A permissions management system (PMS) defines the permissions associated with a user and thereby the activities the user can perform with any specific object and/or application or class of objects and/or applications. However, such a PMS requires an administrator to either authorise each permission individually or default permissions to a configuration previously established. The former is time consuming and the latter does not eliminate the former in establishing the roles initially or new roles or custom configurations. According, methods and systems for automating the establishment of permissions and their ongoing maintenance are presented based upon an initial discovery phase of actions performed by either the user or an administrator followed by an automated harmonization phase and a verification phase. This verification phase may employ human interactions or be automated exploiting an artificial intelligence engine.