Classifications are a means of creating ‘soft’ categorization of products. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as ‘categories’. These classifications are ‘soft’ because they do not impose any kind of restrictions. They are simply a means of marking products, so that they can be grouped when they are in use.

Classifications may be nested to create ‘tiers’ of classification, with the ‘top’ tier being the least specific, and the ‘bottom’ being the most specific. While the OFDA XML standard does allow for any number of tiers in a classification tree, CET restricts to a maximum depth of two; a top-level classification and a sub-level classification. This is due to the fact that classifications are mapped to CETs categories, which only support these two levels.

A classification has the following attributes:

• Code – Every classification must have a unique code to distinguish it from other classifications.
• Description – A classification may have a brief description. If the project the classification belongs to has multiple languages enabled, a description may be set for every language enabled.
• Sub-classifications – A ‘top-level’ classification may have any number of ‘sub-classifications’. These are identical to normal classifications, with the exception that they exist on a classification instead of directly on the project.