Management Hierarchies

Authority relationships can be applied recursively (possibly in combination with abstraction), resulting in a range known as management rank. A OS's or managed object's management rank is determined by its span of control and by the level of detail that it understands versus the level of abstraction. OSs near the top of the hierarchy are responsible for controlling a large span of managed objects (directly or indirectly), but in an abstract (not detailed) way, and OSs near the bottom are responsible for a small set of managed objects at a higher level of detail. The general principles of abstraction and nested authority can be applied to whatever degree is required in a particular management network. A small network may have only one level of managers, or just one manager. A large network may need many levels of management rank.