# 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. Source playbook: https://aigovernance.com/playbook/ai-model-lifecycle-governance --- ## Lifecycle stages and promotion criteria _The 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. --- ## Re-assessment trigger register _The 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 | | Monitoring | Re-assess within X days | | Bias metric shift | | 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 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. --- ## Promotion gate checklist _Run 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. --- ## Retirement checklist _Clean 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 - **MGV-001**: The stage definitions and promotion criteria are the preview and staged-release policy. - **CHM-002**: The promotion gate checklist is the deployment gate process, applied at each transition. - **CHM-005**: The retirement checklist is the model deprecation and decommissioning procedure. - **MGV-002**: Stage entry criteria plus the gate checklist form the intake and approval workflow across the lifecycle. - **MON-005**: The re-assessment trigger register defines the continuous-evaluation events that force a fresh review.