A system and method for simplifying resource management is provided. Resources are represented by resource objects in a resource object model. Each resource object represents a single resource and contains one or more resource attributes to describe the resource. At least one of the resource attributes for each resource object is a string identifier formed within the constraints of a query grammar. The string identifier is a text-based identifier that is based upon a unique property of the represented resource. A characteristic of the resources is selected as the basis for the relationship between resource objects in the resource object model. In one embodiment, an application identifies resources by generating a search query using the same query grammar used to create the string identifier. In another embodiment, a user manually enters the search query into a command line interpreter.