XBRL® For Dummies®

Chapter 10. Making Your Own Business Case for XBRL

In This Chapter

• Understanding XBRL's value proposition

• Uncovering your own business case for XBRL

• Getting guidance on important considerations for XBRL

• Solving problems with XBRL

• Realizing new possibilities enabled by XBRL

This chapter helps you determine whether XBRL is right for you. Can you make a case for XBRL? After all, you need to see some value, or your life needs to improve in some way in order for you to make a good case for this technology. In this chapter, we help you do just that.

Evaluating Business Use Cases

Business use cases are about justifying why you do something. What value does some new thing add to a business, or how does it solve a problem more effectively or efficiently? If you see economic value, you make a change, which is basic decision-making. Make things more effective and more efficient where you can. You do these things daily so that you can survive as a business. So what exactly does XBRL make more effective? What does XBRL make more efficient? You have to articulate these reasons because they are your business use case — the reason for making use of XBRL.

If you're in business, you know the many theoretical measurements to evaluate the business case: ROI, present value of future cash flows, net benefit, and more. Fundamentally, all these different approaches measure what is being gained.

Note

Evaluating a business case to determine the gain can be harder than you think because other factors come into play. ...