Rolestatus

Rolestatus is a metadata attribute used in identity and access management (IAM) and role-based access control (RBAC) systems to reflect the current lifecycle state of a role. It indicates whether a role can be assigned to users and considered in authorization decisions, or whether it is in a paused or deprecated state.

Common values for rolestatus include active, inactive, enabled, disabled, suspended, pending, deprecated, archived, and deleted. Active or enabled denotes that the role is usable for assignment and access decisions. Inactive or disabled means the role should not be assigned or used. Suspended indicates a temporary halt, pending usually signals approval is required before use, deprecated marks a role as superseded or discouraged, and archived or deleted indicates it is no longer in use but kept for historical or compliance reasons.

Lifecycle governance around rolestatus often involves policies and approvals, with changes being auditable and time-stamped. Roles may transition through statuses as part of onboarding, project lifecycles, or security reviews. Regular reviews help ensure only appropriate roles remain active, and obsolete roles are deprecated or removed to minimize risk.

In practice, rolestatus is stored as an attribute on role objects within directory services or IAM platforms and is consulted during access checks. Implementations may leverage caching and synchronization mechanisms, so status changes propagate to all authorization points in a timely and consistent manner.

See also: role-based access control, identity and access management, audit logging, governance and compliance.