A method and system for controlling access to entities on a network on which a plurality of servers are installed that use different operating systems. A request is entered by a user at a workstation on the network to set access permissions to an entity on the network in regard to a trustee. In response to the request, various application programming interfaces (APIs) are called to translate the generic request to set permissions on the entity into a format appropriate for the operating system that controls the entity. Assuming that the user has the appropriate rights to set access permissions to the entity as requested, and assuming that the trustee identified by the user is among those who can have rights set to the entity, the request made by the user is granted. Entities include both "containers" and "objects." Entities are either software, such as directories (containers) and files (objects), or hardware, such as printers (objects).