The Retirement Archiving lifecycle consists of 4 key phases with one pre-requisite phase. The Pre-Req phase is required to provide an overall list of candidate applications for sunset (aka – retirement). Phase 1 – 4 specifically takes an individual application through the Retirement Archive process whether the data archive solution is tape, purge, or online.

See chart below

Pre-Req Phase: Candidate Selection

• Objective:
  - Identify and validate application candidates for sunset.
  - Determine data archive strategy for each sunset application (online, tape, purge or retain)
  - Capture general purpose, project detail for each sunset application
• Key Deliverables:
  - Categorized list of sunset applications, i.e, validated applications placed in their respective data archive solutions

The PreRequisite Phase sets the stage for the entire Retirement Archive project by identifying the list of potential candidate applications for retirement. The Portfolio Manager plays the key or ‘driver’ role to work with the various groups in the company like the business user community, IT, Data Center, etc. to create and validate the list and therefore determines the number of applications and their strategy for archiving. This strategy will also be closely aligned with the company’s RIM (records and information management) policy which plays an important role in choosing the appropriate path (online, tape, or purge) for the application’s data. In rare cases, the least risk solution for the application’s data will be to retain the entire system. The Archive Solution Architect also defines and assists with the build of the online archive environment that will house the archived application data.

Phase 1: Candidate Analysis

• Objective:
  - Execute detailed data capture for each sunsetted application
  - Establish application sunset schedule based on data archive solution (online, tape, purge, or retain)
  - Establish application sunset roles - POC/Validate archive solutions
• Key Deliverables:
  - Set application sunset team
  - Validated and Approved requirements for each sunset application
  - Validated archive solution for each db platform
  - Initial ROI estimate

The Candidate Analysis Phase essentially captures all the requirements for each archived application. Regardless if the solution is purge, tape, online, or retain, the foundation must be established before the actual solution is executed: team roles, data capture and validation of application environment data, retention policy, security policy, retrieval requirements, etc. POCs(proof-of-concept) will also be executed during this phase to ensure the source database platforms can be successfully archived. The exit criteria for this phase is sign-off from all key participants like Legal and SOX as auditability/accountability is central to the success and efficiency of future phases. The initial ROI estimate will also provided. Another key step is working with the application team to remove all clients from the desktops to ensure unintentional user access is eliminated, helping to pave the way for a clean data archive experience.

Phase 2A: Execute Archive Solution

• Objective:
  - Execute data archive solution for each sunset application
  - Online archiving using sunset archiving tool
  - Offline archiving to Tape (Level 0 back up)
  - Purge Data (Skip step and proceed to phase 3)
• Key Deliverables:
  - Archived Data resides in either a centralized online archiving tool (and accessible 24/7 by users) or tape and is validated.
  - Updated ROI analysis report (actual storage savings).

The Execute Archive Solution Phase is the center piece of the archive life cycle and where the chosen solution is executed. Of course, the online archiving solution will take the longest of the three solutions as it is the most involved. Tape will require the coordination with the EBR (Enterprise Backup and Recovery) team to execute the final level 0 (full system) backup. If the solution is purging, then this step will be skipped entirely as the data will be wiped clean in Phase 3. This phase will be complete for both the tape and online archive solution when the archived data is fully validated. This phase will also provide updates to the ROI report as we know exactly how much storage is used by the archive solution.

Phase 3: Application Shutdown & Decom Prep

• Objective:
  - Prepare associated hardware in all environments (Prod, Failover, DR, and Dev/Test) for recycling/repurposing
• Key Deliverables:
  - Application Specific Decommission Checklist
  - Cleaned hardware ready to be recycled/repurposed
  - Vendor licenses end-dated
  - Support resources reallocated.
  - Updated cost savings/roi report (includes power savings).

The App Shutdown and Decommission Prep Phase is where the company will start experiencing cost savings from the project. Here, the servers and storage in all environments are wiped clean of the application, ips reclaimed, etc. Vendor licenses should now be end-dated and support resources redirected to other projects and applications. ROI savings will also be update to include power savings as the servers can now be powered down or repurposed.

Phase 4: Hardware Repurpose / Recycle

• Objective:
  - Repurpose hardware for other uses
  - Recycle hardware
• Key Deliverables:
  - Updated asset tracking system/hardware inventory system
  - Updated and Final cost savings/roi report (includes floor space savings)

The Hardware Repurpose and Recycle Phase completes the lifecycle. Here, the decision is made to either repurpose the hardware for other applications or simply recycle if the hardware is at end-of-life. Either way, the company realizes more benefits due to reusing hardware instead allocating space for new hardware or clears space for growing applications that require it. Simply put, the Sunset Data Archiving lifecycle provides companies a 360 degree solution to ensure all cost savings from application retirement are realized – ensuring companies get the maximum return on this retirement project investment.