A system including: network interface circuitry configured to: receive historical access data for a selected stored item; receive volume metric data for the selected stored item; send a storage class placement token to a host interface, the host interface configured to control storage class placement for at least the selected stored item according to the SCP token; placement circuitry in data communication with the network interface circuitry, the placement circuitry configured to execute an SCP stack, the SCP stack including: a data-staging layer; an input layer; a transformation layer; and a prescriptive engine layer; the SCP stack executable to: obtain, via the input layer, the historical access data, and the volume metric data; process, at the input layer, the historical access data and volume metric data to generate time-collated activity data; store, at the data-staging layer, the time-collated activity data; process, at the transformation layer, the time-collated activity data to generate defined-period summation data; store, at the data-staging layer, the defined-period summation data; access, at the prescriptive engine layer, the defined-period summation data via a memory resource provided by the data-staging layer; based on the defined-period summation data, determine, at the prescriptive engine layer, an efficiency coefficient for a placement selection associated with a selected storage class for the selected stored item; based on the efficiency coefficient, perform a class determination whether to execute the placement selection by comparing the efficiency coefficient of a particular class to other efficiency coefficients of other classes for the selected stored item; and based on the class determination, generate the SCP token. network interface circuitry configured to: receive historical access data for a selected stored item; receive volume metric data for the selected stored item; send a storage class placement token to a host interface, the host interface configured to control storage class placement for at least the selected stored item according to the SCP token; receive historical access data for a selected stored item; receive volume metric data for the selected stored item; send a storage class placement token to a host interface, the host interface configured to control storage class placement for at least the selected stored item according to the SCP token; placement circuitry in data communication with the network interface circuitry, the placement circuitry configured to execute an SCP stack, the SCP stack including: a data-staging layer; an input layer; a transformation layer; and a prescriptive engine layer; a data-staging layer; an input layer; a transformation layer; and a prescriptive engine layer; the SCP stack executable to: obtain, via the input layer, the historical access data, and the volume metric data; process, at the input layer, the historical access data and volume metric data to generate time-collated activity data; store, at the data-staging layer, the time-collated activity data; process, at the transformation layer, the time-collated activity data to generate defined-period summation data; store, at the data-staging layer, the defined-period summation data; access, at the prescriptive engine layer, the defined-period summation data via a memory resource provided by the data-staging layer; based on the defined-period summation data, determine, at the prescriptive engine layer, an efficiency coefficient for a placement selection associated with a selected storage class for the selected stored item; based on the efficiency coefficient, perform a class determination whether to execute the placement selection by comparing the efficiency coefficient of a particular class to other efficiency coefficients of other classes for the selected stored item; and based on the class determination, generate the SCP token. obtain, via the input layer, the historical access data, and the volume metric data; process, at the input layer, the historical access data and volume metric data to generate time-collated activity data; store, at the data-staging layer, the time-collated activity data; process, at the transformation layer, the time-collated activity data to generate defined-period summation data; store, at the data-staging layer, the defined-period summation data; access, at the prescriptive engine layer, the defined-period summation data via a memory resource provided by the data-staging layer; based on the defined-period summation data, determine, at the prescriptive engine layer, an efficiency coefficient for a placement selection associated with a selected storage class for the selected stored item; based on the efficiency coefficient, perform a class determination whether to execute the placement selection by comparing the efficiency coefficient of a particular class to other efficiency coefficients of other classes for the selected stored item; and based on the class determination, generate the SCP token.