PISCES, and the element of the standard that will concern HIPs, is not a computer language or software per se. It is a set of rules for making documents that are used in conveyancing automatically usable by different computer systems. One way to describe it is to talk about metadata, which - being data about data - sit in the file you create when you make certain documents on a computer. For example, most Microsoft Word documents have tens of fields that you can fill in, describing what the document is, what is in it, who wrote it, and so on.

What PISCES is doing in relation to HIPs is defining what terms are used in the sale of a property, making them common, and publishing what they are, and then defining those fields in relation to documents. So when any person involved in a HIP 'plugs' the pack of documents into their computer system, this information can be read automatically and filed correctly.