16. The software product of claim 15 , wherein each component type is in a hierarchy of component types, wherein a component subtype is a subgroup of a component type, wherein an instantiation of a component from a component subtype inherits all the property fields and check fields of the subtype and all the property fields and check fields of the parent component type.
16. The software product of claim 15 , wherein each component type is in a hierarchy of component types, wherein a component subtype is a subgroup of a component type, wherein an instantiation of a component from a component subtype inherits all the property fields and check fields of the subtype and all the property fields and check fields of the parent component type. 17. The software product of claim 16 , wherein a property field comprises a data type of one of a string, a numeric, a Boolean, a link, a date/time and a custom type, wherein each property field in a component is associated with a property of the entity being represented.