Commonly Used Software Product Retirement Policy

Number:
EA-04 was 186

Purpose

This policy is intended to promote agency awareness of and emphasis on commonly used software product retirement planning in order to ensure that the agency stops using the software before it reaches end-of-support.

Most software vendors and manufacturers maintain software versions for only specific periods of time after which the product is retired in favor of more current versions of the product, or is discontinued entirely. These product lifecycles are customarily known well in advance of end-of-support.

Once software reaches end-of-support, issues within the software, including fixing known security vulnerabilities, are no longer corrected by the vendor. This presents a risk to both the agency and the state. In addition to any security risks, the agency may encounter difficulties interoperating with other agencies or applications or the software could stop working entirely.