Written by Mike Skutinsky Jr. Posted on July 3, 2007
Mike Skutinsky Jr. is Executive Director of RIXML.org. He can be reached at Skutinsky@rixml.org
This post will be a brief, high-level entry about RIXML (Research Information eXchange Markup Language) and XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). While both groups have similar DNA in their structure and objectives, there are distinctive differences and focuses within both organizations. I will assume that anyone reading this blog understands the XBRL organization and technology, so I will focus mainly on RIXML the Organization as well as RIXML the Technology.
RIXML.org was founded over seven years ago as a consortium of sell-side, buy-side, and associate (vendor) firms that today account for 23 fee-paying members. While our schema is an open source product and can be used by anyone free of charge, the RIXML.org members are the ones who make the decisions and participate in the design of the schema. RIXML was created to address the tagging, distribution, and retrieval of the investment research product nothing more and nothing less. We have stayed true to our initial purpose, and today RIXML represents the standard for tagging the investment research product.
The use of XML technology is prevalent throughout the financial services industry:
- RIXML (Research Information eXchange Markup Language)
- XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language)
- MDDL (Market Data Description Language)
- FIXML (Financial Information eXchange Markup Language)
- NewsML (NEWS Markup Language)
- FpML (Financial Products Markup Language)
Each technology addresses a specific part of the financial services mosaic and seems to exist well within its own environment. For this initial entry I will focus on RIXML and XBRL only.
How would you define the use of XBRL and/or RIXML? XBRL is used for the tagging and definition of financial data, while RIXML is used for the delivery/distribution/retrieval of the whole research report product. We at RIXML do not attempt to define financial data; we will use the definitions created by the XBRL organization. Similarly, if we ever need to use market data elements, we would defer to the standards established by the MDDL consortium.
A simple analogy would be this: Picture the gift you get for your birthday. The present in the box would be XBRL data (financial data); the box itself, the wrapping paper, ribbon, bow, and To/From card would be RIXML (research tags). They are separate and distinct, but both serve to deliver and define elements of the research product.
RIXML and XBRL Collaboration
Both organizations have strong points and structures that the other can benefit from. RIXML.org has recently become a provisional jurisdiction in the XBRL International (XII) organization, and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership. RIXML now will have a more global footprint, access to a bigger and stronger support structure, and exposure to a fantastic standards group. XII will now have access to Wall Street firms, the ability to work the XBRL standard into the world of the research analyst, and the capacity to further advance the use of the XBRL product through the pipeline to the ultimate end-user/consumer.
I look forward to expanding on these themes in another entry in the very near future.
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