Project artifacts, the extensive documentation generated by effective project management, are more than just paperwork — they’re essential tools for success.
While managing logs, registers, and reports can feel overwhelming, each item is crucial in smooth project execution. Incorporating these project management artifacts into your workflow not only streamlines stakeholder activities but also creates a valuable information archive. When carefully selected and used, these documents significantly enhance future planning processes, providing a rich resource of insights that guide upcoming projects.
What’s a project artifact?
According to the PMI’s Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBoK), project artifact means any templates, documents, or deliverables related to a project. It’s essentially any project management document that aligns project work with client requirements and organizational goals.
You can recognize a project artifact by these key characteristics:
- Creation: Teams generate it as part of the official project documentation.
- Purpose: The document specifically meets the project’s requirements.
- Influence: It directly relates to project management processes and deliverables rather than project outcomes.
- Origin: Project managers and their teams created it.
- Adaptability: It’s dynamic and evolves to reflect project status changes.
- Formality: Changes require a systemic process.
Project artifacts aren’t the same as outputs. While project work produces outputs, management processes produce artifacts. They guide and document the project’s journey, providing structure, clarity, and a reference point for informed decision-making.
The role of artifacts in project management
Artifacts are key in project management, enhancing processes and driving success. They streamline planning, execution, and monitoring, offering a range of benefits. Use them to:
- Clearly document project deliverables and objectives
- Guide teams to work effectively and meet project objectives
- Provide a foundation that supports project planning efforts
- Evaluate whether the project is on track and if you need to adjust the management plan
- Enhance project interaction, information-sharing, and stakeholder engagement
- Assess risks and develop mitigation plans to address them
- Help plan and distribute resources efficiently throughout the project
- Establish parameters for monitoring and controlling progress
- Document changes to the project plan and other processes
- Generate historical data other leaders can review to inform future project planning and improve management practices
Leveraging your project or task management software to file and store these artifacts ensures they’re readily accessible for future projects. This approach expedites the planning process and supports evidence-based decision-making.
10 types of project artifacts
The PMBoK guide identifies various types of artifacts, categorizing them into nine groups. For this article, we’ve expanded the list to 10 definitions for a fuller understanding of each category and their application throughout the project lifecycle.
1. Strategy
Project managers craft strategy artifacts in the initiation phase. These documents define high-level elements such as scope, resources, and schedules, providing direction for execution. Typically created before project work begins, these artifacts often remain unchanged during the project’s lifecycle.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business caseFeasibility studyCost-benefit analysisProject charterTeam charterRisk assessmentRole description | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2. Logs and registers
Risk registers and issue logs in project management are vital. Created during the planning phase, these documents help assess progress and plan daily tasks. To ensure they reflect the project’s current status, managers routinely update them.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Risk registerAssumption logIssue registerStakeholder registerChange logBacklog | N/A | Decision logIssue logProject change request log | N/A |
3. Release requirements
Release artifacts outline the evaluation criteria that project outcomes must meet. They’re crucial for defining testing requirements for prototypes, development units, and the final product, ensuring everything aligns with project goals.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project vision statementProject requirements | Assessment standards | N/A | N/A | N/A |
4. Plans
Plan artifacts provide a roadmap for stakeholders, detailing how managers will execute, monitor, and deliver the project. They typically encompass management plans for various project aspects, such as:
- Logistics
- Quality
- Releases
- Scope
- Iteration
- Testing
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Communication management planRelease planScope management planQuality planLogistics planCost management planResource management plan | Iteration plan | Test plan | Transition plan |
5. Hierarchies
Hierarchy artifacts chart the relationship between different project components, including procedural, organizational, and risk structures. These documents break down high-level information into detailed sections, evolving as the project progresses.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Work breakdown structureProduct breakdown structureOrganizational breakdown structureRisk breakdown structure | N/A | N/A | N/A |
6. Baselines
Baseline artifacts represent approved versions of plans that offer project metrics and benchmarks for managers to gauge success. Managers update these artifacts regularly throughout the project, using them as reference points to measure its achievements.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Budget Milestone schedule Scope Performance measurement |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
7. Communications
Effective communication is fundamental to project success. Communication artifacts help project managers develop meeting strategies for meetings, issue handling, and approvals, ensuring all team members have access to key deliverables and project updates.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting agendas | Approval emails | Change requests | N/A | N/A |
8. Visual information
Visual artifacts cater to those who process information better visually. To improve understanding, managers will illustrate project or task management processes and data analysis using diagrams like:
- Flowcharts
- Dashboards
- Matrices
- Charts
You can automatically update visual artifacts throughout execution using a project management tool.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affinity diagram | Gantt chartProject roadmapResource histogramRequirement matrixRequirements traceability matrix | Burndown/ burnup chartFlow chartProcess mapsDashboard | Information radiatorVelocity chart | N/A |
9. Reports
Regular reports keep stakeholders informed about progress, risks, and outcomes. The communication plan establishes the frequency and content of these reports, eventually forming the project’s historical record.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring and control | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | Status report | Quality reportRisk reportAd hoc stakeholder reports | Project closure report |
10. Contracts and agreements
Legal documents such as contracts and agreements are often necessary for staffing, material procurement, and tool or technology access. This category includes client contracts and internal agreements within the organization, all of which require careful documentation and storage for future review.
Examples by project phase
| Initiation | Planning | Execution | Monitoring | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memorandum of understanding (MOU) | N/A | Fixed price contractCost reimbursable contractTime and materials contractIndefinite delivery / indefinite quantity contractFormal agreements | N/A | Maintenance contract |
Make project management easier with Tempo Strategic Roadmaps
While not as pretty as Venus figurines or other neo-lithic statuary, artifacts can be worth their weight in gold for project managers. These tools bring much-needed clarity and transparency to the development process, streamlining workflows and enhancing communication.
Using Strategic Roadmaps (Tempo’s visual roadmapping application) with your task management software, you can illustrate plans to determine which project artifacts to deploy. Whether tasked with IT implementation, product development, or project management, you’ll have everything you need to oversee and track your work.
