A management system comprises a gateway component adapted to reside on a workstation and a device agent adapted to reside on a pervasive device for configuring pervasive devices. The gateway component is instantiable during synchronization of the workstation with a pervasive device to transfer the device agent to the pervasive device; and to transmit configuration information to the pervasive device. The device agent executes configuration commands in response to the configuration information. The invention enables pervasive devices to be managed through a workstation to which they connect to synchronize without requiring any intervention by the pervasive device user. Preferably, the workstation acts as a gateway for managing the device within what becomes a four tier management system.