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Entry Points and DTS ​

An entry point is the starting door into an XBRL taxonomy. The Discoverable Taxonomy Set (DTS) is everything you find once you walk through that door.

Entry Points ​

An entry point is one or more URLs (typically .xsd schema files) that serve as the starting point for taxonomy discovery.

Think of it like opening a book at the table of contents -- from there, you can find everything else.

Examples ​

Simple (LEI taxonomy):

Entry point: lei.xsd

One schema file that references a label linkbase and a formula linkbase.

Complex (CIPC taxonomy):

Entry point: full_cipc_entry_point_full_ifrs_2024-09-30.xsd

One schema file that references dozens of linkbases (labels, calculations, presentations, definitions, formulas, references) and imports the IFRS taxonomy and CIPC Companies Act schemas.

Multiple Entry Points ​

A taxonomy package often provides multiple entry points for different reporting scenarios. The CIPC taxonomy has 15 entry points:

  • Full IFRS (with and without sustainability)
  • IFRS for SMEs (with and without sustainability)
  • GRAP (Government accounting)
  • Co-operatives
  • Companies Act Financial Accountability Supplement
  • Sustainability-only (S1/S2)

A reporting entity chooses the entry point matching their reporting requirements.

Discoverable Taxonomy Set (DTS) ​

The DTS is the complete collection of XML Schema documents and XLink linkbase documents that a processor discovers starting from the entry point(s).

Discovery Process ​

Starting from an entry point, the processor recursively follows:

Entry Point (.xsd)
├── <xsd:import> → other schemas
├── <xsd:include> → additional schema fragments
├── <link:linkbaseRef> → linkbase documents
│   ├── Label linkbases
│   ├── Presentation linkbases
│   ├── Calculation linkbases
│   ├── Definition linkbases
│   └── Reference linkbases
└── <link:roleRef> / <link:arcroleRef> → role definitions

Each discovered document is also searched for further references...

Discovery continues until no new documents are found.

What's in a DTS ​

The complete DTS contains:

  • All schema documents (concept definitions)
  • All linkbase documents (relationships)
  • Role and arcrole definitions
  • Imported/included schemas from other taxonomies (e.g., IFRS base taxonomy)

DTS Discovery from Instance Documents ​

An instance document also triggers DTS discovery through its <link:schemaRef> element:

xml
<link:schemaRef xlink:href="entry-point.xsd" xlink:type="simple"/>

This is how a processor knows which taxonomy to use for validating the instance.

Real-World Example: CIPC Full IFRS Entry Point ​

The CIPC Full IFRS entry point (full_cipc_entry_point_full_ifrs_2024-09-30.xsd) discovers:

  1. CIPC CA schema -- South African Companies Act concepts
  2. IFRS full schema -- from xbrl.ifrs.org (the international IFRS taxonomy)
  3. 40+ calculation linkbases -- arithmetic validation for every financial statement section
  4. 40+ presentation linkbases -- display structure for reports
  5. 30+ definition linkbases -- dimensional relationships
  6. Label linkbases -- human-readable names (CIPC labels + IFRS labels + documentation labels)
  7. Reference linkbases -- links to IFRS standards and Companies Act sections
  8. Formula linkbases -- validation rules
  9. Dimension linkbases -- hypercube definitions

All from a single .xsd file as the starting point.