Description
During the Disposition Phase, the operation of an automated system/application or other IT solution is formally ended in accordance with organization needs and pertinent laws and regulations. The automated system/application or other IT solution is retired or disposed of based on the formal Disposition Plan approved during the Operations & Maintenance Phase. The disposition activities ensure the orderly termination of the automated system/application and preserve vital information about the system so that some or all of the information may be reactivated in the future if necessary. Particular emphasis is given to proper preservation of the data processed by the system/application, so that the data is effectively migrated to another system/application or archived in accordance with applicable records management regulations and policies for potential future access.

Responsibilities
Project Manager: Authors the Disposition Plan and ensures that all aspects of the Disposition Plan are followed. The Disposition Plan should outline all roles and responsibilities for all actions related to the close down and archive of the system.

Technical Support or Vendor Support: The Disposition Plan may call for the Technical Support Personnel to send system related hardware to a warehouse or may reassign equipment to a new or replacement system. Technical Support Personnel or Operators may perform the cutoff of users' access per instructions from the Security Manager. Technical Support personnel may assist with the archive of the Information Systems data.

Data Administrator: The Disposition Plan may direct that only certain Business Product data be archived. The Data Administrator would identify the data and assist technical personnel with the actual archive process. The Data Administrator may be involved with identifying data which due to its sensitive nature must be destroyed. They would also be involved with identifying and migrating data to a new or replacement Business Product.

User Services (Training & Help Desk): User Services includes training, telecommunications, and Help Desk personnel. The training component coordinates and schedules the development and delivery of all training and facilitates the development of systems training methods and materials. In this phase, User Services may assist with the retraining of users to facilitate the transfer to a new or replacement Business Product.

Operations: (turn off systems, start tasks, backup, etc.) Operations interfaces with the computer facility that hosts the Business Product being terminated. This group also schedules, executes, and verifies production job streams; distributes specified outputs; handles other production control activities; and maintains and monitors centralized mainframe database management system software and runtime environments. It also acquires, maintains, customizes and tunes operating system software, assesses the affect of new or changed systems upon the operational environments, manages system software capacities, and advises on or arranges accommodation of new application systems. In this phase, the Operators would assist Technical Support, Security Manager and Data Administrators with the actual archive process.

Security Managers: The Security Managers need to make sure that all access authority has been eliminated for the users. Any users that only use the application should be removed from the system while others that use other applications as well as this one may still need access to the overall system, but not the application being shutdown. If there is another application that is taking the place of this application, the Security Managers should coordinate with the new Security Managers.

Critical Partners: The Critical Partners handle transition reviews in their areas.

• EA: Make certain that the system is marked as decommissioned in the Enterprise Architecture and that any dependencies or relationships to the expired system are redirected or similarly expired if no replacement capability exists. Perform impact analysis to determine what changes need to be made to the architecture as a result of the disposition. This includes impact to any dependent systems.

• Security: Guarantee that access authorities are removed, that data is properly migrated, and that all hardware and data storage devices have been sanitized to ensure no sensitive data is compromised.

• Acquisition: Verify that completed contracts are closed appropriately.

• Budget: Ascertain that the financial implications of the transition are reviewed for budget impacts.

• Finance: Finance: Make certain that final payments to contractors are made; project financial information/status is updated accordingly.

• HR: HR: Verify that workforce information is updated, and staff re-assignments are executed.

• CPIC: Establish that Lessons Learned have been prepared so that other HHS projects can benefit from them. Ensure that all documentation is complete and archived.

Activities
The tasks and activities required are dependent on the nature of the project. The retirement activities are performed at the end of the project life cycle.

The Disposition Plan must be developed and implemented. The Disposition Plan identifies

• How the retirement of the system/data will be conducted and when.

• The system retirement date.

• Software components to be preserved.

• Data to be preserved.

• Retirement of remaining equipment.

• Archiving of life cycle products.

Project Archives include the system data, software, and documentation designated for archiving in the Disposition Plan. The data from the old system are migrated into the new system or archived.

Similar to the data that is archived or transferred, the software components will need to be transferred to the new system, or if that is not feasible, dispositioned appropriately.

The documentation that resulted from the development of the application or system needs to be archived, where it can be referenced, if needed, at a later date.

Follow the plan in the Disposition Plan for the orderly breakdown of the system, its components and the data within.

If the equipment can be used elsewhere in the organization, it should be recycled. If it is obsolete, notify the property management office to excess all hardware components.

Exit Criteria
Objective: To have an orderly shutdown of the Business Product operation.

Phase Specific Exit Criteria:

• Data archiving, security, and data and systems migrations are complete.

• If appropriate, has the migration of data and the function to a new system been well-planned.

• Final phase-end review has been conducted.

Generic Exit Criteria:

• The Project Management Plan and component plans have been reviewed and appropriately updated. [This includes Risk Management, Acquisition Strategy, Change Management, Configuration Management, Project Categorization, Requirements Management, Communication Plan, WBS/Schedule, IV&V Planning, Quality Assurance, Records Management, Staff Development Plan and Security Approach.]

Stage Gate Review
A Disposition Review is conducted to ensure that a system/application or other IT situation has been completely and appropriately disposed, thereby ending the lifecycle of the IT project.

This phase-end review shall be conducted again within six months after retirement of the system. The Disposition Review Report also documents the lessons learned from the shutdown and archiving of the terminated system.