Lifecycle Properties

To view or edit a lifecycle's properties, double-click its Browser or list entry. The property sheet tabs and fields listed here are those available by default, before any customization of the interface by you or an administrator.

The General tab contains the following properties:

Property	Description
Name/Code/Comment	Identify the object. The name should clearly convey the object's purpose to non-technical users, while the code, which is used for generating code or scripts, may be abbreviated, and should not normally include spaces. You can optionally add a comment to provide more detailed information about the object. By default the code is generated from the name by applying the naming conventions specified in the model options. To decouple name-code synchronization, click to release the = button to the right of the Code field.
Stereotype	Extends the semantics of the object. You can enter a stereotype directly in this field, or add stereotypes to the list by specifying them in an extension file.
Keywords	Provide a way of loosely grouping objects through tagging. To enter multiple keywords, separate them with commas.

Definition Tab

This tab contains all the properties necessary to define your lifecycle. The Policy group box contains the following properties:

Property	Description
Policy type	Specifies the criteria used to advance data through the lifecycle. You can choose between: Age-based - where data are moved from phase to phase in named partitions depending on the time since their creation. Access-base - where tables are moved from phase to phase depending on the time since the data in the tables were last accessed.
Start date	[age-based lifecycles only] Specifies the date from which you want the lifecycle to manage data movement.
Total retention	Specifies the total length of time during which data is controlled by the lifecycle. For example, if you specify a total retention of 5 years, the lifecycle will manage the movement of each record from the moment of its creation until it has existed for 5 years. For age-based lifecycles, the total retention time must be equal to the sum of all the retention times of all the phases contained within the lifecycle. For access-based lifecycles, the total retention time is used as the minimum total time that the data must remain in the lifecycle.
Phases	Lists the phases (see Phases (PDM)) associated with the lifecycle. You can create phases using the Create a New Phase tool. Click on a phase to open its property sheet. Note: Your phase will display a yellow warning overlay until it is completely defined.
Partition range	[age-based lifecycles only] Specifies the period of data to be contained in partitions for tables governed by the lifecycle. For example, a partition range of one month means that each partition will contain one month's data.

The Managed Tables group box lists the tables whose data are managed by the lifecycle. Use the Add Objects and Create an Object tools to populate the list. If the lifecycle is used to archive data in an external database, the choice of tables to attach is limited to the tables in the external database, and the selected tables are generated to the warehouse PDM if they were not already present.

The following properties must be completed for each table in order to correctly generate data archiving scripts:

Name and Code - to identify the table.
Start Date - [optional] Specifies the start date from which to generate the first partition.
Initial Rows and Growth Rate - Specifies the number of rows that the table will start with, and the percentage growth per year
Partition Key - [age-based lifecycles] Specifies the column to use to determine to which partition a row is assigned.

Click the Generate Data Archiving Script button to generate scripts to implement your lifecycle (see Generating Data Archiving Scripts to Implement your Lifecycle).

Select the Cost Saving Analysis checkbox and then click the Refresh Cost Savings Analysis tool to display a list of the cost savings to be obtained by managing data with the lifecycle. Use the tools above the list to export the cost savings data to Excel or to print it.