Types of Entities

There are two types of entities: the global entity and non-global entities.

Global entity

An attribute of a global entity may only hold one value at a time during an investigation, and that value persists across the entire policy model, common to all entities and instances of entities. The global entity is the default location of attributes. If you do not create entities in your policy model, or if you create an attribute which does not belong to another entity, the attribute will be stored in the global entity.

In the diagram below, the details about the passenger, such as name and passport number, do not belong to a particular non-global entity, and therefore belong to the global entity.

Diagram showing Global attributes

Non-global entities

An entity can have zero or more entity instances. For example, children in a family, applicants on an application form, taxable events in a tax period, or trips that a person is taking. Using non-global entities you can apply the same rules, or collect the same data, for multiple instances of an entity.

An attribute of a non-global entity may hold one value at a time during an investigation for each instance of the entity. That attribute may have as many values as there are instances of the entity, and will only operate within the context of that entity instance.

In the diagram below, there are two instances of "the trip" entity. Each instance of the trip entity has its own distinct properties (entity attributes), such as destination, duration and insurance.

Diagram showing how entity instances have different values for the same entity attributes