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h2. InCommon ServiceEntity Categories

{div:style=float:right;margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1ex}{note}Browse a list of [all serviceentity categories|https://incommon.org/federation/info/all-sp-categories.html]{note}{div}

A Service _service categoryCategory is a special type of Entity Category. A _Service Category_ is a group of service providers with a common purpose. The intended goal of a category is to make attribute release more scalable. To this end, IdPs release a known set of attributes to entire categories of SPs. Using [entity attributes|Entity Attributes] (instead of entityIDs), attribute release policy at the IdP is configured for *all* services in the category (both present and future), rather than once per service. IdPs signal their support of particular service categories in metadata, which helps SPs build relevant discovery interfaces.

To become a member of the [Research and Scholarship Category], a service provider supports the research and scholarly activities of the higher ed community and satisfies a modest set of technical requirements.

More formally:

* An _Entity Category_ is an Entity Attribute with @Name {nl:http://macedir.org/entity-category} and @NameFormat urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:attrname-format:uri.
* An _Entity Attribute_ is a SAML Attribute in a container of type *mdattr:EntityAttributeType*.
* An _Entity Attribute Profile of SAML Metadata_ describes how SAML Attributes and Assertions can be added to SAML metadata extensions.
* An _Entity Category Profile of SAML Entity Attributes_ describes a specific Entity Attribute for categorizing entities in SAML metadata.

Another way of saying _An Entity Category Profile of SAML Entity Attributes_ is _SAML Entity Attributes Entity Category Profile_. See section 1.1 of the SAML V2.0 Profiles specification.