1. A method for controlling access to a software application, comprising: generating a policy machine template based on at least one role and at least one permission for an operator; generating a policy machine based on the operator and at least one object associated with the operator, wherein the policy machine is an access control framework permitting directed acyclic graph relationships between objects; and maintaining at least one logical link between the policy machine template and the policy machine, wherein the policy machine controls access to the software application.