FEMA leads the development and maintenance of resource typing definitions for resources shared on a local, interstate, regional, or national scale. Resource typing benefits jurisdictions and organizations by:

• Ensuring minimum capabilities across shared resources
• Establishing a common language across jurisdictions and organizations
• Simplifying the process of ordering, and providing resources during response
• Enabling communities to plan for, request, and share resources confidently
• Facilitating mutual aid agreements using established resources and teams
• Providing a clear understanding of capabilities, allowing jurisdictions and organizations to easily identify gaps

Typing resources involves aligning a resource's capabilities to those in the NIMS resource typing definition. AHJs align their resources with NIMS resource typing definitions so they and their mutual aid partners have a shared understanding of the capabilities and functions of each resource and can quickly and accurately share resources when necessary.

A NIMS typed resource must meet or exceed all of the minimum criteria outlined in the resource typing definition. AHJs can identify a resource's type by comparing its capabilities with those described in the resource typing definition.