What is the foundation on which all application artifacts are built?

The foundation on which all application artifacts are built is metadata. In the context of application development and data management, metadata serves as the structural backbone that defines the data being used, how it is organized, and how it can be accessed or modified. This includes various elements such as data types, relationships, and other characteristics that inform how users interact with the application.

By utilizing metadata, OneStream applications ensure consistency and coherence in how data is represented and manipulated across different components of the application. Metadata dictates how dashboards, rules, and mapping rules are structured, enabling them to function correctly. Without properly defined metadata, other artifacts would lack the necessary context to operate effectively, leading to disorganization and inefficiency in the application.

In contrast, dashboards, rules, and mapping rules are built upon this foundational layer, providing visual representation, decision logic, and data relationships, respectively. These components depend on the metadata to function effectively and would not exist or operate meaningfully without it. Therefore, metadata is fundamentally crucial for the creation and integrity of all other application artifacts.