Artifact
Definition
An Artifact is the fundamental unit of engineering knowledge in ATON.
Every engineering concept is represented as an Artifact.
Examples include:
- Requirement
- Task
- Bug
- Review
- Risk
- Test Case
- Component
- Interface
- UML Class
- State Machine
- Project
- Sprint
- Release
Artifacts are independent, versioned engineering objects.
Identity
Every Artifact has a globally unique identifier.
The identifier never changes during the lifetime of the Artifact.
Human-readable identifiers are metadata and may change.
Example
UUID
9f9bfa8f...
Display ID
REQ-4711
Lifecycle
Artifacts evolve over time.
An Artifact is never replaced.
Instead, new versions are created.
Artifact
↓
Version 1
↓
Version 2
↓
Version 3
The complete history remains available.
Content
Artifacts contain engineering knowledge.
The content depends on the Artifact type.
Examples
Requirement
- Title
- Description
- Rationale
Task
- Summary
- Status
- Assignee
Review
- Findings
- Decision
Metadata
Every Artifact provides common metadata.
Typical metadata include
- UUID
- Type
- Author
- Creation Date
- Last Modification
- Status
- Tags
Attributes
Artifacts may define arbitrary attributes.
Examples
Requirement
ASIL = D
Task
Priority = High
Component
Supplier = Bosch
Attributes are extensible.
The kernel does not define domain-specific attributes.
Relationships
Artifacts do not contain references to other Artifacts.
Relationships are represented by separate Relation objects.
Requirement
↓
Relation
↓
Test Case
This keeps artifacts independent.
Reviews
Every Artifact can be reviewed.
Reviews are independent engineering objects.
Multiple reviews may exist for the same Artifact version.
Baselines
Artifacts may participate in one or more Baselines.
A Baseline references specific versions.
Persistence
Artifacts are persisted independently.
The persistence format is human-readable whenever possible.
The persistence technology does not define the Artifact model.
Design Principles
An Artifact
- has an immutable identity
- is versioned
- is reviewable
- participates in relationships
- may belong to baselines
- contains engineering knowledge
- is independent of its persistence format
Summary
Artifacts are the fundamental building blocks of the Engineering Knowledge Graph.
Everything in ATON begins with an Artifact.