GRCLibrary.ai

Standard

Semantic Continuity in Migration and Retirement Standard

When one thing replaces another, the organization tends to verify that the move was complete: the records transferred, the checksums match, the new system is readable and populated. Completeness answers whether the bits arrived; it does not answer whether the successor decides, classifies, or behaves as the predecessor did. A migration can be complete and lossless at the level of data and still change the meaning of the outputs: a re-mapped code list, a re-trained model, a replacement control that admits a different population. When the predecessor is then retired, that semantic change becomes invisible and irreversible.

Type
Standard
Version
0.0.8
Date
2026-10-27
Owner
GRC Programme Manager
Approving authority
Governance Library Maintainer
Classification
Public
Confidentiality
Public
Category
Governance
Review frequency
Annual and upon material change to migration, lifecycle, or retirement practice
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

Read the full text on GitHub (opens in a new tab)

Outline

  • 1. Purpose and scope
  • 2. The semantic-continuity gate
  • 3. Comparison methods by predecessor class
  • 4. Pass criteria and tolerance
  • 5. Authorization on a partial pass
  • 6. Fail path
  • 7. Evidence and retention
  • 8. Relationship to existing controls
  • 9. Framework alignment
  • 10. Limitations

Frameworks it maps to

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