The Sunset / Retirement Archiving lifecycle is ASP’s comprehensive end-to-end methodology to help companies take that first step to develop, implement, and successfully execute an application rationalization program. It composes of 5 main phases, starting with the basics of establishing the program infrastructure all the way to ensuring the hardware gets taken off the data center floor or repurposed.

See chart below

Phase 1: Establish AR (Application Rationalization) Infrastructure Program

• Objective:
  - Establish AR (Application Rationalization) Program Infrastructure
  - Determine data archive strategy for each sunset application (retain, rightsize, purge, archive)
  - Capture general purpose, project detail for each sunset application.
• Key Deliverables:
  - Established Application Rationalization Program Infrastructure
  - Categorized list of sunset applications, i.e, validated applications placed in their respective data archive solutions

Phase 1 is by far the most important as you are implementing the very foundation for the entire application rationalization process. A program management office is established, all key stakeholder teams (RIMS, Legal, Application Owners, Data Archive Team, Data Center Teams, etc.) identified, the process defined and communicated, etc. This stage also identifies the list of candidate applications for retirement and will determine the solution categories for each application (retain, rightsize, purge, archive). As always, the solution will be aligned with the company’s RIM (records information management) and legal policies for data retention.

Phase 2: Analyze/Validate Archive (structured/unstructured) Solution

• Objective:
  - Execute detailed data capture for each sunsetted application
  - Establish application sunset schedule based on data archive solution (retain, rightsize, purge, archive)
  - 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

Phase 2 captures the technical and functional requirements for each application and validates its appropriate archive solution via a POC (proof of concept). The solution will also address both structured (database) and unstructured data (files, images, etc.). At the same time, project roles around the archive will be defined and both functional and technical requirements will be gathered. 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 is 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 3A: Execute Sunset/Retirement Archive Solution

• Objective:
  - Execute data archive solution for each sunset application
  - Purge, Retain, Rightsize (skip step and proceed to phase 3B)
• Key Deliverables:
  - Archived Data resides in either a centralized online archiving tool (and accessible 24/7 by users) and is validated
  - Updated ROI analysis report (actual storage savings)

Phase 3A is where the archive solution has been validated and will now be executed for the application. If the solution is purge, retain, or rightsize, skip this step as no archive activity is required. This phase also provides updates to the ROI report as we now know exactly how much storage is used by the archive solution.

Phase 4: Application Shutdown and 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 ROI report (includes power savings)

Phase 4 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 in the process to be redirected to other projects and/or applications. ROI will also be updated to include power savings as the servers can now be powered down or repurposed.

Phase 5: Repurpose/Recycle

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

Phase 5 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, ASP’s Sunset/Retirement Archiving methodology provides companies a 360 degree solution to ensure all cost savings from application retirement are realized – ensuring companies get the maximum return on their hard-earned application retirement program investment.