format currently designated by XII for XBRL Specifications.

An Additional Work Product Document is any additional document that is referenced directly or indirectly by the Primary Work Product Document, forms part of the definition of the Implementable Work Product, and is not maintained as part of another standardisation effort. For example, an XML Schema file created as part of the development of this Work Product and that defines an XML format used by the specification would be considered an Additional Work Product Document, whereas a specification or XML Schema file upon which this Work Product depends would not, as it would be maintained as part of another standardisation effort. Similarly, a conformance suite or overview document would not be considered an Additional Work Product Document, as they do not form part of the definition of the Implementable Work Product.

The combination of Primary Work Product Documents and Additional Work Product Documents are treated as a single unit of work, and are always published together.

6.2 Supporting Document

A Supporting Document is a document that accompanies an Implementable Work Product, but which does not form part of its definition. A conformance suite document, overview document or primer would be considered a Supporting Document. Supporting Documents reference a particular release of an Implementable Work Product, and although they are typically released concurrently with the Implementable Work Product, they may also be released or updated at other times.

6.3 Working Group Note

A Working Group Note is a document released by a Working Group which is not intended to be directly implemented, and which does not relate directly to an Implementable Work Product.

6.4 Editing Work Products

Every Work Product published as part of the Work Product Development Process is edited by one or more editors appointed by a Working Group Chair. It is the responsibility of these editors to ensure that the decisions of the group are correctly reflected in subsequent drafts of the Work Product. All XII editors must be members of the Working Group responsible for the document(s) they are editing.

XII encourages verbatim translations of its Work Products.

6.5 Version Numbers for Implementable Work Products

All Implementable Work Products are assigned a version number. The version number remains unchanged throughout publication at different statuses of the life cycle. The version number is only incremented where a Working Group undertakes to produce a new Implementable Work Product following the full process described in Section 6.10.4.

The initial version of an Implementable Work Product should be assigned a version of "1.0". Subsequent versions should be numbered by incrementing either the minor version, or incrementing the major version and resetting the minor version to zero. The choice between these two options should be based on whether the new version represents incremental changes to the previous version, or a more fundamental change in approach.

6.6 Statuses for Implementable Work Products

Implementable Work Products are published with different statuses, according to the level of maturity. The different statuses are enumerated below. The process for publishing Implementable Work Products is documented in Section 6.10.1.

6.6.1 Internal Statuses

6.6.1.1 Working Group Working Draft

A Working Group Working Draft (WGWD) is a working draft that is under discussion by the Working Group. A Working Group Working Draft is generally published only to the Working Group mailing lists and files areas belonging to the Working Group. A Working Group Working Draft may be distributed to any XII Participant either by request or by the Working Group to seek feedback for the benefit of the Working Group.

6.6.1.2 Internal Working Draft

An Internal Working Draft (IWD) is a Working Draft that a Working Group has decided to distribute to XII Participants. IWDs are not for distribution to the general public.

6.6.2 Public Statuses

6.6.2.1 Public Working Draft

A Public Working Draft (PWD) is a Working Draft that a Group has decided to distribute to the Public for the purposes of obtaining feedback and which has been approved for such publication by the XSB.

6.6.2.2 Candidate Recommendation

A Candidate Recommendation (CR) is a Work Product that satisfies all relevant requirements, and that is suitable for implementation. XII publishes a Candidate Recommendation to encourage project implementations for "field testing".

6.6.2.3 Proposed Recommendation

A Proposed Recommendation (PR) is a Work Product that the Working Group considers to be complete. A Proposed Recommendation is published in order to allow review of the Work Product prior to it being finalised as a Recommendation.

6.6.2.4 Recommendation

A Recommendation is a Work Product that is deemed to be complete, and is recommended by XII for widespread deployment.

6.6.2.5 Proposed Edited Recommendation

A Proposed Edited Recommendation (PER) is a Recommendation published for review of changes, some of which may affect conformance.

6.6.2.6 Edited Recommendation

An Edited Recommendation is a Recommendation that has been republished to include errata corrections. The canonical status of an Edited Recommendation is "Recommendation [Original Date] with errata corrections to [Errata Date]", where "[Original Date]" is the date on which the Work Product was originally published as a Recommendation, and "[Errata Date]" is the date of publication of the current Edited Recommendation

6.6.2.7 Rescinded Recommendation

A Rescinded Recommendation is a Recommendation that is no longer endorsed by XII.

6.7 Statuses for Supporting Documents

Supporting Documents are published with a status of Supporting Document. Supporting Documents must be approved for publication by the XSB.

Prior to XSB approval, Supporting Documents have a status of Draft Supporting Document.

6.8 Statuses for Working Group Notes

Working Group Notes are published with a status of Working Group Note. Working Group Notes must be approved for publication by the XSB.

Prior to XSB approval, Working Group Notes have a status of Draft Working Group Note.

6.9 Public Calls relating to Implementable Work Products

At various points on the XII Recommendation Path, public announcements relating to the Implementable Work Product are issued.

6.9.1 Call for Implementations

A Call for Implementations is a public statement asserting that an Implementable Work Product is sufficiently mature to be implemented by the market. This call is intended to encourage implementation in order to uncover any issues with the Implementable Work Product before it is finalised as a Recommendation.

A Call for Implementations shall indicate the minimum time the Working Group will accept comments. This period must be at least six weeks.

6.9.2 Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation

A Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation is a public statement requesting review of a Proposed Recommendation.

A Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation shall indicate the minimum time for which the Working Group will accept comments. This period must be at least six weeks. The call should include the email address to which Review Comments should be sent (see Section 6.10.1).

6.9.3 Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation

A Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation is a public statement requesting review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation.

A Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation shall indicate the minimum time for which the Working Group will accept comments. This period must be at least six weeks. The call should include the email address to which Review Comments should be sent (see Section 6.10.1).

6.9.4 Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation

A Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation is a public statement of the intention to rescind a Recommendation, indicating that XII no longer endorses implementation of the Work Product.

A Proposal to Rescind a Recommendation shall indicate the minimum time for which the Group will accept comments on the proposal. This period must be at least six weeks days. The proposal must include an email address for the submission of Review Comments.

6.10 Progression of an Implementable Work Product to Recommendation

The progression of an Implementable Work Product to Recommendation status is summarised in the diagram below, and is defined in the text in the following sections, with the text taking precedence over the diagram.

Figure 1: Progression through Implementable Work Product Statuses

Working Groups embark on this process with the intent of publishing one or more Recommendations. However, the XSB may end work on a technical work product at any time, or may request that a Working Group conduct further work, possibly repeating one or more steps.

6.10.1 Publication of Implementable Work Products

In order to publish an Implementable Work Product at any Public Status (see Section 6.6.2), the following process below must be followed, in addition to any requirements specified for the relevant status in Section 6.10.4 or Section 6.11.3.

  1. The Work Product must be updated to include a change log summarising all changes since the previous publication of the Work Product.
  2. The Group must pass a resolution by a Proper Majority Vote, that requests the XSB to approve the publication of the Work Product at the specified status. The request must include:
  3. The XSB must pass a resolution to publish the Work Product at the specified status, or, in the case of a Recommendation, pass a resolution to submit the Work Product to the XII BoD for approval for publication.
  4. The XSB must announce the publication to XII Members, XII Participants and to the Public. For all statuses other than Recommendation, Edited Recommendation and Rescinded Recommendation the announcement must include an email address for the submission of Review Comments.

Aside from the first publication as a Public Working Draft, a Work Product may only be published at a status that is in accordance with the relevant "Next Step" section for its current status, as detailed in Section 6.10.4 or Section 6.11.3

During the preparation of documents for approval, but prior to their approval, the word Draft should be added, for example "Draft Candidate Recommendation".

6.10.2 Review Process

A Review Comment is a comment about a published Work Product that is received by email to the address specified at time of publication (see Section 6.10.1). The Working Group must consider and respond to all Review Comments received regarding the most recent publication of a Work Product. The Working Group is not obliged to consider feedback received in any other way.

If a reviewer is not satisfied with the response to a Review Comment given by the Working Group, then the reviewer may appeal to the XSB.

6.10.3 Change Types relating to the Promotion of Implementable Work Products

The statuses at which an Implementable Work Product may be published are dependent on the nature of changes made since the previous publication, if any. Changes are classified into four types:

Versioning Changes are changes that relate solely to the identifiers used to uniquely identify the version of the publication, including corresponding changes to a document's revision history. Note that such changes can include version identifiers that are present in namespaces, schema locations, and other places where they may require changes to conformant implementations.

Scheduled substitutions are changes that have been documented as planned in a prior draft of Work Product, and which are restricted to a simple replacement of one text string for another. Scheduled substitutions enable changes that would otherwise be considered Substantive Changes to be made where it is known that a change to the Work Product will be required prior to finalisation, but the change includes some information that cannot be known in advance. The prior draft should include a placeholder string which is replaced in the next release of the Work Product.

Editorial Changes are changes to the text of the Work Product that are not Substantive Changes.

Substantive Changes are changes where it could reasonably be expected that making the change would invalidate an individual’s review or implementation experience, except where such changes are purely Versioning Changes or Scheduled Substitutions. Any change, other than a Versioning Change or Scheduled Substitution, that requires any alteration to an implementation is considered a Substantive Change.

Fundamental Changes are Substantive Changes that fundamentally change the approach taken by the Work Product.

6.10.4 Progression of an Implementable Work Product to Recommendation

6.10.4.1 Publication of a Public Working Draft

A Working Group may request that a Work Product be published as a Public Working Draft at any point at which it wishes to obtain wider review feedback. It is not necessary for all requirements to be met prior to publication as a Public Working Draft.

6.10.4.1.1 Next step

6.10.4.2 Publication of a Candidate Recommendation

Once all relevant requirements have been satisfied, the Working Group may request that the Work Product is published as a Candidate Recommendation. The Working Group may elect to take a modular approach to fulfilling the requirements by creating a set of Work Products that deliver the full functionality, in which case it is permissible to promote a Work Product to Candidate Recommendation status that only fulfils a subset of the requirements, provided that Working Group can demonstrate that the remaining requirements can be met with future Work Products in a manner that will not require modification of the current Work Product.

The request for promotion made to the XSB must include a statement that all relevant requirements have been met, and where applicable, an explanation of how any unmet requirements will be satisfied by future Work Products.

Whenever a Work Product is promoted from Public Working Draft to Candidate Recommendation, the XII Group Administrator shall announce a Call for Implementations to XII Members and the Public. Subsequent publication of additional Candidate Recommendations do not require a separate Call for Implementations, unless the Work Product has returned to Public Working Draft status in the intervening period.

6.10.4.2.1 Next step

If review of the Candidate Recommendation results in:

Where publication of a Candidate Recommendation is accompanied by a Call for Implementation, no further publications shall be made until the minimum review period specified in the call has elapsed.

6.10.4.3 Publication of a Proposed Recommendation

Once the Working Group decides that work on the Work Product is complete, and there exist at least two independent implementations, the Group may request publication as a Proposed Recommendation.

The request for publication must be accompanied by evidence of the existence of at least two indepedent implementations of the Work Product, in the form of statements of implementation made by the developers of those implementations. The statements should be made by email to the XII Group Administrator, and must confirm that the implementation includes all parts of the Work Product. If the Work Product is accompanied by a conformance suite, then the statement must also include confirmation that the implementation passes all tests, and give details of the exact version of the suite tested.

Whenever a Work Product is promoted from Candidate Recommendation to Proposed Recommendation, the XII Group Administrator shall announce a Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation to XII Members and the Public. Subsequent publication of additional Proposed Recommendations do not require a separate Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation, unless the Work Product has returned to Candidate Recommendation status in the intervening period.

6.10.4.3.1 Next step

If review of the Proposed Recommendation results in:

Where publication of a Proposed Recommendation is accompanied by a Call for Review of a Proposed Recommendation, no further publications shall be made until the minimum review period specified in the call has elapsed.

6.10.4.4 Publication of a Recommendation

After a Work Product has been published as a Proposed Recommendation, any specified review period has elapsed, and all Review Comments have been responded to, the Working Group may request publication of the Work Product as a Recommendation.

6.10.4.4.1 Next steps

Once an Implementable Work Product has reached Recommendation status, further updates are only published in order to correct defects, or to rescind the Recommendation entirely. The processes for this are described in Section 6.11 and Section 6.13.

6.11 Modifying an XII Recommendation

Once a Work Product has reached Recommendation status it is considered stable, and suitable for widespread adoption and implementation. As such, updates to the Work Product are restricted to the incorporation of Errata.

An Erratum is a change to a Work Product that is exclusively for the purpose of addressing a defect in an earlier release.

Changes that do not fall within the definition of Errata require the creation of a new Work Product, including a new requirements document, following the full process described in Section 6.10.

Errata are divided into two types:

6.11.1 Substantive Errata

A Substantive Erratum is a change where it could reasonably be expected that making the change would invalidate an individual’s implementation experience. It should be emphasised that Errata are restricted to fixing defects in a published Work Product, and must not be used to add new features, or change behaviour under other circumstances.

6.11.2 Editorial Errata

An Editorial Erratum is an Erratum that is not a Substantive Erratum. Such changes are restricted to fixing typographical and formatting errors, and clarifying wording.

6.11.3 Errata Management

A Recommendation may be updated to incorporate Errata by following the process in this section.

The Working Group may choose to publish Errata at any time. Where the Errata are minor, the Working Group may choose to defer publishing them in case further issues are discovered, allowing multiple defects to be addressed by a single release. Errata for serious defects should be published promptly.

6.11.3.1 Publication of a Proposed Edited Recommendation

If any of the Errata to be published are Substantive Errata, then the update must first be published as a Proposed Edited Recommendation, as described in this section. Otherwise, they may be published directly as an Edited Recommendation, as described in Section 6.11.4.

Whenever a Work Product is published as a Proposed Edited Recommendation, the XII Group Administrator shall announce a Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation to XII Members and the Public. Subsequent publications of additional Proposed Edited Recommendations do not require a separate Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation if they contain only Editorial Changes, Versioning Changes or Scheduled Substitutions to the previous version.

6.11.3.1.1 Next steps

It should be noted that when publishing a Proposed Edited Recommendation or an Edited Recommendation, permissible Versioning Changes are further restricted to those which do not require changes to conformant implementations. This means that whilst version identifiers of specification and other documents can, and must, be updated, version identifiers contained in namespaces, schema locations, and other places that affect implementations, must not be changed. Under exceptional circumstances, this restriction may be lifted if the XSB approves an explicit request from the Working Group to do so.

Where publication of a Proposed Edited Recommendation is accompanied by a Call for Review of a Proposed Edited Recommendation, no further publications shall be made until the minimum review period specified in the call has elapsed.

6.11.4 Publication of an Edited Recommendation

The Group may request that the XSB approve the publication of an Edited Recommendation containing Errata updates to a Recommendation, provided that the following criteria have been satisfied:

  1. Where necessary, the changes have been published for review as described in Section 6.11.3.1; and
  2. The Working Group has confirmed that all known defects in the Work Product have been reviewed, and consideration has been given to including Errata for them in the current release.

6.11.4.1 Next steps

The next steps are as for the publication of a Recommendation (see Section 6.10.4.4.1).

6.12 Concluding development of a Work Product

Work Product development may cease prior to reaching Recommendation status at the recommendation of the Working Group to the XSB or vice versa. If the XSB decides to discontinue work on a Work Product for any reason prior to its completion, the Group should consider publishing the incomplete Work Product as a Working Group Note.

6.13 Rescinding a Recommendation

XII may, by recommendation of a Working Group to the XSB or by the XSB itself, rescind an entire Recommendation for any reason. To rescind a Recommendation, the following process must be followed:

To deprecate part of a Recommendation, the process for modifying a Recommendation is followed. Once a Recommendation has been rescinded, future Work Products may not include normative references to that Work Product.

Appendix A Document history (non-normative)

DateAuthorDetails
23 October 2013Paul Warren

Conversion to s4s format.

20 December 2013Paul Warren

Significant re-drafting for clarity and streamlining of procedures.

21 February 2014Paul Warren

Incorporation of feedback from Trevor Pyman.

18 March 2014Paul Warren

Initial publication in new format.

08 August 2018Paul Warren

Addition of "Scheduled Substitution" definition.

Section 6.10.3 Section 6.10.4.2.1 Section 6.10.4.3.1 Section 6.11.3.1 Section 6.11.3.1.1