> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.beaconrevenue.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lifecycle stage

> The stage an account occupies after the sale closes, one of eight, and the condition that moves it to the next.

## What it is

`lifecycle_stage` is the stage an account occupies after its sale closes, expressed as one of eight ordered stages. Every account carries exactly one stage, and every other customer figure reads it rather than deriving its own. The stages run from the signed contract to long-term maturity. Stages before a deal closes belong to pipeline reporting and are not part of this value.

## How it is calculated

Measured. The stage is set by the most recent recorded transition event, evaluated against the exit condition of the stage the account is in.

| # | Stage                      | Exit condition                                                                                                      |
| - | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 1 | Onboarding                 | 50% or more of the activation milestones typical for the account's segment are complete                             |
| 2 | Activation                 | 80% or more of those milestones are complete, and a first quantified value statement is recorded                    |
| 3 | Value realisation          | Cost to serve settles within the band typical for the segment, and usage holds at segment-typical level for 60 days |
| 4 | Steady state               | The renewal date is six months away                                                                                 |
| 5 | Renewal approach           | A renewal decision is recorded: renew, do not renew, or negotiation extended                                        |
| 6 | Renewal decision           | A renewal contract is signed, or non-renewal is recorded                                                            |
| 7 | Post-renewal re-engagement | A stable post-renewal pattern is established                                                                        |
| 8 | Long-term maturity         | A later renewal cycle returns the account to stage 5, or the account churns                                         |

A transition is recorded only at 70% confidence or above. Below that threshold the transition is flagged for review and the stage does not move. Typical stage durations differ by segment; the eight stages themselves do not.

## Where it comes from

| Source                           | What it supplies                                                           |
| -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Billing                          | Required. No stage is produced without a connected billing source.         |
| CRM or customer-success platform | Stage transition events, where the tool records them                       |
| Contract records                 | Close date, which anchors stage 1, and renewal date, which anchors stage 5 |
| Product usage                    | Activation-milestone completion                                            |

Where no customer-success platform is connected, Beacon builds the transition events from billing, contract and product events instead. Per-account stages appear once transition data has been flowing for 30 days; before that, only segment-level distributions exist.

## How fresh it is

Transitions are recorded as they occur, so the stage changes at the moment a transition is confirmed rather than on a schedule. Lifecycle stage carries no monthly seal of its own; it anchors the renewal-forecast seal downstream. Accounts past 36 months of tenure are re-evaluated weekly.

## Currency and rounding

Neither applies. Lifecycle stage is a category, not a number, and holds no money value.

## What changes it

A transition event recorded at 70% confidence or above, which means the exit condition above has been satisfied. A backward move is possible and is recorded. A contract amendment that changes the renewal date moves the stage 4 and stage 5 boundaries with it. An administrative reclassification requires approval from your customer-success lead and is recorded with the previous stage, the new stage, the reason, the roles requesting and approving, and the timestamp. Score movements do not change the stage.

## What it is not

* Not a pipeline or marketing stage. Those cover the period before the deal closes and are owned by different reporting.
* Not `segment`. Segment is the commercial group an account belongs to; stage is where the account has reached after the sale. Segment feeds stage evaluation through segment-typical durations. Stage never changes segment.
* Not the cohort stage used in cohort reporting, which tracks whether a cohort is open, closing or closed.
* Not the lifecycle-stage field in your CRM. That field is an input. Where the two disagree, the stage published here is the one every other Beacon figure reads.