Consider that you are the data steward of the Human Resources department of an organization that has been through an acquisition. The organization that acquired your organization doesn't use the term "Costs to Company." The business term "Cost to Company" must be changed to "Total Compensation." In the Human Resources glossary, you rename the business term "Cost to Company" to "Total Compensation." You add the word "Cost to Company" as a synonym to indicate to employees that both "Cost to Company" and "Total Compensation" have the same definition. You provide a duration of six months after which the term "Cost to Company" is no longer used.

After the six-month duration, the Analyst tool changes the status of the synonym "Cost to Company" to inactive. Glossary consumers see that the synonym is not valid anymore. Users can still search for "Cost to Company" and the Analyst tool returns the business term "Total Compensation" in the search results.