Pulse Sustainment Mode
The system you just modernized still has to be owned, operated, secured, and maintained for years. PSM is the layer of AIM that tracks that life.
Free for all Organization plans. Activates from any completed Project Pulse implementation.
Why Pulse Sustainment Mode exists
Most modernization programs track the build. Almost none track what happens after.
The system is delivered, the implementation team rolls off, the project closes — and from that day forward the customer is on their own to keep it running, patch it, sustain its staffing, defend it in audits, and explain it to the next leadership team. By Year 2 most organizations have lost the thread on what was actually delivered, who signed off, why a specific decision was made, and what trade-offs were on the table at the time.
Pulse Sustainment Mode is the layer that prevents that. The day your implementation closes, PSM freezes the original Pulse as a permanent as-built baselineand starts the operational record — change requests, board decisions, configuration changes, compliance events, and procurement actions — all attributable, all timestamped, all linked to the original assessment context that produced the system.
Included free with every Organization plan
PSM is included on Org-Small, Org-Medium, and Org-Large at no additional cost. There is no per-PSM fee, no per-change fee, and no surcharge for the public dashboard or audit feed. Future autonomous-operations capabilities will be a separate opt-in tier — but the sustainment record itself is permanently free for Organization customers.
What PSM tracks
Six lifecycle event types, captured with attribution and timestamp, tied back to the original assessment.
As-Built Baseline
A permanent, immutable snapshot of the system the day sustainment activates. The original Pulse becomes the canonical "what was actually delivered" — read-only, signed-off, and used as the comparison anchor for every later change.
Change Requests
Anyone with appropriate access can file a CR proposing a change. Each CR moves through categorization, board review, voting, implementation, and attestation — with full vote records and rationale captured at every step.
Change Control Board
A configurable board of named voters per change category — engineering, security, finance, compliance, etc. The org decides who is on the board and what categories they vote on. Voting outcomes are recorded with each voter's comment.
Configuration Changes
Routine operational changes — version upgrades, scaling adjustments, dependency updates — captured against the as-built baseline so you always know how far the running system has drifted from what was originally delivered.
Compliance Events
Audit findings, framework re-certifications, policy waivers, control attestations — anything that touches the system's compliance posture, recorded with the framework, the finding, and the disposition.
Procurement Actions
License renewals, support contract extensions, hardware refreshes, vendor changes. The system has a financial life of its own after delivery — PSM keeps that record alongside the technical one.
How it works
PSM follows a simple lifecycle. Every step is auditable.
Activate from a completed Pulse — or adopt an existing system
When a Project Pulse implementation reaches its final attested milestone, an Owner or Admin activates Pulse Sustainment Mode for that project. The original Pulse is frozen as the as-built baseline and the sustainment record begins. Already-running systems that were never modernized through AIM can also be onboarded directly through a guided adoption flow that captures their current state as the baseline.
Designate a Lead and a Backup
Every PSM has a named Designated Lead and Backup Lead — the people accountable for sustainment milestones, board coordination, and the operational record. Leads must be Owners, Admins, or Engineers. This separation of duties is what makes the audit trail defensible.
Configure the Change Control Board
The org chooses who votes on which categories. Default categories are pre-loaded based on the organization's sector — federal agencies see different defaults than healthcare systems or commercial enterprises. Categories and voters are configurable at any time.
File, vote, implement, attest
Anyone with access can file a Change Request. The CR is categorized, the assigned board votes, implementation proceeds if approved, and the Lead attests when the change is delivered. Every state transition is timestamped and attributable.
Publish the operational record (optional)
Owners and Admins can publish a sanitized public dashboard for stakeholders — councils, sponsors, auditors. The published view shows operational status without exposing internal user names, emails, or sensitive context. Embeddable as an iframe on external sites.
Org-wide audit feed
Owners and Admins see a single org-wide audit feed of every PSM event across every system: lead changes, CR votes, attestations, configuration changes, compliance events. One view, the whole portfolio, fully searchable.
Who can do what
PSM uses your existing AIM org roles. No separate accounts to manage.
| Action | Owner | Admin | Engineer | Reviewer | Program Analyst | Viewer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activate PSM / adopt a system | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Be named Designated or Backup Lead | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Attest sustainment milestones (Lead-only for Engineers) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Configure CCB membership and categories | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| File a Change Request | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Vote on CRs (when on the board) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Attest CR closeout | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| Publish public PSM dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| View org-wide PSM audit feed | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| View PSM detail and history | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Reviewers attest CR closeouts (sign-off that a delivered change matches what was approved) but do not attest sustainment milestones. That responsibility is reserved for the named Lead — preserving separation of duties.
Common questions
Does Pulse Sustainment Mode cost extra?
No. PSM is included on every Organization plan (Org-Small, Org-Medium, Org-Large) at no additional cost. There is no per-PSM fee, no per-change-request fee, and no surcharge for the public dashboard or org-wide audit feed.
What happens to the original Project Pulse when sustainment activates?
The implementation Pulse is frozen and becomes the canonical as-built baseline that PSM tracks against. It remains viewable in read-only mode forever — it does not disappear, it becomes the source of truth for what was originally delivered. You can always click back to it from any PSM record.
Can we activate PSM for systems we never modernized through AIM?
Yes. The adoption flow lets an Owner or Admin onboard an existing operational system into PSM directly. You attest the current state — technology stack, vendor relationships, compliance scope — and that becomes the as-built baseline going forward. Optionally you can retroactively link an older AIM assessment to the adopted PSM if one exists.
Who is on the Change Control Board by default?
PSM ships with a set of default change categories tuned to your organization sector. Each category has a recommended voter slate (e.g., engineering, security, finance, compliance) but the actual voters are always chosen by your Owners and Admins. You can add categories, remove them, or change voter membership at any time.
What is the public dashboard for?
It's an optional, sanitized, read-only view of a PSM's operational status that you can share with external stakeholders — council members, audit sponsors, executive leadership outside the IT team. It hides internal user names, emails, and sensitive context. You decide what gets published, and you can unpublish at any time.
Can a Reviewer attest sustainment milestones?
No. Sustainment milestone attestation is reserved for the named Designated or Backup Lead (who must be an Owner, Admin, or Engineer). Reviewers can vote on CRs when they are on the board, and they can attest the closeout of an individual change — but the milestone sign-off itself stays with the Lead. This is intentional separation of duties.
Is the audit trail tamper-proof?
Yes. PSM events are written to an append-only audit log. The database physically rejects modifications to historical records, and every attestation is cryptographically signed. The audit feed is the same evidentiary standard AIM uses for assessment-level provenance — defensible in front of regulators, auditors, and oversight bodies.
Related reading
Ready to start the sustainment record?
Activate PSM from any completed Project Pulse, or adopt an existing system into the sustainment lifecycle.