1. A method implemented by a computer, the method comprising: by a policy manager, reading a stored staging policy from a staging store, the staging store associated with rights that allow a configuration entity to read staging policies from and write staging policies to the staging store, the staging store operable to store one or more policies that are not allowed to be applied until the one or more policies are stored on a persistent production store; by the policy manager, validating the staging policy to ensure that a production policy that would be derived from the staging policy is safe to be applied; by the policy manager, deriving the production policy from the staging policy; by the policy manager, storing the production policy on the persistent production store, the persistent production store associated with an access right that denies the configuration entity from writing to the persistent production store; and enabling the production policy to be applied to a runtime computer to configure the runtime computer to enforce the production policy.