Ordered groupoid quotients and congruences on inverse semigroups

We introduce a preorder on an inverse semigroup $S$ associated to any normal inverse subsemigroup $N$, that lies between the natural partial order and Green's ${\mathscr J}$-relation. The corresponding equivalence relation $\simeq_N$ is not necessarily a congruence on $S$, but the quotient set does inherit a natural ordered groupoid structure. We show that this construction permits the factorisation of any inverse semigroup homomorphism into a composition of a quotient map and a star-injective functor, and that this decomposition implies a classification of congruences on $S$. We give an application to the congruence and certain normal inverse subsemigroups associate to an inverse monoid presentation.