Lifecycle Model
What Lifecycle Governs
Lifecycle defines the mutability state of a knowledge artifact — whether it is open for editing, locked for use, or under formal revision. Edit rights in UBKDS are never permanent. They are temporary, explicit, and tied to lifecycle state.
Published knowledge is immutable by default. All edits require a deliberate transition into an edit-eligible state. This prevents silent drift and ensures that changes to institutional knowledge are always intentional and accountable.
Lifecycle States
Draft
An artifact in Draft state is under active creation or initial development. It has not yet been published for organizational use.
- Editable by Authors and Contributors
- Not authoritative — should not be used as a reference for organizational decisions
- Transitions to Published when the Author publishes
Revision — Minor
An artifact in Revision (Minor) state is undergoing a small, non-substantive update. This covers corrections such as typos, formatting fixes, or broken links.
- Editable by Authors and Contributors
- Does not change the artifact's review cycle
- Publishes as a new minor version (e.g., v1.0 → v1.1)
- Does not require a full review cycle reset
Revision — Major
An artifact in Revision (Major) state is undergoing a substantive update or a scheduled periodic revision. The content, scope, or governing intent is changing.
- Editable by Authors and Contributors
- Publishes as a new major version (e.g., v1.1 → v2.0)
- Resets the review cycle upon publication
- May trigger coordinated lifecycle transitions in related artifacts if a Primary Artifact is designated
Published
An artifact in Published state is the active, authoritative version of that knowledge. It is locked against editing by default.
- Immutable by default — no edits without explicit lifecycle transition
- Authoritative — the version the organization relies on
- System stewards retain override rights when operationally necessary
- Transitions to Revision (Minor or Major) when an Author initiates a change
Core Rules
- Edit rights are never permanent. They are activated by lifecycle state and revoked on publication.
- Published knowledge is immutable by default. A deliberate action is required to initiate any revision.
- All edits require explicit action. Silent modification of authoritative knowledge is not permitted.
- System stewards always retain override rights. This ensures operational continuity without compromising governance.
- Lifecycle must never control classification or sensitivity. These planes are independent.
Versioning Semantics
Lifecycle state drives versioning. Each publication produces a new version number. The version model follows a major.minor convention.
| Transition | Version Change | Review Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| Initial publication (Draft → Published) | v1.0 | Starts |
| Minor revision published | v1.0 → v1.1 | Unchanged |
| Major revision published | v1.x → v2.0 | Resets |
Review Cadence
Every authoritative artifact must define a review cadence. Review triggers prompt the owning group to renew, revise, or retire the artifact.
- Default intervals: 6, 12, or 24 months
- Review triggers do not automatically change lifecycle state — they surface the artifact for deliberate evaluation
- An artifact that passes review without changes is renewed at its current version
- An artifact requiring changes transitions to the appropriate Revision state
Lifecycle and Stewardship
Lifecycle transitions are governed by stewardship roles. The ability to change lifecycle state is not universal — it is scoped to designated Authors.
- Authors hold publish rights. Only Authors may transition an artifact from a Revision state to Published.
- Contributors hold edit rights within an open lifecycle state (Draft or Revision). They cannot publish.
- View Audience members hold no lifecycle rights. They read Published artifacts only.
This separation ensures that no artifact reaches Published state without deliberate, accountable action by a named steward.
Lifecycle and the RID Specification
When a knowledge set requires coordinated lifecycle management — such as ensuring a policy, its operating procedure, and its training module are reviewed and published together — one artifact within the set may be designated the Primary Artifact.
The Primary Artifact drives the lifecycle cadence for the entire knowledge set. When it enters Revision or is Published, it signals the same transition for all artifacts sharing its Primary RID.
This is an optional governance model. It is intended for mature knowledge sets where tight lifecycle coordination adds clear operational value.