Artifact

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An Artifact is an identifiable work product created, used, modified, exchanged, or preserved during an engineering, development, deployment, operational, or governance activity.

An Artifact may contain information, executable content, configuration content, model content, or evidence. Examples include:

• Source code
• Configuration files
• Infrastructure Configurations
• Infrastructure Blueprints
• Models
• Schemas
• Scripts
• Policy files
• Build specifications
• Machine Images
• Reports
• Logs
• Test results
• Evidence

An Artifact remains distinct from the physical or logical subject that it describes. For example:

• An Infrastructure Configuration is an Artifact that represents the desired state of an Infrastructure Environment
• A Machine Image is an Artifact used to instantiate a computing environment
• A report is an Artifact that communicates selected information
• A test result is an Artifact that records the outcome of a verification activity

An Artifact may be:

• Human-readable
• Machine-readable
• Executable
• Version-controlled
• Generated
• Derived
• Signed
• Approved
• Released
• Archived

These characteristics do not apply to every Artifact and require separate specification where relevant.

identifiable work product created, used, modified, exchanged, or preserved during an activity

Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

An Artifact may exist in physical, digital, or conceptual form.

Identification of an Artifact does not by itself establish its revision, approval status, release status, provenance, authenticity, integrity, or retention status.

A Version-Controlled Artifact is an Artifact managed through a Version Control system.

The term does not require a particular file format, repository, storage medium, tool, or implementation technology.

A machine-readable Infrastructure Configuration stored as a file and processed by a deployment workflow is an Artifact.