Implementation Kit
AI Model Lifecycle Stage Gates and Retirement Checklist
Stage gates from preview to retirement. Stage definitions with promotion criteria, a register of events that force re-assessment, a promotion gate checklist, and a retirement checklist.
Who this is for: The model governance owner defining what has to be true for a model to advance, and what pulls it back for review.
1. Lifecycle stages and promotion criteria
SpreadsheetThe stages your models move through and the evidence required to move between them.
Template
| Stage | What it means | Promotion criteria to enter this stage |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | Available to a small internal group for evaluation | Registered; owner assigned; intended use documented |
| Approved for Testing | Wider internal use, non-production data paths | Preview eval complete; risk tier assigned; known limitations documented |
| Production (GA) | Live, affecting real decisions or users | Full evaluation (incl. bias where people are affected); human oversight design; Legal sign-off for High tier; rollback plan |
| Under Re-assessment | Still live, but flagged for review | A re-assessment trigger has fired |
| Deprecated | Discouraged, migration underway | Replacement identified; migration plan with dates |
| Retired | Off | Retirement checklist complete |
Worked example
| Stage | Entered | Evidence at promotion |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | 2026-01-10 | Registered; owner D. Portillo; intended use documented |
| Approved for Testing | 2026-01-24 | Preview eval done; risk tier High; known limitations logged |
| Production (GA) | 2026-02-11 | Full eval incl. adverse-impact; oversight design; Legal memo; rollback to v2.3.1 |
| Under Re-assessment | 2026-08-30 | Base model changed VendorLM-3 to VendorLM-4 |
| Production (GA) | 2026-08-30 | Eval delta reviewed (ratio 0.85 to 0.88); cleared same day |
Acceptance criteria
- ✓The stages match how your organization actually ships models, not a generic template.
- ✓Each promotion criterion is objective evidence, not a judgment call.
- ✓Every production model has a current stage recorded in the registry.
2. Re-assessment trigger register
SpreadsheetThe events that move a live model to Under Re-assessment before it can continue.
Template
| Trigger | Threshold | Who monitors | Action on fire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model or base-model change | Any weights, prompt, or parameter change | MLOps | New version; re-run eval before continuing |
| Performance drift | <metric past its control limit> | Monitoring | Re-assess within X days |
| Bias metric shift | <fairness metric past threshold> | Monitoring | Immediate re-assess; consider pause |
| Use-case or population change | Any change to what it decides or who it affects | Business owner | Full re-classification |
| New or changed regulation | A regime now applies or its requirements changed | Legal | Re-assess against new requirements |
| Incident | Any Sev-1 or Sev-2 involving this model | Incident process | Re-assess as part of post-incident review |
| Time | No review in <N> months | AI Gov Lead | Scheduled re-assessment |
Worked example
| Trigger | Threshold | Who monitors | Action on fire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base-model change | VendorLM-3 to VendorLM-4 | MLOps | Fired 2026-08-30; eval re-run, cleared |
| Bias metric shift | Adverse-impact ratio below 0.80 | Monitoring | Not fired; current 0.88 |
| Time | 90 days since last review | AI Gov Lead | Next scheduled 2026-11-30 |
Acceptance criteria
- ✓Every trigger names who monitors for it and what happens when it fires.
- ✓Thresholds are numeric where the trigger is a metric.
- ✓A fired trigger is recorded against the model with a date and an outcome.
3. Promotion gate checklist
SpreadsheetRun before a model advances a stage. Same checklist, applied at each transition.
Template
| Check | Testing | Production | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered with all required fields | Yes | Yes | |
| Risk tier assigned | Yes | Yes | |
| Evaluation appropriate to the stage | Preview-level | Full, dated | |
| Bias evaluation (if people are affected) | Optional | Yes | |
| Human oversight design documented | Recommended | Yes for High | |
| Rollback plan | Recommended | Yes | |
| Legal sign-off | If triggered | Yes for High | |
| Owner accepts stage accountability | Yes | Yes |
Worked example
Promotion: Approved for Testing to Production, fraud-scoring model.
| Check | Status | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Registered, risk tier assigned | Yes | High |
| Full evaluation, dated | Yes | 2026-09-01 |
| Bias evaluation (people affected) | Yes | no disparity above threshold |
| Human oversight design documented | Yes | analyst reviews all declines |
| Rollback plan | Yes | revert to rules engine |
| Legal sign-off | Yes | |
| Owner accepts stage accountability | Yes | Head of Risk Ops |
| Decision | Promoted | 2026-09-03 |
Acceptance criteria
- ✓The gate is run and recorded at every stage transition, not just the first.
- ✓Each check has attached evidence, not a tick.
- ✓A missing check blocks promotion absent a recorded exception.
4. Retirement checklist
SpreadsheetClean decommissioning: weights, logs, dependents, sign-off.
Template
| Step | Owner | Done | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| No production traffic or scheduled jobs remain | Y / N | ||
| Dependent systems migrated or sunset | Y / N | ||
| Weights deleted or archived per data policy | Y / N | ||
| Logs and evaluations archived to retention store | Y / N | ||
| Registry status set to Retired with date | Y / N | ||
| Inventory and documentation updated | Y / N | ||
| Owner sign-off | Y / N |
Worked example
| Step | Owner | Done | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| No traffic or jobs | MLOps | Y | 30-day zero-call log |
| Dependents migrated | MLOps | Y | 2 pipelines moved to the new model |
| Weights archived | MLOps | Y | Cold storage; prod deleted |
| Logs archived | AI Gov Lead | Y | 7-yr retention store |
| Registry status Retired | AI Gov Lead | Y | 2026-09-20 |
| Inventory updated | AI Gov Lead | Y | |
| Owner sign-off | Head of Risk Ops | Y | 2026-09-20 |
Acceptance criteria
- ✓Every step has an owner and evidence before retirement is called complete.
- ✓Weight deletion or archival follows the organization's data retention policy.
Governance controls this kit produces evidence for
Completing the artifacts above gives you a head start on the evidence requirements for these controls.
The stage definitions and promotion criteria are the preview and staged-release policy.
The promotion gate checklist is the deployment gate process, applied at each transition.
The retirement checklist is the model deprecation and decommissioning procedure.
Stage entry criteria plus the gate checklist form the intake and approval workflow across the lifecycle.
The re-assessment trigger register defines the continuous-evaluation events that force a fresh review.
This kit backs one playbook. Read the full guidance for the reasoning behind each artifact.
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