A SAP-egress QoS policy policer or queue may be associated with either a port parent or an intermediate scheduler parent. The validity of the parent definition cannot be checked at the time that it is provisioned because the application of the QoS policy is not known until it is applied to an egress SAP, subscriber, or multiservice site profile. Port or intermediate parenting can be decided on a queue-by-queue or policer-by-policer basis, some policers and queues tied directly to the port scheduler priorities while others are attached to intermediate schedulers.