Patent ID: 8171522

Claim:
A method for managing system policies in a distributed enterprise, the method comprising: receiving a systems policy change request to change a systems policy that implements a published enterprise policy in the distributed enterprise, wherein the published enterprise policy comprises: a defined boundary of an allowable password construction; a defined boundary of a password retention duration; and a defined boundary of a privileged and an entitled access permission to a resource in the distributed enterprise; and wherein the systems policy presents a mechanism for implementing the published enterprise policy into an enforceable system and user configuration; determining whether the requested systems policy change request complies with the published enterprise policy and is not rendered unnecessary by another systems policy in the distributed enterprise; and updating the systems policy according to the requested systems policy change request if the requested systems policy change request complies with the published enterprise policy and is not rendered unnecessary by another systems policy in the distributed enterprise, wherein the systems policy is stored in a memory.