Zachman Framework Artifacts and Deliverables: Complete Documentation Checklist

Many enterprises struggle with Zachman because they don't know what artifacts to create. Is it just descriptions? Diagrams? Code? This post provides a complete checklist of deliverables for each of the 36 cells.

What Are Zachman Artifacts?

Artifacts are the documentation and models produced at each cell of the Zachman matrix. They represent what that particular row/column perspective produces.

For example:

Planner/What cell might produce: Business entity list (what are we trying to track?)
Owner/What cell might produce: Current data inventory (what data do we actually have?)
Designer/What cell might produce: Logical data model (ER diagram)
Builder/What cell might produce: Database schema (DDL scripts)

Complete Zachman Artifacts Checklist

Row 1: Planner (Strategic Scope)

Column	Artifact	Description	Pages	Format
What	Business Entity List	Entities in scope (customer, product, order, etc.)	2-5	Table/List
How	Business Process Model	High-level business processes, value chain	3-8	Diagram (BPMN)
Where	Geographic Scope	Countries, regions, data residency requirements	1-3	Map/Table
Who	Stakeholder Analysis	Executives, business units, key roles	2-4	Matrix
When	Strategic Timeline	Multi-year roadmap, milestones	2-5	Gantt chart
Why	Business Strategy	Mission, vision, strategic objectives, ROI	5-10	Narrative

Row 2: Owner (Current State)

Column	Artifact	Description	Pages	Format
What	Data Inventory	Databases, tables, record counts, quality metrics	5-15	Spreadsheet
How	Process As-Is	Current workflows, manual steps, pain points	10-20	Process maps
Where	Infrastructure As-Is	Current datacenters, servers, networks	3-8	Diagram
Who	Organizational Structure	Reporting hierarchy, roles, responsibilities	2-5	Org chart
When	Current SLAs	Uptime, batch schedules, response times	2-4	Table
Why	Business Impact	Revenue by product, churn, customer satisfaction	3-5	Dashboard

Row 3: Designer (Target Architecture)

Column	Artifact	Description	Pages	Format
What	Logical Data Model	ER diagram (normalized), entities, relationships	5-15	Diagram
How	Target Business Architecture	Future workflows, process automation, integration	10-20	BPMN diagram
Where	Target System Architecture	Cloud/on-prem, regions, zones, DR strategy	5-10	Architecture diagram
Who	Target Organizational Model	Future roles, responsibilities, training needs	3-8	Org chart + matrix
When	Target Timeline & SLAs	Desired batch schedules, response times, uptime	2-4	Table
Why	Requirements & Constraints	Functional requirements, non-functional (performance, security)	15-30	Requirements doc

Row 4: Builder (Implementation Design)

Column	Artifact	Description	Pages	Format
What	Physical Database Schema	DDL for target RDBMS/NoSQL, indexes, partitions	10-20	SQL/YAML
How	API Specifications	REST/GraphQL endpoints, request/response, error codes	20-40	OpenAPI/Swagger
Where	Infrastructure Specifications	Cloud services (EC2, RDS, etc.), sizing, regions	10-20	Terraform/CloudFormation
Who	Access Control Design	RBAC, service accounts, security groups	5-10	IAM policies
When	Job Schedule Design	Cron jobs, event handlers, batch job specifications	5-10	Job definitions
Why	Configuration Design	Environment variables, feature flags, policies	5-15	YAML/JSON configs

Row 5: Sub-Contractor (Implementation)

Column	Artifact	Description	Pages	Format
What	Database Scripts	Runnable DDL, seed data, migration scripts	50-200+	SQL/Python
How	Application Code	Source code, tests, documentation	1000+ lines	GitHub repo
Where	Deployment Automation	Terraform, Kubernetes manifests, Docker	100-500 lines	Infrastructure-as-code
Who	Provisioning Scripts	User creation, access provisioning automation	50-200 lines	Python/Bash
When	Job Implementations	Scheduled jobs, event handlers, message consumers	100-500 lines	Python/Java/Node.js
Why	Policy & Config Code	Feature flags, compliance rules, security policies	50-200 lines	Python/YAML

Row 6: Enterprise (Live System)

Column	Artifact	Description	Format	Update Frequency
What	Live Data Metrics	Record counts, growth, quality, storage usage	Dashboard	Daily
How	Operational Metrics	Throughput, latency, success rates, errors	Dashboard	Real-time
Where	Infrastructure Status	Uptime, CPU/memory utilization, geographic distribution	Dashboard	Real-time
Who	User Activity Report	Active users, access patterns, provisioning queue	Report	Daily
When	Job Execution Report	Scheduled job status, SLA compliance, latency	Report	Daily
Why	Business Metrics	Revenue, churn, NPS, cost, efficiency	Dashboard	Monthly

Documentation Standards

Standard Template for Each Artifact

Title: Clear, descriptive title (e.g., "Customer Entity Definition")

Purpose: Why does this artifact exist? Who uses it?

Scope: What's included/excluded? What assumptions are made?

Content: The actual artifact (diagram, table, code, etc.)

Assumptions: What is assumed to be true?

Dependencies: What other artifacts does this depend on?

Owner: Who maintains this artifact?

Version: Version number, last updated date

Review Status: Draft / Under Review / Approved / Archived

Validation Checklist: Have You Completed Zachman?

Row 1 (Planner)

Business entity list defined
Business processes mapped
Geographic scope documented
Key stakeholders identified
Strategic timeline (roadmap)
ROI and business case documented

Row 2 (Owner)

Current data inventory completed
As-is process maps documented
Current infrastructure documented
Organizational structure clear
Current SLAs identified
Business metrics/KPIs baseline measured

Row 3 (Designer)

Logical data model created
Target processes designed
System architecture designed
Target org structure defined
Target SLAs/requirements specified
Functional & non-functional requirements detailed

Row 4 (Builder)

Database schema designed for specific tech
APIs specified (OpenAPI format)
Infrastructure designed (cloud services selected)
Access control designed (RBAC)
Job schedules designed
Configurations designed

Row 5 (Sub-Contractor)

Database scripts created and tested
Application source code written
Deployment automation created
Provisioning scripts written
Job implementations coded
Policies encoded (as code)

Row 6 (Enterprise)

Common Mistakes in Zachman Artifacts

Too much detail too early: Don't specify exact database column names in Row 1. That belongs in Row 4.
Mixing rows: Designer row should not contain Java code (that's Sub-Contractor). Keep rows distinct.
No version control: Artifacts should be in git (or doc system with version history).
Outdated artifacts: Artifacts become stale. Update them when reality changes.
No review process: Artifacts should be reviewed by stakeholders before approval.

Artifact Ownership & Lifecycle

Artifact	Owner	Review Cycles	Archival
Strategy	CTO/CISO	Annual	Keep forever
Current state	Operations	Quarterly	Update when things change
Target architecture	Architects	Annual	Keep for historical reference
Technical specs	Tech leads	Per sprint/quarter	Keep for implementation reference
Code	Developers	Continuous (git)	Keep in git indefinitely
Operational metrics	Operations	Daily/weekly	Keep 1-2 years for trending

Artifact Approval Flow

text

Draft (created)
   ↓
Under Review (shared with stakeholders)
   ↓
Comments/feedback collected
   ↓
Revisions made
   ↓
Approved (signed off by owner)
   ↓
Published (shared with teams)
   ↓
Implementation (teams use artifact)
   ↓
Reality (actual system deployed)
   ↓
Archive (when superseded by new artifact)

Key Takeaways

Each Zachman cell produces artifacts: Tangible documentation/models.
Artifacts evolve by row: Different level of detail at each row.
Artifacts must be maintained: Version control, review cycles, ownership.
Validation: Checkl that all 36 cells have artifacts (or explicitly excluded).
Artifacts communicate: They're not for architects alone; they guide implementation teams.

Next Steps

Create artifact inventory for your enterprise (which ones do you have? which are missing?)
Define governance (who owns which artifacts? update cycles?)
Implement version control (git or document management system)

Complete Zachman artifacts ensure nothing is overlooked and everyone understands the architecture.

Meta Keywords: Zachman artifacts, deliverables, documentation, architecture governance, templates.