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Plans: Every plan. Who: owners and admins add and change support periods and record end-of-support notices; every member can see them.
A support period says until when a release line of a product family gets security updates. Under CRA Art. 13(8) it is at least five years, unless the product is expected to be in use for less. Under Art. 13(19), buyers must be told the end date, at least the month and year. Pharus keeps one support period per release line, gives you the sentence for the point of sale, and reminds you before a period ends.

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Release lines

A family can have several release lines, each with its own support period. A line covers the versions from its From version up to the next line’s. Leave From version empty for the first line: it covers every version below the next one. A family with a single line and no From version covers all versions. For example, with a first line and a line from 2.0, the first covers “Versions before 2.0” and the second “Version 2.0 and later”. Pharus treats 1.0 and 1.0.0 as the same version, so they can’t start two lines.

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Add a support period

1

Open the product family

Go to Settings → Product families and open the family. Find the Support period card.
2

Add a release line

Select Add a release line.
3

Fill in the period

  • From version: the first version this line covers, or empty for the first line.
  • Placed on the market: the month and year, as YYYY-MM.
  • Security updates until: the last month of support, as YYYY-MM. Support runs to the end of that month, and it has to be after the month the product was placed on the market.
  • What the support period is based on: expected time in use, user expectations, the nature of the product, the support periods of key third-party components (Art. 13(8)).
  • Why it is shorter than five years: shown when the period is under five years.
4

Save

Select Save support period.
To change a line later, select Edit on it. To remove one, select Remove: the register and the technical file no longer show it, but signed editions of the technical file keep what they recorded. A line that lacks something for the technical file says so, for example “Say what the period is based on.” Point 4 of the technical documentation reads the support period from here: the line that covers the family’s current version, or else the latest line.

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See where each line stands

Each line shows its versions, its period (for example “June 2026 – June 2031 (5 years)”) and its state: The families list under Settings → Product families shows the line for each family’s current version in the Security updates column, such as “Until June 2031”. It says “Not set” when the family has no support period, and “No line covers this version” when none of its lines covers the current version. On incidents, affected versions whose support ends soon or has ended are tagged “Support ends …” or “Support ended …”. Pharus keeps monitoring those versions after support ends.

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Copy the sentence for the point of sale

Each line has a ready sentence under For the product information and at the point of sale, for example:
Select Copy and put it where buyers see it before they buy: on the product page, in the shop, in the product information. Art. 13(19) and Annex II ask for the end date, at least month and year. With a single line for all versions, the sentence leaves the versions out.

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The reminder before support ends

Pharus emails the workspace’s owners and admins twice for each line:
  • 90 days before support ends, with the subject “security support for … ends in …”;
  • when support has ended, with the subject “security support for … ended in …”.
The first email asks you to extend the period under Settings → Product families if you will support the line for longer, or else make sure buyers and users know the date. If you change the end month, Pharus reminds you again for the new date. An end more than 30 days in the past gets no reminder, so entering an old line doesn’t send one. Archived families and read-only workspaces get no reminders. The weekly digest also lists, under Housekeeping, the lines whose support ends within 90 days or ended in the last 30.

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Tell users that support ends

Users should know when their product stops getting security updates. Pharus drafts the notice; you send it through your own channels and record it.
1

Open the notice

On the line in the Support period card, select Tell users.
2

Edit the text

Choose the Language (Norwegian or English) and Who to tell (All users or The impacted users). Edit the Subject, What happened and What users can do. Pharus adds your company name and security contact at the end.
3

Send it yourself

Copy the whole message, or select Open in email to open your email program with the subject and text and no recipients. Add your customers there, as Bcc. Pharus sends nothing.
4

Record it

Set Users informed at and tick How: Email, Security advisory, Website, In the product or Other. Select Record users informed.
The line then shows “Users told” with the date. Pharus keeps the message as it read, with when and how users were told, and the record can’t be changed afterwards.

Product families

Technical documentation

Inform users

Weekly digest