It doesn’t roll off the tongue quite like WYSIWYG but Why-yah-zee-way is just as important a concept in relation to the three levels of information assurance.
As information consumers, you all want to be reasonably certain that What-You-Are-Seeing-Is-What-You-Expect and that depends on 3 levels of information assurance:
1: Presentation-level assurance
If it looks like a balance sheet I expect it to be a balance sheet. So I can click/hover over the title for a definition of the information context that will tell me that this is in fact a balance sheet formatted in conformance with some agreed context standard.
Level 2: Concept-level assurance
If it’s called G&A expense, I don’t expect it to include cost of sales. I can see a definition of what the content concept within the current context is supposed to mean. So I can click/hover over the label or title of a datapoint for a definition of the concept in conformance with some agreed content/concept standard.
Level 3: Data-level assurance
A number is usually multi dimensional – it has a currency or unit or time-period or precision. So I can click/hover over the datapoint itself for a definition of the data in conformance with some agreed data standard like an XBRL taxonomy.
With these 3 levels of information assurance in a corporate report I can be pretty certain that WYASIWYE applies.
When you think about it, we assume a lot of information means what we think it means especially if that information is published in PDFs that are not interactive in this way. This is another benefit of interactive data and another kind of transparency that is seldom emphasized in connection with online reporting. So maybe the S.E.C. really are onto something with this interactive data stuff?
To help you to remember the three levels of information assurance, I invite you to do do the WYASIWYE with me.
Take your team to an open space – the office car park is good or the middle of a mall – then take off your shoes, gather in a circle, turn to your right, put your hands on the hips of the person next to you, take step forward and sing out…
Why-yah-zee-way Uh! Why-yah-zee-way Uh! (Continue until you get tired or security arrives).
Pingback: Tweets that mention WYASIWYE or the 3 Levels of Information Assurance | Rivet Software -- Topsy.com