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At work, it is wrong to simply say 分かる to say that you understand something.
In what situation should I opt to use one of the previously mentioned forms?
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nuances honorifics business-japanese
What is the correct usage of 承知しました, 了解です and かしこまりました, the more formal forms of 分かる?
かしこまる／承知する are used mostly for answering requests from superiours (bosses,
clients, etc.). Like, "Yes, I understand what you're asking me to do (and I'll
do it)." 分かる just implies you mentally understand.

了解 is not formal as far as I know, and I hear it quite often. I learned it to
mean almost like "Roger!" or "copy that".
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2011-06-01T00:15:26.810
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かしこまりました is by far the most formal, and is a humble form (謙遜語). It says that
you are inferior to the listener. Most specifically this should be used to
interface with customers (hence why wait staff at a restaurant may say it).

承知しました is polite (〜します), but not humble. It is also appropriate to use with
customers or superiors.

了解です is also polite in form, and is not humble, but has a certain curt feeling
to it (this could be from its usage by the armed services as "Roger").
Informally friends and family often say/text 了解 (without the です) in a context
where they want to say "Yep, got it".

The difference between the latter 2 is nuance, I suppose. Both seem to
translate as "I acknowledge and understand". My gut feeling having worked in a
Japanese office is that 了解です, while polite, isn't formal enough for customers.
承知 is better for customers or superiors.
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Mostly the usage. Remember, first, that Sino-Japanese is almost always more
formal than native Japanese.

  * かしこまる is for use with customers. "Right away, sir." It literally means "to take a humble/respectful attitude" (新和英大辞典).
  * 了解 is used in the military. "Affirmative/Understood". See final fantasy VIII. Used all of the time by groups when they want to show that they understood and will follow what they are told. 
  * 承知 is a very formal way of saying you understood. Also used very often in customer service.
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I just want to add one point to other nice answers: 了解です is not a proper
polite form for this meaning. The proper polite form is 了解しました. Saying 了解です
instead of 了解しました is acceptable and many young people use it but decreases the
formality level. It shows an attempt to be polite, but at least if it is used
by an educated native speaker of Japanese, it may imply that the speaker is
not bothering to use a proper form, which may decrease the politeness. If you
go this informality one step further, you get 了解っす which is even less formal
(see [another question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/36/what-
does-at-the-end-of-a-sentence-mean)).
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In my experience

→Ryoukai(了解）、most Polite:Ryoukaiitasimasita(了解致しました)is generally used when you
say ok and i will follow it or i will do it as accordingly. Generally after
saying this you are supposed do something. →Syouchi(承知しました）most
polite:Syouchiitasimasita(承知致しました）is normally used when you need to say i
understand.genrally after saying this you are supposed that you knew, learned
something.
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