A system and method for defining a separate lifecycle policy for each of one or more data images. A backup server is configured to select a first point-in-time value, which indicates when to begin moving a data image from a first data storage medium to a second storage medium. The point-in-time value corresponds to a calendar date and an hour or hours of the day. The backup server is configured to continue selecting a respective point-in-time value for each data storage medium within a tiered storage hierarchy in order to define the lifecycle policy. The backup server may be further configured to delete a copy of the data image on a source data storage medium when completion of a move of the data image to a destination data storage medium is detected. Further, the backup server may detect scheduling conflicts between two or more lifecycle policies.