Note: Russ Mundy is the Security Technical advisor for this WG. Problem Statement: There is a need to represent, manage, share, and reuse policies and policy information in a vendor-independent, interoperable, and scalable manner. This working group has three main goals. First, to provide a framework that will meet these needs. Second, to define an extensible information model and specific schemata compliant with that framework that can be used for general policy representation (called the core information model and schema). For now, only a directory schema will be defined. Third, to extend the core information model and schema to address the needs of QoS traffic management (called the QoS information model and schemata). The viability of the framework will be proven by demonstrating that high-level policy information can be translated into device configuration information for network QoS applications. This requires the coordination of the core and QoS schemata, the PIB and MIB being developed in DiffServ, and possibly extensions to COPS provisioning, which is being developed in RAP. A secondary goal of this framework is to show that this general development process can be extended to other application domains. Objectives: The objectives of this working group are to: 1. Identify a set of representative use cases to guide us in defining a policy framework, information model, and schemata to store, retrieve, distribute and process policies. These use cases should map to a set of policy rules, and aid us in defining the composition of policies. 2. Define a framework for intra-domain policy definition and administration for a heterogeneous set of Policy Decision and Enforcement Points. Here, "intra-domain" refers to policy components that are all under the same (and exclusive) administrative control. The framework will be shown to be able to be used to represent, distribute, and manage policies and policy information in an unambiguous, interoperable manner in a single administrative domain. This framework will be applied to network QoS. 3. A general information model, derived from the CIM/DEN policy model, will be produced. This is intended to serve as a generic means for representing policies and policy information. In addition, a mapping of this information model to a form that can be implemented in a directory that uses LDAPv3 as its access protocol will also be done. 4. Refinements to the above, for representing signaled and provisioned QoS, will be done. That is, both the information model as well as the schema will be extended to focus on network QoS. This will also be used to prove the general extensibility of the model. 5. A key part of demonstrating that this model can provide end-to-end translation of high-level policy specifications to device configurations is to ensure that the information model and schemata are compatible with and can use the information contained in the PIB(s) and MIB(s) being developed in the Differentiated Services WG. To this end, the Policy Framework WG will supply input to the development of the PIBs, and include all applicable PIBs and MIBs in its development considerations for the framework, information model, and schemata. 6. Policy information may be communicated using several protocols. The COPS protocol, being developed in the RAP WG, is an example of one such protocol. The Policy Framework WG will work with the RAP WG to define usage directives for use of the COPS base protocol to support policy information exchange transactions within the framework being standardized in the Policy Framework WG. 7. The Policy Framework WG will work closely with the IPSP WG to ensure that the IPsec data model fits and can be supported within the general framework defined by the Policy Framework WG. 8. The Policy Framework WG will work with other WGs as needed to ensure that the framework, information model, and specific schemata produced meet the needs of these WGs. 9. The charter specifically excludes: -protocol definition -schema attributes or classes that are vendor-specific (although the schema defined in this group will be defined in a way that is extensible by specific vendors)