Artifacts and assets
A service shows you the things it contains in two different places, and the numbers do not match. Understanding why turns that from confusing into useful.
One population, two questions
Section titled “One population, two questions”Everything a service produces — a chart, a dashboard, a data view, a task board, a project, an email template, an uploaded file — is catalogued automatically as it is created.
Two screens then ask different questions of that population.
Asset Library asks what exists? It lists everything, with its type and lifecycle state.
Artifact Map asks what is connected? It draws only the items that reference each other, and the relationships between them.
Neither answers who can see it? That is set on each item where it is published, within the limit Content Access allows.
Why the counts differ
Section titled “Why the counts differ”In the service used for these screenshots the numbers are 48 and 28.
Forty-eight assets exist. Twenty-eight of them are connected to something else, so the map draws those and states plainly that the rest are excluded because nothing references them yet.
Neither number is wrong. They answer different questions, and the gap between them is informative.
Assets minus artifacts is your unconnected content. A large gap means a lot of work exists in isolation — sometimes fine, often a sign of things built and abandoned.
Artifact and asset are the same thing
Section titled “Artifact and asset are the same thing”The two words describe one object from two angles.
Artifact is the thing itself — the chart, the dashboard, the data view — and the word the map uses because it is drawing relationships between things.
Asset is its catalogue entry — the same object with a type, a lifecycle state, rights, and usage figures — and the word the library uses because it is managing an inventory.
You do not create an asset. Creating a chart creates the artifact, and its library entry appears with it.
What each view is good for
Section titled “What each view is good for”Use the Asset Library when you want to find something, check whether it is finished, or work out what can be cleaned up. Lifecycle and the analytics rankings are the tools for that.
Use the Artifact Map when you want to understand how the service hangs together, or work out what breaks if you delete something.
The map’s exclusions are documentation, not omissions
Section titled “The map’s exclusions are documentation, not omissions”The artifact map states what it is not drawing: unreferenced assets, tasks counted on their board rather than drawn individually, and resources with no project allocation.
Read those as findings. “Twenty-one tasks are counted on their board” is the map keeping itself readable. “Forty-eight assets aren’t shown — nothing references them yet” is the map telling you something true about the service.
Related
Section titled “Related”Asset Library covers the inventory in detail. See how everything connects covers the map, and Control what gets published covers who can reach an item.