A method for configuring multiple lifecycles, and associating each lifecycle with one or more subcategories of items includes receiving a request for a state change for an item in a current state; determining if the item's current state exists in the located lifecycle; wherein if the current state does not exist in the located lifecycle, the current state is updated with a series of update rules; determining if the current state has flags; wherein the flags are checked for one or more protection rules; generating a list of target states; receiving a user selected target state from the generated list; checking the selected target state for one or more associated protection rules; recording a state change for the selected target state in response to the satisfaction of the one or more associated protection rules, and if no protection rules are found; and propagating the state change.