1. A method for rule processing in a network compliance application, the method comprising: receiving a rule scope definition including: i) a configuration item type that defines a category of resources in a network of different types of resources; ii) a scope attribute of the configuration item type, the scope attribute indicating at least one parameter used for retrieval of resource data corresponding to the configuration item type; receiving selection of compliance conditions that define desired states to be applied to the resource data associated with corresponding resources in the network as specified by the rule scope definition; and utilizing the rule scope definition and compliance conditions to produce a rule for application to the resource data to determine compliance with respect to the corresponding resources.