1. An apparatus comprising: a policy vector module implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, configured to retrieve a compressed policy vector based on a portion of a data packet received at a multi-stage switch; and a decompression module configured to receive the compressed policy vector and configured to define a first decompressed policy vector based on the compressed policy vector, the first decompressed policy vector defining a combination of bit values associated with a policy; and a combination module configured to receive the first decompressed policy vector and configured to produce a combined policy vector based on a combination of the first decompressed policy vector and a second decompressed policy vector, the combined policy vector configured to trigger an element at the multi-stage switch to process the data packet.