Patent ID: 8854177

Claim:
A system for managing permissions comprising: one or more first physical devices in one or more first buildings, each requiring users thereof to be granted permission before use thereof; one or more second physical devices in one or more second buildings, each requiring users thereof to be granted permission before use thereof; a network to which each of the first and second physical devices is operably connected; a computer connected to the network; a central database accessible by said computer, said database storing: identifications of users correlated with identifications of first and second physical devices to which the users have been granted permission; identifications of logical assets on the network to which the users have been granted permission; records of groups, each group comprising one or more of the users; records of zones, each zone comprising one or more of the physical devices; and permissions of groups to zones; wherein said groups and zones correlate identifications of users with identifications of physical devices to which the users have been granted permission; and a first further computer located in one of the first buildings, connected to the network and to a first partial cache of the central database; and a second further computer located in one of the second buildings, connected to the network and to a second partial cache of the central database; wherein, when identification of a user is presented to a first physical device, use thereof is permitted if the first further computer determines by accessing the first partial cache that permission has been granted for said user to use said first physical device; wherein, when identification of another user is presented to a second physical device, use thereof is permitted if the second further computer determines by accessing the second partial cache that permission has been granted for said other user to use said second physical device; wherein the first further computer permits access by said user to logical assets for which said user has permission; and wherein the second further computer permits access by said other user to logical assets for which said other user has permission.