Affiliation Type
What It Is
An Affiliation Type names the kind of connection a person has with an organization, such as Employer or Member Firm. It is a workspace catalogue definition used by individual affiliations, not a relationship belonging to one person. Authorized users create it with a name and stable configuration identity and can describe the category for staff.
It can also carry default mappings for organization-supplied contact points. These describe which organization address or phone purpose can supply which destination purpose on a contact. The workspace can select one affiliation type as its default for the Organization command.
Why It Exists
Our reading is that organizational connections need a vocabulary beyond the organization's name. A person can have an employment tie and another kind of relationship to the same body, and staff need to tell those meanings apart. Shared definitions also let administrators offer consistent contact-point mappings without every coordinator reconstructing the same source choices during entry.
What It Is Not
An Affiliation Type is not an Affiliation: the type describes the category while the actual tie identifies the person, organization, and period. It is not an Organization Type or Contact Role, which classify the body and its responsibilities respectively. Default mappings are suggestions applied at defined moments, not a command to replace every existing person's information when configuration changes.
What It Controls
Choosing a type gives the affiliation its relationship meaning and participates in same-type overlap validation. Default mappings can fill empty contact address or phone destinations through an effective tie, using the coordinator's supported selection. An explicit empty choice differs from omitting a choice. Future affiliations defer application until eligible start processing.
The workspace default supplies the type used when the Organization command creates a tie without an explicit type. Deactivation preserves existing affiliations and dataset columns while retiring new choices. References and default selection can prevent deletion. Editing mappings does not retroactively rewrite saved contacts, so catalogue maintenance and existing data repair remain separate work.
How It Is Used
The CRM Administrator configures the workspace's relationship vocabulary and default sharing choices. The CRM Editor selects a type when adding a tie and reviews the applicable Link When Added options. Configure an affiliation type and use it on a contact connects administration with later person work. Staff retire a used category through deactivation rather than assuming it can be deleted while relationships still name it.
Example
An association defines Member Firm with organization billing address mapped to contact work address. A coordinator adds Ruth's current relationship to Harbor Engineering using that type and selects the mapping. Her empty work-address destination can receive a link. A later mapping change applies to eligible later actions, not a silent rewrite of Ruth's existing choice. Retiring Member Firm keeps her affiliation intelligible.
How It Relates
Affiliation Type classifies Affiliation and can use address and phone type facets from Contact Details and Communication Preferences in its mappings. CRM Settings holds the selected workspace default. Contact and Organization supply the connected identities. Contact Role is a separate catalogue consumed by responsibility assignment and compliance. Platform datasets expose the relationship columns; their query behavior remains Platform's responsibility.