There are two relation types: peer and ownership. The peer relation type should be used for objects that can exist independently of each other. For example a product can exist without being linked to a product category. If a product category is deleted, all products that were linked to the category lose the link but continue to exist on their own.

The ownership (or parent/child) relation type should be used if an object belongs to some other object and does not make sense without its owner object. For example, a line item always belongs to an order. If an order is deleted all line items of that order should be deleted as well. If a configurator marks a reference attribute of an object as owned by another object, Aware IM will automatically delete the object when its owner object is deleted, or when the link with the owner object is broken.