diff --git a/src/igvfd/schemas/changelogs/software_version.md b/src/igvfd/schemas/changelogs/software_version.md
index a6061fa97..b1a68d8d9 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/schemas/changelogs/software_version.md
+++ b/src/igvfd/schemas/changelogs/software_version.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 ## Changelog for *`software_version.json`*
 
+### Schema version 6
+
+* Require `award`.
+* Require `lab`.
+* Require `software`.
+* Require `version`.
+
 ### Schema version 5
 
 * Require `release_timestamp` for any objects with `released` or `archived` status.
diff --git a/src/igvfd/schemas/software_version.json b/src/igvfd/schemas/software_version.json
index 862ce1c89..d71f70e34 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/schemas/software_version.json
+++ b/src/igvfd/schemas/software_version.json
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@
             ]
         }
     ],
+    "required": [
+        "award",
+        "lab",
+        "software",
+        "version"
+    ],
     "identifyingProperties": [
         "uuid",
         "aliases",
@@ -54,7 +60,7 @@
     },
     "properties": {
         "schema_version": {
-            "default": "5"
+            "default": "6"
         },
         "software": {
             "title": "Software",
diff --git a/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software.py b/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software.py
index 3d758f0db..4df652da3 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software.py
+++ b/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software.py
@@ -15,6 +15,19 @@ def software(testapp, lab, award):
     return testapp.post_json('/software', item, status=201).json['@graph'][0]
 
 
+@pytest.fixture
+def software_graphreg(testapp, lab, award):
+    item = {
+        'award': award['@id'],
+        'lab': lab['@id'],
+        'title': 'Graphreg',
+        'name': 'graphreg',
+        'description': 'GraphReg (Chromatin interaction aware gene regulatory modeling with graph attention networks) is a graph neural network based gene regulation model.',
+        'source_url': 'https://genome.cshlp.org/content/32/5/930.full'
+    }
+    return testapp.post_json('/software', item, status=201).json['@graph'][0]
+
+
 @pytest.fixture
 def software_v1(software):
     item = software.copy()
diff --git a/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software_version.py b/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software_version.py
index 1cb870398..48d9bd07a 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software_version.py
+++ b/src/igvfd/tests/fixtures/schemas/software_version.py
@@ -51,3 +51,9 @@ def software_version_v3(software_version_v2):
         'description': '',
     })
     return item
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def software_version_v5(testapp):
+    item = {}
+    return item
diff --git a/src/igvfd/tests/test_upgrade_software_version.py b/src/igvfd/tests/test_upgrade_software_version.py
index 94e10c98b..099e3c265 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/tests/test_upgrade_software_version.py
+++ b/src/igvfd/tests/test_upgrade_software_version.py
@@ -30,3 +30,22 @@ def test_software_version_upgrade_3_4(upgrader, software_version_v3):
         current_version='3', target_version='4')
     assert value['schema_version'] == '4'
     assert 'description' not in value
+
+
+def test_software_version_upgrade_5_6(upgrader, software_version_v5):
+    value = upgrader.upgrade(
+        'software_version', software_version_v5,
+        current_version='5', target_version='6')
+    assert value['schema_version'] == '6'
+    assert value['software'] == '/software/graphreg/'
+    assert value['version'] == 'v1.0.0'
+    assert value['notes'].endswith(
+        'This software version lacked a link to a software '
+        'and has been upgraded to link to /software/graphreg/ '
+        'as a placeholder. This software version lacked a version '
+        'and has been upgraded to v1.0.0 as a placeholder. This '
+        'software version lacked a lab and has been upgraded to '
+        '/labs/j-michael-cherry/ as a placeholder. This software '
+        'version lacked an award and has been upgraded to '
+        '/awards/HG012012/ as a placeholder.'
+    )
diff --git a/src/igvfd/upgrade/software_version.py b/src/igvfd/upgrade/software_version.py
index a80e165ba..c304263a7 100644
--- a/src/igvfd/upgrade/software_version.py
+++ b/src/igvfd/upgrade/software_version.py
@@ -42,3 +42,29 @@ def software_version_4_5(value, system):
         notes = value.get('notes', '')
         notes += f'This object\'s release_timestamp has been set to 2024-03-06T12:34:56Z'
         value['notes'] = notes.strip()
+
+
+@upgrade_step('software_version', '5', '6')
+def software_version_5_6(value, system):
+    # https://igvf.atlassian.net/browse/IGVF-1686
+    software_note = ''
+    version_note = ''
+    lab_note = ''
+    award_note = ''
+    if 'software' not in value:
+        value['software'] = '/software/graphreg/'
+        software_note = 'This software version lacked a link to a software and has been upgraded to link to /software/graphreg/ as a placeholder.'
+    if 'version' not in value:
+        value['version'] = 'v1.0.0'
+        version_note = 'This software version lacked a version and has been upgraded to v1.0.0 as a placeholder.'
+    if 'lab' not in value:
+        value['lab'] = '/labs/j-michael-cherry/'
+        lab_note = 'This software version lacked a lab and has been upgraded to /labs/j-michael-cherry/ as a placeholder.'
+    if 'award' not in value:
+        value['award'] = '/awards/HG012012/'
+        award_note = 'This software version lacked an award and has been upgraded to /awards/HG012012/ as a placeholder.'
+    merged_note = ' '.join([x for x in [software_note, version_note, lab_note, award_note] if x != ''])
+    notes = value.get('notes', '')
+    notes += merged_note
+    if notes:
+        value['notes'] = notes.strip()