What This Field Means
The broad institutional form of the organization, such as a command, school, center, company, or defense agency.
This gives the organization’s broad institutional form—such as a department, headquarters, combatant command, school, center, activity, company, or defense agency. It supports high-level browsing without erasing more precise service terminology.
How to Read It Correctly
Organization Class is not the unit’s mission, native type, native echelon, or normalized scale. A school describes institutional form; training describes mission; each belongs in a different field.
Example
Combatant command, tactical formation, school, center, activity, or company.
Technical Specification
The database column is [USMIL-Unit].[Unit].[OrganizationClass]. Required organization-form summary. It maps conceptually to the controlled Organization class dimension, while the current field retains many source-specific expressions.
Select the controlled class supported by the organization’s formal role. Use the supported catch-all only when no named class fits, and retain the source-specific detail in Native Unit Type rather than multiplying broad classes.
| Property | Definition or current value |
|---|---|
| Database column | OrganizationClass |
| Column order | 17 |
| SQL data type | nvarchar(256) |
| Kind of information | Ontology-controlled classification with a scalar Unit-table summary |
| Cardinality | Unit table: one scalar summary per row. Ontology dimension: single; time-varying: true. |
| Required | Yes |
| Database default | No database default |
| Key or relationship | None |
| Database check constraint | ([CurrentStatus]=N'Planned' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Status unknown' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Historical' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Inactive' OR [CurrentStatus]=N'Current') |
| Live population | 9341 of 9341 Unit records (100%) |
| Distinct nonblank values in the live table | 868 |
| Live profile measured | September 2, 2026, 20:43 UTC |
Allowed Values and Definitions
The complete active controlled vocabulary is listed below. The ontology is authoritative for normalized options. Narrative or legacy phrases found in the scalar Unit-table column are current data expressions, not additional approved options.
| Ontology property | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ontology dimension | Organization class |
| Dimension number | 2 |
| Ontology definition | Classifies the institutional form of an actual organization. |
| Ontology cardinality | single |
| Changes over time | Yes |
| Active controlled options | 19 |
| Canonical option | Code | Plain-language definition | Technical definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | unknown | The evidence reviewed so far does not establish a value. | No supported value is asserted; this is an evidentiary state, not a positive classification. |
| Not applicable | not-applicable | This question does not apply to this kind of unit or relationship. | The dimension is intentionally inapplicable to the subject type; it is not missing data. |
| Unresolved | unresolved | The unit is known, but the available evidence does not yet settle this particular point. | Confirms that resolution remains open after review without asserting a competing value. |
| Needs review | needs-review | The retained evidence needs additional review before a reliable value can be shown. | Places the assertion in a review-required disposition rather than accepting a substantive value. |
| Source conflict | source-conflict | Reliable sources disagree, so the guide preserves the disagreement instead of choosing one silently. | Records an unresolved conflict among retained sources and prevents false canonical certainty. |
| Military department | military-department | A military department is a civilian-led department within the Department of Defense that organizes, trains, and equips one or more armed services. | Controlled organization-class code 'military-department' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Service headquarters | service-headquarters | A service headquarters is the senior headquarters through which an armed service is directed and administered. | Controlled organization-class code 'service-headquarters' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Combatant command | combatant-command | A combatant command is a unified or specified command with a broad, continuing mission and forces from one or more military departments. | Controlled organization-class code 'combatant-command' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Component command | component-command | A component command represents a service or functional component within a combatant, joint, or other higher command structure. | Controlled organization-class code 'component-command' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Tactical formation | tactical-formation | A tactical formation is organized to command and employ subordinate combat or operational elements in the field. | Controlled organization-class code 'tactical-formation' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Defense agency | defense-agency | A defense agency is a Department of Defense organization established to perform a common supply or service function across the department. | Controlled organization-class code 'defense-agency' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| School | school | A school is an institutional organization whose primary role is formal military education, instruction, or qualification training. | Controlled organization-class code 'school' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Medical organization | medical-organization | A medical organization is structured primarily to provide, coordinate, or support military health services. | Controlled organization-class code 'medical-organization' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Installation command | installation-command | An installation command is responsible for the administration, support, protection, or operation of a military installation. | Controlled organization-class code 'installation-command' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Directorate | directorate | A directorate is a formally organized staff body led by a director and responsible for a defined functional area. | Controlled organization-class code 'directorate' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Center | center | A center concentrates expertise, coordination, training, doctrine, operations, or support around a defined mission area. | Controlled organization-class code 'center' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Activity | activity | An activity is a formally recognized military or defense organization that performs an operational, administrative, technical, or support function outside the more specific named classes. | Controlled organization-class code 'activity' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Company | company | A company is a company-level organization recognized as a distinct unit in the applicable service structure. | Controlled organization-class code 'company' in ontology Dimension 2. It classifies broad institutional form and must not be substituted for native echelon, native unit type, or mission. |
| Other supported organization class | other-supported-organization-class | Another supported organization class is used when evidence establishes a formal institutional class that is not represented by the named standard choices. | Controlled catch-all code 'other-supported-organization-class' in ontology Dimension 2. Use requires explicit source support; recurring concepts should receive a separately defined extension rather than accumulating as unexplained catch-all data. |
How the Live Unit Table Uses This Field
The scalar Unit-table column currently contains 868 distinct nonblank expressions. The 20 most frequently used expressions are shown below; these are evidence-derived or legacy contents, not extra controlled options.
| Observed live expression | Live Unit records |
|---|---|
| Tactical formation | 3747 |
| Other supported organization class | 2346 |
| Activity | 489 |
| Center | 393 |
| Operational command | 255 |
| Operational task organization | 242 |
| Installation command | 144 |
| Company | 54 |
| Component command | 50 |
| Mission support group | 43 |
| School | 39 |
| Medical group | 27 |
| Civil engineer squadron | 23 |
| Operations group | 18 |
| ANGLICO deployment team | 18 |
| Medical command | 17 |
| Operational task group | 16 |
| Security forces squadron | 15 |
| Logistics readiness squadron | 15 |
| Communications squadron | 15 |
Missing, Unknown, and Conflicting Information
This column cannot be NULL in the Unit table. When the underlying fact is incomplete, the record must use an allowed explicit disposition or a supported evidence-derived statement. Required storage does not mean that every historical fact is known, and it never authorizes a guessed value.
The controlled uncertainty values are deliberately different: Unknown means evidence has not established a value; Unresolved means the question remains open after review; Needs review identifies work still requiring evaluation; Source conflict preserves disagreement among retained sources; and Not applicable means the dimension does not apply to the subject.
Connections to Other Fields
- Unit Identity Class — The kind of independently recognizable military identity represented by the record, such as a unit, command, formation, or task organization.
- Native Unit Type — The exact type of organization used by its own service, including specialized terms that may not exist in other branches.
- Native Echelon — The unit level used by its own service, such as company, battalion, squadron, wing, fleet, or delta.
- Mission Function — The principal work the unit is organized or documented to perform.
- Normalized Unit Scale — A broad comparison level that helps relate differently named organizations across the services.