Abstract: An improved system and method for network management is presented which facilitates better administration with a more intuitive reflection of the organizational structure with integrated security concerns by introducing novel strategies for grouping users of a network. In particular, a new group, the Universal Group, is introduced to facilitate nested groups with members in more than one Domain. Members of a universal group may be allowed access to resources across Domain boundaries, where Domains reflect a security boundary in the Network. In addition, the nesting of groups, e.g., within Universal Groups, is enabled, subject to some restrictions, in order to reduce the overhead associated with discovering the groups to which a user belongs.