The tables in Gombe-MI are divided into two sorts, those that hold data of primary interest, the Main Tables, and those who's primary purpose is to provide a controlled vocabulary for use throughout the rest of the system, the Support Tables. Support tables are also often called lookup tables.

The relationships between the main tables are diagrammed in entity relationship diagrams. These diagrams provide a concise overview of the Gombe-MI system and are an essential aid to complete understanding.

Because Gombe-MI is as data-driven as possible, wherever possible the system relies on the use of user-supplied vocabulary for it's semantics, an understanding of the codes defined by the support tables is essential to the use of the system

In addition to the underlying data tables Gombe-MI also contains views, a database feature which allows a query to masquerade as a table. Views can present a simple interface to a complex data structure, one which is tailored to a particular purpose. This allows the underlying data structure to be as general-purpose as possible and so able to accommodate complex relationships and efficiently process arbitrary queries. At the same time the views allow straightforward access for the novice. Because view are often composed of a query into multiple underlying data tables each view has an entity relationship diagram which describes the relationships between the tables used to construct the view.

Gombe-MI also consists of a number of programs. Some of these are generic, available from third parties for use on any system, and some which have been developed specifically for the Gombe-MI project. The latter are kept to a minimum to reduce cost and leverage the use of pre-existing software whenever possible.