Retirement

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Retirement is a Lifecycle transition that ends the authorized operational use of a subject.

The retired subject may include:

• An Infrastructure Environment
• A service
• A software component
• A platform
• A Machine Image
• An Infrastructure Configuration
• An Infrastructure Blueprint
• A Baseline
• An Artifact
• A resource
• A system capability

Retirement removes the subject from authorized operational use while preserving or disposing of associated resources, information, and records according to applicable requirements.

Retirement activities may include:

• Preventing new operational use
• Terminating active services
• Removing the subject from deployment selection
• Revoking access and credentials
• Releasing or transferring infrastructure resources
• Preserving required records
• Archiving required Artifacts
• Recording the final operational state
• Recording the Retirement decision
• Identifying a replacement or successor
• Sanitizing or disposing of storage media
• Updating dependent configurations and references

Retirement differs from decommissioning:

• Retirement ends the authorized operational use of a subject
• Decommissioning performs the technical and administrative activities that remove the subject or its resources from service

Retirement may initiate decommissioning, but the two activities do not need to occur at the same time.

Retirement also differs from deletion:

• Retirement changes the authorized Lifecycle state of the subject
• Deletion removes information or an Artifact

A retired subject or its associated records may remain preserved and retrievable.

Retirement differs from supersession:

• Retirement ends authorized operational use
• Supersession designates another subject or Revision as the applicable successor

A subject may be retired without a successor, or superseded before its Retirement activities are complete.

lifecycle transition that ends the authorized operational use of a subject

Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

Retirement does not by itself require immediate destruction or deletion of the retired subject or its associated records.

Applicable requirements determine:

• The authority permitted to approve Retirement
• The conditions that initiate Retirement
• The effective Retirement date
• The operational activities that must cease
• The resources that must be released, transferred, retained, or disposed of
• The records and Evidence that must be preserved
• The applicable retention period
• The required data sanitization
• The treatment of dependent subjects
• The designation of a successor
• The completion criteria for decommissioning

A retired subject may remain available for:

• Audit
• Historical reference
• Reproduction of prior results
• Legal or regulatory retention
• Incident investigation
• Recovery of required records

Retirement does not establish that all resources associated with the subject have been decommissioned unless the applicable Retirement criteria require and verify that result.

An Infrastructure Environment enters Retirement when its authorization for operational use ends. The Retirement process prevents further deployment to the environment, terminates its active services, revokes its credentials, releases or transfers its infrastructure resources, preserves the required configuration and operational records, and records the final disposition of the environment.