XBRL works on a similar principle to XML in that it describes the content and structure of data, avoiding the need to open documents to find the information within them. XBRL is a business-reporting extension of that and covers small form-based sets of data through to full financial statements.
Read more: Ireland: CSO scores a first with new e-reporting technology
But it doesn’t just end at planning because, if data can be shown in a spatial way, it becomes possible to layer different sets of data on a map to give a more comprehensive view of what the combined data means to a particular place. For instance, in the case of the Meadowlands project in New Jersey, the authorities had succeed in layering information about toxic waste disposal, population concentration and disease on a single map and it became very easy to detect a possible link between the location of particular types of material and the incidence of cancer.
Read more: Ireland: Launch of new on-line redundancy payments system
The US Department of Homeland Security had previously set an October 2005 deadline for the inclusion of biometric information chips in the passports of European citizens who avail of the Visa Waiver programme. This programme allows people to make short-term visits to the US without a visa. The chips would have included a variety of biological information about the passport holder, such as their fingerprints and retina scans.
Read more: Ireland: Biometric passport plan abandoned: report
The new electronic system will include instantaneous online access for laid-off workers, an improved and simplified online redundancy payment calculator, Irish and English language facilities, the consolidation of existing forms into a single online form and the promise of a quicker turnover of redundancy applications.
Read more: Ireland: Government unveils online redundancy system