Entity Lifecycle and Deprecation Management
Three-phase lifecycle management (planned, active, deprecated) with replacement tracking, safe-to-delete validation, the Repoint Wizard for bulk reference migration, and model health monitoring.
Architecture is not static. Entities are planned before they are built, active while they are in use, and deprecated when they are being phased out. Managing this lifecycle, particularly the deprecation phase, is one of the most governance-intensive aspects of architecture management. The editor includes explicit lifecycle states, replacement tracking, automated safe-to-delete analysis, and a Repoint Wizard that migrates references in bulk.
Lifecycle States
Every model entity in NeoArc has one of three lifecycle statuses. These states propagate throughout the system, affecting views, reports, and governance analysis.
Status Filtering in Views
ERD views, graph views, and search views all support status filtering. By default, views typically show active and planned entities while hiding deprecated ones. This keeps diagrams focused on the current architecture while still allowing deprecated entities to be shown when needed for migration planning. The filter is configurable per view.
Replacement Tracking
When an entity is deprecated, it can declare its replacement(s) via the replacedBy relationship. This creates replaced-by edges in the Intent Graph. Conversely, new entities can declare their origin via derivedFrom, creating evolved-from edges. These relationships are bidirectional by convention and power the deprecation analysis reports.
Deprecation Impact Report
The deprecation impact report analyses all edges in the Intent Graph to find references to deprecated entities. It categorises issues into four groups.
| Category | Severity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Active references deprecated | Warning | An active entity depends on a deprecated entity through any edge type |
| Schema maps to deprecated | Warning | A schema field has lineage mapping to a deprecated entity |
| Governs deprecated | Warning | A governance block (risk, security control, etc.) governs a deprecated entity |
| References planned | Info | A reference points to a planned entity that is not yet active |
Safe-to-Delete Validation
Before removing a deprecated entity, the safe-to-delete report analyses whether it can be safely removed. For each deprecated entity, it counts inbound references by type and assigns a verdict.
| Verdict | Condition | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Safe | Zero active inbound references of any type | Can be deleted without breaking anything |
| Safe (cascade) | Only deprecated sources reference it | Can be deleted if those deprecated sources are also being removed |
| Not safe | Has active inbound references | Must migrate references before deletion (use Repoint Wizard) |
The Repoint Wizard
The Repoint Wizard automates bulk reference migration from a deprecated entity to its replacement. It is accessible from three places: the graph editor context menu (for deprecated selected nodes), the Safe-to-Delete report, and the Deprecation Impact report.
Model Health Dashboard
The model health report provides an overview of all model entities across lifecycle statuses. It tracks several key indicators.