Evidence Lifecycle Management is the system layer that controls how evidence evolves over time, from creation and active usage to degradation, invalidation, and eventual retirement.
Context Block
Page Type: Evidence System Layer
Function: Temporal State Management Engine
Position: Cross-cutting governance layer across Evidence system
Role: Controls lifecycle states of all evidence units
This layer ensures evidence is not static. Every piece of evidence has a lifecycle that determines its validity over time.
Core Objective
- Define lifecycle states of evidence units
- Manage transitions between active and inactive evidence
- Control freshness and decay of information
- Retire outdated or invalid evidence safely
- Maintain system-wide evidence hygiene
Lifecycle Stages
- Active — valid and usable in reasoning
- Stale — still valid but losing freshness
- Deprecated — superseded by newer evidence
- Expired — no longer valid for reasoning
- Archived — stored for audit/history only
Lifecycle Pipeline
1. Evidence Activation
Evidence enters active state after validation and scoring.
2. Usage Monitoring
Tracks how often and in what context evidence is used.
3. Freshness Evaluation
Assesses time decay and relevance degradation.
4. State Transitioning
Moves evidence across lifecycle states based on rules.
5. Retirement Handling
Archives or removes evidence from active reasoning flow.
Lifecycle Signals
- Timestamp decay rate
- Usage frequency index
- Replacement detection signal
- Revalidation status
- System relevance score
Example Lifecycle Flow
Active → Stale → Deprecated → Archived
Example: Google SEO update documentation → Active (launch) → Stale (6 months later) → Deprecated (new update released) → Archived (historical reference)
Integration in GEO Pipeline
Evidence Lifecycle Management ensures temporal correctness and prevents outdated information from contaminating active reasoning.
Failure Modes
- Failure to retire outdated evidence
- Premature deactivation of still-valid evidence
- Incorrect freshness scoring leading to wrong state transitions
- Loss of historical context due to over-archiving
Structured Output Model
Each evidence unit produces:
- Lifecycle State (Active / Stale / Deprecated / Expired / Archived)
- State Transition History
- Freshness Decay Score
- Usage Frequency Profile
- Retirement Recommendation Flag
Relationship Block
Parent Layer: /evidence/
Cross-layer Role: Temporal Governance Layer
Downstream Use: Scoring, Ranking, Grounding
Connected Systems: Retrieval Engine, Knowledge Graph, Answer System
Structured Summary
Evidence Lifecycle Management is the temporal governance layer of the Evidence system. It manages how evidence changes state over time to ensure only relevant, valid, and up-to-date information is used in reasoning processes.
This layer prevents system degradation caused by outdated or stale evidence remaining in active circulation.