It is designed for computer processing, allowing the generation of identification keys, diagnosis, etc.
It was devised by the CSIRO Australian Division of Entomology in 1971 to 2000, with a notable part taken by Dr. Michael J. Dallwitz.
The main program is the DELTA Editor, which provides an interface for creating a matrix of characters for any number taxa.
A whole suite of programs can be found and run from within the DELTA editor which allow for the output of an interactive identification key, called Intkey.
[3] Other powerful features include the output of natural language descriptions, full diagnoses, and differences among taxa.