Hierarchy & Propagation: Syncro automatically creates a policy folder named for each Organization and assigns the example Top-Level Policy. You can further organize assets into subfolders (up to five levels deep), assigning one policy per folder. Settings automatically propagate downward from the top level through all nested subfolders to the assets inside.

Direct Assignments & Exceptions: While assets naturally inherit settings based on their folder placement, you can apply a policy directly to an asset to create specific exceptions.

The Effective Policy: The Effective Policy is the final, merged collection of all settings applied to an asset. When settings conflict, the system generally uses the setting closest to the asset (i.e., the most specific level overrides the parent).However, drive monitors, scripts, system tray items, third-party patches, and Windows updates are additive rather than overrides. For example, if a parent policy has script A and the child policy has script B, the effective policy runs both.

Watch this short video to see policy inheritance in action:

Here's an example of one Organization's Assets & Policies subtab. You'll notice the folder structure mentioned above. It's not unlike one you'd have in Windows: 

• Demo Company is the Organization's (top-level) folder. 
• Demo Site 1 and Demo Site 2 are sub-folders. 
• Inside the Demo Site 1 sub-folder are three sub-folders: Macs, Servers, and Workstations, and inside each of these sub-folders are assets (e.g. for Servers, the asset is called IP-COA88A91). 
• Inside Demo Site 2 are five subfolders.

Look at the POLICY column to see what policy is being applied at each level:

• The three sub-folders of Demo Site 1 and the 5 sub-folders of Demo Site 2 inherit the policy called Top-Level Policy, because they're assigned to the Organization (top-level folder) named Demo Company and don't have any policies specifically applied to them (noted by the “—” in the POLICY column).
• The IP-COA88A91 asset inherits the policy called HDD Monitoring Override from the Servers sub-folder, as well as Top-Level Policy from the Demo Company folder. 
• The assets in the Workstations folder inherit the Emsisoft policy and Top-Level Policy.

To maintain security and efficiency while reducing manual administrative work, we recommend the following structure.

1. Define a Top-Level Policy: Create a Top-Level Policy that applies to all assets (e.g., basic security tools, remote access) and apply this at the Organization level. This ensures every current and future asset added to that Organization automatically receives your baseline security and monitoring settings. Adjust the default Top-Level Policy to automate onboarding of future clients in RMM Settings, and assign or bulk assign your Top-Level Policy to any existing Organizations.
2. Use Sub-folder Policies by Role: Do not apply specialized settings to the top level. Instead, create policy sub-folders such as "Servers" and “Workstations” that match an endpoint's role. Then create specific policies and assign them to those sub-folders. For example, a "Server Policy" might have stricter patching schedules or different event log monitors. 
3. Leverage Inheritance: Allow the assets in the "Servers" folder to inherit the Top-Level Policy plus the server-specific rules from the sub-folder.

The benefits of following these best practices include reduced manual configuration time, ensures no asset is left without a policy, and that new assets added to “Servers” and “Workstations” folders, for example, automatically get the correct configuration.

You should also regularly review the "Applied Policy Report" to validate that patching and antivirus policies are enforced as intended across your fleet. This report also allows you to quickly identify devices that may have fallen out of compliance or been manually overridden. See also RMM Reports.

Read on, or watch this short video to learn more:

Follow these steps to assign a policy to an Organization's assets: 

1. Navigate to the Organizations tab. Any existing Organizations appear in the table.
2. Start typing the name of an Organization into the search bar and click their name to open that Organization's Details Page. 
3. Select the Assets & Policies subtab.
4. By default, the Organization has a folder that matches their name:
   The Policy column displays the currently assigned policy, and the Asset Quantity shows you how many assets are assigned that policy.
5. Click on a folder, subfolder, or individual asset to select it, then click Update Assigned Policy.
6. In the Assign Policy window, select the new policy from the dropdown menu, then click Assign Policy.
   

When you have several hundred, or even thousands of customer Organizations, it can be tedious to go into each Organization to change their Top-Level Policy. Fortunately, Syncro provides a bulk assignment feature so you can set Top-level Policies across all of your Organizations with one simple action.  

Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Policies tab.
2. In the upper right, click Bulk Assign Top-Level Policy:
   
    
3. In the Bulk Assign Top-Level Policy window, select the policy you want to bulk assign. If you only want to apply the policy to Organizations who don't yet have a Top-level Policy assigned, check that box.
   
4. Click Confirm. Changes may take up to 15 minutes to apply.

Since policies are assigned to Organizations and their Assets, you can remove policies from an Organization's Assets & Policies subtab. This is the preferred method, since it can be easier to see the effect the removal will have via policy inheritance.

1. Navigate to the Organizations tab. Any existing Organizations appear in the table.

1. Start typing the name of an Organization into the search bar and click their name to open that Organization's Details Page. 
2. Select the Assets & Policies subtab:
   
   The Policy column displays the currently assigned policy, and the Asset Quantity shows you how many assets are assigned that policy.
3. Click on a folder, subfolder, or individual asset to select it, then click Update Assigned Policy.
4. In the Assign Policy window, click Remove Policy: 
   
   The Policy column in the Assets & Policies subtab updates to show that the policy has been removed.
5. Click Save Changes. Your policy changes are now in effect.

If you're certain you know how the removal of a policy might impact others via policy inheritance, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Policies tab. 
2. Click Remove in the row for the policy:
   
   If the policy is associated with at least one policy folder, the system warns you about it:
3. Click OK if you want to proceed. The policy folders and/or assets lose their assigned policy and inherit from the remaining Effective Policy.