> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.altrum.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lifecycle

> Take an AI system from Draft to Live with an approval, pause it, retire it, and see what the go-live checks need at each risk level.

Every AI system is in one of five stages. Only a **Live** one can send traffic: the AI Gateway refuses its keys in every other stage.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  D[Draft] -->|Request approval| R[In review]
  R -->|Approve| A[Approved]
  R -->|Send back or withdraw| D
  A -->|Go live| L[Live]
  L -->|Pause| A
```

Any stage can be **retired**, and a retired AI system can be **restored** to Draft.

The header of the AI system's page shows its stage and the next step you can take. Other moves are in the actions menu.

## Who makes each move

| Move | From, to | Who |
| - | - | - |
| **Request approval** | Draft to In review | Owners, admins, Governance Leads, the AI system's owner |
| **Withdraw request** | In review to Draft | Whoever asked, owners, admins, Governance Leads |
| **Send back** | In review to Draft | Owners and Governance Leads, with a reason |
| **Approve** | In review to Approved | Owners and Governance Leads, once the go-live checks pass |
| **Go live** | Approved to Live | Owners, admins, Governance Leads, the AI system's owner |
| **Pause** | Live to Approved | Owners, admins, Governance Leads, the AI system's owner, with a reason |
| **Resume** | Paused to Live | Owners, admins, Governance Leads, the AI system's owner |
| **Retire** | Any stage to Retired | Owners, admins, Governance Leads |
| **Restore** | Retired to Draft | Owners and Governance Leads |

A reason for **Send back** or **Pause** is 10 to 500 characters.

## The go-live checks

What an AI system needs before it can be approved depends on its [rating](/ai-systems/risk-rating.md):

| Check | Low and Medium | High | Very high |
| - | - | - | - |
| Risk profile answered | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| An assessment submitted within | | 6 months | 3 months |
| Guardrails live | | Yes | Yes |
| Approved by someone other than the person who asked | | Yes | Yes |

**Approve** lists each check as met or not, and stays unavailable until all are met. **Go live** and **Resume** check again.

The second-person check applies only when your organization has two or more owners and Governance Leads. With only one, that person can approve their own request, and the approval records it.

An AI system that does something the EU AI Act prohibits never passes: "A prohibited practice never goes live".

You can request approval before the checks pass, as long as the risk profile is answered. The approver sees what is still missing. For everything the rating asks for, including what does not block going live, see [Posture](/ai-systems/posture.md).

## When the rating rises after approval

If an approved or live AI system's risk profile changes and its rating goes up, it keeps its traffic, but its page asks for a new approval. An owner or Governance Lead chooses **Approve again**, which runs the checks at the new rating. Until then, it cannot go live or resume.

## Retired

A retired AI system is read only: no edits, no assessments, no guardrail changes. Its keys stay attached and are refused. **Restore** puts it back in Draft, and it needs a fresh approval to go live. AI systems are never deleted, so the record stays.

## History and emails

The **History** tab lists every move, with who made it, when and why.

| Move | Who is emailed |
| - | - |
| Request approval | Owners and Governance Leads |
| Approve, Approve again, Send back | Whoever asked, and the AI system's owner |
| Go live, Resume, Pause, Retire | The AI system's owner and the organization's owners |

Nobody is emailed about their own move. See [Emails](/reference/emails.md).

## Messages you may see

Altrum puts your AI system's name where these examples say Claims triage assistant.

| Message | What to do |
| - | - |
| Answer the risk profile of Claims triage assistant first: Edit risk profile, in its actions menu. | Answer it, then ask again. |
| Claims triage assistant cannot be approved yet: its guardrails are not live. | Close the gaps the message names. |
| Claims triage assistant is rated higher than when it was approved. An owner or a Governance Lead approves it again first. | Ask for **Approve again**. |
| Claims triage assistant is in review, so it cannot do that now. Reload the page to see what it can do. | Someone else moved it. Reload. |
| Your role cannot make this move. Ask an owner, an admin or a Governance Lead. | Ask someone with that role. |
| Claims triage assistant is retired. Restore it to Draft to change it. | Restore it first. |


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