How to Choose a Document Role

Choose the Document Role based on the artifact’s primary job. Start there before you select a specific Artifact Definition, because the role determines which governing rules apply.

Use this decision rule

1. Choose Data when the artifact’s main job is to hold structured facts that need strong validation.
2. Choose Report when the artifact’s main job is to turn validated data into a human-readable output.
3. Choose Process when the artifact’s main job is to define workflow steps, prompts, scripts, or execution behavior.

Quick checks

• If the artifact is mostly a source of truth that other systems or templates consume, it is usually Data.
• If the artifact is mainly something a person reads, reviews, or shares as output, it is usually Report.
• If the artifact mainly tells people or systems what to do next, it is usually Process.

How to break ties

• Use the role that best describes the artifact’s primary outcome, not every secondary capability.
• If one file stores facts and another file renders those facts, treat the stored facts as Data and the rendered output contract as Report.
• If a document includes instructions but its main purpose is still to capture governed facts, keep it in Data.
• If a document triggers or coordinates work across steps, approvals, or tools, it belongs in Process even when it also carries some data.

What to do next

1. Open the Document Role standards page to confirm the role-level rules.
2. Read the shared Artifact Specification to understand the authoring contract that all public Artifact Definitions follow.
3. Return to the Artifact Definitions catalog and choose the specific artifact type that fits your domain.