Best way to structure and implement Product Version list in Assets for Customer Request Forms

[James K_]

Hello, I currently have an Object Schema that I am using to store Customer Organizations and Employees. I would like to extend this to include our product versions. Currently, I have a custom field that uses a picklist (IE: 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0)  that I manually update upon new releases or when a version is retired.  When a version loses official support, I create a new option (ie. "1.0 (unsupported)") and disable the version so it can't be picked.  This informs customers when opening a new ticket that the version isn't officially supported.

I'd like to switch to using Assets and develop the schema in such a way that I can accomplish the following.

• Have an Object be removed from a dropdown selection field available to customers based on an attribute (ie. "Selectable")
• Have that attribute update based on another attribute that contains the expiration of support for that version.
• Create a new object with the name of the non-supported version and "unsupported" (ie. "v1.0 (Unsupported)") so that in reviews I can distinguish between tickets that were open when the version was supported and ones that were opened when it wasn't.

My questions are three-fold:

1. What would be the best way to structure and organize the versions?  My initial thought is they should all be Objects under the appropriate software object type, however if there are impacts in doing it this way, I am open to suggestions.
2. How best to automate the removal of expired versions, and creation of new objects?
3. Is there a better way to inform users or track whether a ticket was opened on an unsupported version other than my plan to create a new option for the custom field.

I think I understand how to restrict the field options based on AQL queries, so the structure and automations are my main hurdles right now.

Thanks,
James