1. Purpose of the gate
The end of support is the last promise the business keeps to the system's customers. Repairs and spares end, software and security updates end, and the system becomes the customer's responsibility. The review checks that every commitment made in the discontinuance notice has been met, that customers have been told clearly, and that the final software and security release has shipped.
It also protects the business. Questions about the system can arrive long after support ends: a liability claim, a regulator's enquiry, a customer's audit, a successor team wanting to know why something was done. An archive of the design, software, test and certification data, held where it can be found and read, answers them.
The criteria are: final software and security release published; spares and repair commitments met; and design and software archive complete. The gating work product is the end-of-support notice at released maturity, produced by product management from the discontinuance notice. Beside it, product security releases the final security advisory and field support issues the spares and repair plan at final maturity.
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