Policy conflict detection in distributed systems and network management is a
crucial issue that strongly influences the management efficiency. In this paper,
after investigating thoroughly the related approaches on management policy
conflict categorization, a new systematic categorization is proposed that is based
on four main perspectives, namely, modality, manageability, interoperability and
system specification. Subsequently, an organizational network structure that is
managed through policies depicts the high applicability of our approach in policy
conflict detection, while implementation examples are also given. Finally,
conclusions and future work are discussed.