System and method for automatic fleet partitioning

A system for automatic fleet partitioning (grouping devices) includes client devices 104 and a device management server 108 having tag definition and tag assignment repositories. The server receives and stores tag definitions with tag assignment criteria (rules). For each client device, the server obtains a client identifier and attribute set 400. For each tag assignment criterion satisfied by the attribute set, a corresponding tag name is associated with the client identifier in the tag assignment repository. For each tag assignment criterion not satisfied by the attribute set, the corresponding tag name is disassociated with the client identifier. The server receives a command to transmit control data to a subset of the client devices associated with a selected tag name, retrieves the client identifiers associated with the selected tag name, and transmits the control data to the subset of client devices. The attribute set may include a physical location, network location and a device model. The control data may include software for installation, or operational settings. Tag names may be dynamically generated based on the attribute set.