Create a policy hierarchy

Release version: Australia

Updated March 12, 2026

2 minutes to read

Policies are attached to groups of related CIs. If you have a subgroup of related CIs, you can attach a new policy to the subgroup using a policy hierarchy, without creating the new policy from scratch.

Before you begin

Role required: agent_client_collector_admin

About this task

Policy hierarchy enables you to use a policy as a template to create a new policy, which is then attached to a subgroup of the original policy's CIs. The original policy is the parent policy, and the new policy is the child policy.

Note:

You cannot create a child policy when a proxy agent is in place for the parent policy.

Procedure

Navigate to All > Agent Client Collector > Policies.
On the Policies page, select a published policy with a Hierarchy value of either None or Parent.

Select the Create Child button at the top of the page or underneath the Monitored CIs tab.

A new (child) policy opens with the same parameters as the original policy. The name of the policy is <Policy name><date and time created>.

Note:

The child policy inherits the parent policy's parameters only when it is first created; there is no continuous inheritance from the parent to the child.

The following fields appear hard-coded with the indicated values:

Table 1. Child policy fields
Field	Value
Publish status	Draft
Hierarchy	Child
Parent	<Name of the parent policy>

The Order field value indicates the priority by which the agent attaches itself to the policy. A lower number indicates higher priority, and each created child policy takes on a higher value than the policy preceding it. You can modify this value, as needed.

Modify the policy's parameters, as needed.

The following buttons appear on the child policy page:


Button	Description
Compare to Parent	Select to display the differences between the child policy and its parent policy.
Return to Parent	Select to leave the child policy page (without saving) and return to the parent policy.

The following buttons appear on the parent policy page:


Button	Description
Deactivate	Appears for an active policy. Enables you to select from the following: Deactivate the parent policy and all of its child policies Deactivate only the parent policy
Activate	Appears for an inactive policy. Enables you to select from the following: Activate the parent policy and all of its child policies Activate only the parent policy
Delete	Enables you to select from the following: Delete the parent policy and all of its child policies Delete only the parent policy

Select Save.
Child policies appear on the Child Policies tab of the parent policy.