Patent ID: 8244777

Claim:
A method managing policy compliance across an infrastructure includes the steps of: representing policy aware objects, wherein each of the policy aware objects is instantiated from a policy model which defines at least one constraints, risks and actions of a policy; representing a policy-scope model which identifies at least one managed element to which the policy applies, wherein the policy model is de-coupled from the policy-scope model so that the policy-model may be re-used within and across domains; wherein the policy-aware objects comprise managed element objects associated with policy objects; maintaining a policy-aware configuration management database comprising a topology of the policy-aware objects, the topology defining structural and behavioral relationships of the objects, wherein the topology spans multiple domains and wherein information is exchanged between objects in different domains by propagation through the topology; managing policies across the infrastructure at a plurality of stages of policy and infrastructure maturity using the topology of policy-aware objects, wherein the plurality of stages of policy and infrastructure maturity are associated with changes in state of at least one of the infrastructure, policies of the infrastructure and compliance of the infrastructure; and propagating one or more events, attributes, symptoms or properties between policy-aware objects associated with the managed element objects, and at least one of the objects detecting a policy violation of its associated policy in response to the propagated information.