Business terms hierarchies

The primary term hierarchy is a classification hierarchy based on the following rules.

The structure of the layers in the hierarchy is rigid

Each root primary term, such as Involved party, of a business category is the high-level supertype concept of which each other primary term in the hierarchy is a subtype. The second layer is a set of classifier terms, such as Involved party type and Involved party legal capacity type, that classify the root primary term according to one or more viewpoints. The third layer comprises primary terms, such as Individual and Organization, corresponding to the subtypes of the top primary term created by classifying it according to the classifier terms in the second layer. The fourth layer contains classifier terms, the fifth primary terms, and so on downward in alternating layers of classifier terms and primary terms.

There is no redundancy of classifier terms or primary terms

A classifier term or a primary term appears only once in the hierarchy. For example, Involved party legal capacity type classifier term classifies individuals and organizations. Involved party legal capacity type could have been placed under Individual and under Organization. However, this would break the redundancy rule. So, in order to place it only once in the hierarchy, it is placed higher in the hierarchy under Involved party.

A classification does not necessarily apply to all instances of the concept represented by its parent primary term

For example, Involved party legal capacity type is a meaningful classification for individuals and organizations, but it may not be a meaningful classification of organization units.

The classified primary terms are mutually exclusive unless otherwise specified in the definition of the classifier term

A specific instance of a concept that is classified can only be represented by one primary term from the set of primary terms resulting from the classification. For, example, at any one time, an individual can either be married or single but not both. Similarly, an organization can be registered or nonregistered but not both. However, in some cases, an instance of a primary term can belong to more than one subtype at one time. For example, an instance of an individual can be married and separated, and thus belong to two subtypes of Marital status classifier term at one time, Married and Separated.

A secondary term is classified according to one or more viewpoint by relating it to one or more classifier terms with the Has Types relationship. The subtype secondary terms are then related to the classifier term with the Is A Type Of relationship. This results in a classification hierarchy alternating a secondary term with one or more classifier terms. The secondary terms classification hierarchy follows the same rules as the primary terms classification hierarchy.

A relationship term is classified according to one or more viewpoint by relating it to one or more classifier terms with the Has Types relationship. This results in a classification hierarchy alternating a relationship term with one or more classifier terms. The relationship terms hierarchy follows the same rules as the primary terms hierarchy, except the redundancy rule. Indeed, a relationship term can belong to two hierarchies, the hierarchies of each side of the relationship. For example Arrangement/involved party relationship has two parents Involved party relationship type and Arrangement relationship type.