I'm working on some ideas for creating organisations of different types (military, churches, noble houses, guilds etc) and have come up with the following framework.
All organisations have up to 5 tiers
1. Initiate/congregant/recruit/apprentice
2. Member/veteran/journeyman/Acolyte
3. Manager/Master/Priest
4. Executive/Minister/Guildmaster/Bishop/General
5. Lord/Head of Church etc
Each tier has some universal benefits and restrictions
Level 1 gets a +1 diplomacy bonus with other members, free access to somebody at level 2, restricted access to level 3, 5% service time requirement.
Level 2 gets +2 diplomacy with other members +/-1 diplomacy with allied/opposed organisations. Free access to level 3 and restricted access to level 4, access to any prestige classes, restricted feats etc, 10% service time requirement.
Level 3 gets +5, +/- 2, free access to level 4 and restricted to level 5, permission to build/run a building relating to the organisation, 20% service time requirement, limited minor magic item access
Level 4 gets +10, +/- 5, free access to level 5, limited access to other associated organisation's level 4&5 (good roleplay opp), granted noble status if organisation is officially recognised, limited (to role) executive/realm/kingdom management capabilities, limited moderate magic item access, 40% service time requirement
Level 5 gets +20, +/-10, access to other organisations leaderships, full executive/realm/kingdom management capabilities, full access to organisation's magic items, 80% service time requirement
Some organisations only reach level 3 e.g. a city's thieves guild. They have no influence over a kingdom or other realm. Some organisations, e.g. a nation's army, only get to level 4 because they take orders from the lord of the realm and only have limited realm management capability. The head of the army is also a minister in the realm's council.
Movement through the ranks is dependant on desire and points based on point systems already found in various D20 resources, notably the rules in v3.5
I'm intending to use this framework to simplify building organisations and thought it might be useful to others.