Can Item Relationships be used in Order Entry to show items no longer for sale?

We have items that we are trying to phase out of inventory and manufacturing, but customers keep requesting them via the Order Entry process.   When a customer asks for this old item, we'd like Order Entry to be able to know this item is being replaced by a newer item.  If we set these old items up with Customer Order Enabled turned off, they do not show up in order entry as a valid part number.     

From what I've read I suspect it's some combination of Item Relationships (supersession) and item attribute settings, but haven't been able to identify the correct mix.  Is anyone doing something like this, or is there a white paper on product life cycle management?