A Subject can have two kinds of SMO relationships: Owning and servicing.

An owning relationship indicates a direct link between your subject and the SMO. In many cases, the Subject is either employed or directly managed by the SMO. Examples include Industry employees who have been directly hired to work for an SMO, or military service members performing duties in their respective branches.

As an Industry user, you can update information for a Subject with an owning relationship with your SMO. You can also submit and respond to adjudication requests. You can also create multiple owning relationships for a single category. However, an Industry SMO cannot create an owning relationship in a non-industry category.

By contrast, a servicing relationship is created when a Subject performs a service for an SMO without being employed, or owned, by the SMO. Examples would include industry subcontractors working on a project at a Navy facility or a subcontractor performing duties at a prime contractor site. In both cases, the employee would have an owning relationship with the subcontracting company SMO who pays them, and a servicing relationship with the Navy or the prime contractor so they can work at their sites.