Secure Software Systems

Strategies When Faced with End-of-Life

Sometimes organizations find themselves in the position where the systems they use are going to be discontinued. The first thing that the organization needs to do it to complete an impact assessment. The impact assessment is a detailed study of the impact of the event on the organization. The assessment will look at the role of the system in the organization. Is it a primary system? Is it a secondary system—useful, but not essential? Is it integrated into another organizational or third-party system? The assessment needs to consider how tightly the impacted system is connected to other systems the organization uses.

The impact assessment will look at the ongoing costs of operating the system. That includes ...