Retirement

Purpose

Retirement is used when a service, product, component or process is no longer needed, is being replaced or is no longer cost-effective or safe to operate.

When to Use This Phase

Use retirement when user need has ended, policy has changed, a replacement service is available, usage is too low, cost is too high, technology is obsolete or security risk is unacceptable.

Primary Decision

At the end of this phase, we should be able to answer:

How do we safely close, transition or decommission the service while protecting users, data, operations and contractual obligations?

Core Questions

• Why is retirement needed?

• Who will be affected?

• What alternative service or process exists?

• What data must be retained, migrated, archived or deleted?

• What suppliers are involved?

• What user communications are required?

• What redirects or integrations must be managed?

• What contractual obligations survive?

Key Activities

• retirement assessment

• user impact assessment

• communications planning

• data retention review

• migration planning

• supplier exit planning

• access removal planning

• redirect planning

• decommissioning

• archive and evidence capture

• final reporting

Expected Outputs

• retirement decision record

• impact assessment

• communications plan

• migration plan

• data handling record

• decommissioning plan

• supplier exit record

• access removal evidence

• final closure report

Entry Criteria

• retirement trigger identified

• service owner engaged

• customer decision route agreed

• impact assessment initiated

• data and security owners identified

Exit Criteria

• users are informed or transitioned

• data is retained, migrated, archived or deleted appropriately

• access is removed

• systems are decommissioned

• suppliers are exited where required

• final evidence is stored

• closure is approved

Evidence to Capture

• retirement approval

• communications evidence

• data handling evidence

• migration evidence

• access removal logs

• decommissioning records

• supplier closure records

• final report

Commercial and Statement of Work Considerations

• check termination and exit obligations

• confirm support end date

• confirm final payment position

• agree any transition assistance

• close open change requests and acceptance items

IP and Accelerator Considerations

• confirm what customer materials must be returned or deleted

• preserve company Background IP

• record reusable lessons learned

• avoid retaining customer confidential material in reusable assets

Security, Data and Assurance Considerations

• remove access promptly

• protect retained records

• confirm data deletion or retention evidence

• decommission credentials and integrations

• review audit requirements

Common Risks

• users not informed

• data retained without basis

• redirects missed

• supplier access left open

• contractual exit obligations missed

• archive incomplete

• service dependencies overlooked

Practical Checklist

• Confirm retirement decision route

• Assess users and operational impact

• Create communications plan

• Create data retention or migration plan

• Plan supplier exit

• Plan redirects and integration closure

• Remove access

• Decommission service

• Store closure evidence

• Complete final review