TRG 10.03 - KIT Lifecycle

Status	Created	Post-History
Draft	12-Apr-2024	Initial contribution
Active	20-Nov-2025	Splitted 09.01 Draft into 10.01, 10.02, 10.03 adding the new KIT 2.0 Content Structure

Why

This TRG serves to maintain a consistent structure and ensure content quality for the KIT developers. And keep the quality of the KITs along their lifecycle.

Here is a detailed explanation of the KIT Framework: KIT Framework and the KIT Lifecycle documentation.

In this TRG we describe the different maturity levels a KIT can have, the required artifacts for each level, and the graduation process.

General Requirements

• A KIT must indicate its maturity level (sandbox, incubating, graduated) - see KIT Lifecycle
• A KIT must have a clear version history following semantic versioning - see TRG 1.03 - CHANGELOG.md
• A KIT lifecycle level must only change via a release - see KIT Release Process describing it in the KIT Release Checks Ticket
• A KIT must contain a Creation Date and Last Updated Date documented at the KIT Master Data - see KIT Master Data Overview
• A KIT can achieve graduation if it fulfills the required artifacts and passes the graduation process - see Graduation Process
• If a KIT is no longer maintained or relevant, it must follow the deprecation process - see TRG 10.05 - KIT Deprecation Process

Maturity Level Overview

Artifacts and Deliverables

This section provides an overview of required artifacts for each maturity level and incubating sub-state. For detailed examples and specifications, please refer to TRG 10.02 - KIT Content Structure.

Artifact Requirements by Maturity Level

Legend:

• Mandatory
• * Optional/Recommended
• In Development
• Expert Review Needed

Artifact / Stage	Sandbox	Incubating Draft	Incubating In Progress	Incubating In Review	Graduated	Additional Info
General Requirements
Changelog						Version history and updates, is mandatory for all lifecycles
Code Owner			*			Required for graduation - how to configure see TRG 10.02 - KIT Content Structure and see also TRG 10.05 - KIT Graduation Process
All Files
Notice						Legal and compliance notice in every file as described in TRG 07.07 and TRG 07.08
KIT Icon						SVG KIT icon stored at /static/img/kits/<kit-id>/<kit-id>-kit.svg as described in TRG 10.02 - KIT Content Structure
Adoption View
Vision / Mission						Core foundation document, which describe why it makes sense and what is the goal of the KIT
Business Value(s)						This is necessary to show if there is a clear business value for the KIT
Use Case / Domain explanation						Explains the Use Case (What is its context) and how it works
Business Processes						May not be relevant for Network Services
Tutorials / Videos			*		*	Educational content
Whitepaper			*		*	Research and analysis document
Development View
Architecture Overview		*				System design and architecture diagrams that describe the system and its contexts.
Component/Sequence Diagrams			*			Implementation details on the components and services from a KIT and how they interact with each other
Standards			*			Industry standards compliance, if industry specific like (Catena-X e.V. standards) shall be referenced in the Industry Extension under the industry branch
API-Specification / Protocols			*			Technical interface definitions, required for developing microservices
Logic / Schema			*			Required for documenting the context, diagrams which specify the system that can be built with the KIT
Semantic Models / Data Structures						Described the Data Models and Data Structures handled by applications based on this KIT
Test Cases			*			Described test cases how to validate the functionality of this KIT
Operation View
Deployment Guide						How to set the system and bring it up and running
Operation/Monitoring Guidelines						Guidelines for operating and maintaining the KIT in production environments
Security Guidelines						Security best practices, threat models, and security configurations
Success Stories
Reference Implementations			*			COTS or Open Source implementations that used this KIT to build an application successfully, showing clear adoption paths and demonstrating the value of the KIT
Documentation
Extra Documentation / Links		*	*	*	*	A KIT can include additional documenation or links if is relevant for the users of the KIT
Sample Data			*			Example datasets from this KIT to help users understand and implement the datamodels effectively at the systems
Industry Extensions
At least one Industry Extension			*			Required for graduation - at least one industry extension with industrial standards compliance - see TRG 10.02 - Industry Extensions

Further Specifications

• The KIT graduation process is detailed in the TRG 10.04 - KIT Graduation Process document.
• The KIT deprecation process is detailed in the TRG 10.05 - KIT Deprecation Process document.