Patent ID: 8166516

Claim:
A method implemented at least in part by a computer, the method comprising: using a computer, obtaining a plurality of bindings, each binding associating at least one policy with at least one target group; obtaining a plurality of policies indicated by the bindings, each policy including one or more properties regarding a configuration to apply to one or more entities; obtaining a first set of target groups associated with the policies via the bindings, each target group indicating one or more entities; using the computer, determining a precedence of the bindings, a precedence indicating which policy controls when two or more policies having at least one shared property are associated with an entity; creating a disjoint set of target groups, with each target group of the disjoint set associated with a single policy, the single policy being derived from one or more of the plurality of policies by using at least in part the precedence; and renaming the single policy to an original policy included in the plurality of policies if the single policy and the original policy have identical properties.