Which item is not a data lifecycle stage?

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Understanding the data lifecycle means recognizing the stages data goes through from birth to deletion. Creation or collection marks the entry point when data first exists in the system. Archiving represents moving data out of active use to long-term storage. Deletion is the final act of removing data. Data modeling, however, isn’t a stage the data experiences; it’s the design work that defines how data will be organized—schemas, relationships, and constraints—so that the lifecycle stages can be implemented effectively. Modeling typically happens during planning or system design before data flows through those stages, guiding how data is stored, processed, and retrieved. So, data modeling is not a lifecycle stage.