Hi @dlehman1,
Without additional information from OP, this is the answer I could think of. Your interest and familiarity with modeling may not be the same as the author.
There are more subtle changes in the different platforms linked to the choice of nominal vs. ordinal :
You also have to take into account the platform used, as the coding of nominal factors can be different between "Fit Least Squares" and "Fit Generalized Regression"...
https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/Random-effect-test/m-p/659523/highlight/true#M84878
https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discussions/How-DOE-analysis-handle-categorical-factor-in-regression/m-...
So it's difficult to answer generally, it's dependent on the context of the factor/variable and the goal of the study, how the analysis may make sense of the information. As you can see, it's quite easy to get lost down the rabbit hole, so I wanted to provide a short answer. If this answer is not satisfactory, then other members can jump in and OP can refine the question with more context and info to obtain more relevant and accurate answers.
Hope this answer may clarify,
Victor GUILLER
L'Oréal Data & Analytics
"It is not unusual for a well-designed experiment to analyze itself" (Box, Hunter and Hunter)