A data structure stored on a computer readable medium and arranged for a networked computing environment comprising federations, wherein a federation comprises two or more organizations coupled in a fashion such that authentication and authorization statements span the organizations in accordance with a pre-defined policy, the data structure comprising fields including at least one or more grouping of metadata about a first federation or about an organization within the first federation, wherein the metadata comprises information about the organization and structure of the first federation or the organization within the first federation, the data structure further comprising a reference to explicitly defined metadata in a block of federation metadata in a different data structure , wherein at least one of the one or more groupings of metadata about the first federation or about an organization within the first federation is included in the data structure by the reference to the explicitly defined metadata in the block of federation metadata in the different data structure , and the block of federation metadata being used for storing metadata including explicitly defined information about the organization and structure of at least one other federation or organization; the data structure further comprising inherited federation metadata for the first federation, wherein the inherited federation metadata for the first federation is included in the data structure by virtue of the first federation being hierarchically below a second federation to which the inherited federation metadata also applies such that the inherited federation metadata is inherited from the second federation by the first federation. the data structure further comprising a reference to explicitly defined metadata in a block of federation metadata in a different data structure , wherein at least one of the one or more groupings of metadata about the first federation or about an organization within the first federation is included in the data structure by the reference to the explicitly defined metadata in the block of federation metadata in the different data structure , and the block of federation metadata being used for storing metadata including explicitly defined information about the organization and structure of at least one other federation or organization; at least one of the one or more groupings of metadata about the first federation or about an organization within the first federation is included in the data structure by the reference to the explicitly defined metadata in the block of federation metadata in the different data structure , and the block of federation metadata being used for storing metadata including explicitly defined information about the organization and structure of at least one other federation or organization; the data structure further comprising inherited federation metadata for the first federation, wherein the inherited federation metadata for the first federation is included in the data structure by virtue of the first federation being hierarchically below a second federation to which the inherited federation metadata also applies such that the inherited federation metadata is inherited from the second federation by the first federation. <EOS>