6. A compliance system for web services, comprising: an artifact repository, said artifact repository having a memory for storing a set of artifacts; and a runtime engine coupled to said artifact repository, wherein said runtime engine asserts to said set of artifacts a set of conformance requirements that include at least one rule having a combination of (1) descriptive meta data and (2) functional code fragments to produce a result output, wherein said descriptive meta data includes a designation of a level of severity for non-conformance of said rule and said functional code fragments include a query and a match script, wherein said runtime engine executes said query for each of said set of artifacts to identify a portion of an artifact to be processed by said match script and invokes said match script to determine whether said artifact conforms to said rule, and wherein, if said artifact causes a non-conformance, said runtime engine generates and includes in said result output at least one result message containing (1) a result pointer that links to a location of a cause of said non-conformance in said artifact and (2) a result meta data that includes (i) a text description of said non-conformance, (ii) date and time of a run resulting in said non-conformance, (iii) an identity of a system executing said run, and (iv) input provided for said run.
6. A compliance system for web services, comprising: an artifact repository, said artifact repository having a memory for storing a set of artifacts; and a runtime engine coupled to said artifact repository, wherein said runtime engine asserts to said set of artifacts a set of conformance requirements that include at least one rule having a combination of (1) descriptive meta data and (2) functional code fragments to produce a result output, wherein said descriptive meta data includes a designation of a level of severity for non-conformance of said rule and said functional code fragments include a query and a match script, wherein said runtime engine executes said query for each of said set of artifacts to identify a portion of an artifact to be processed by said match script and invokes said match script to determine whether said artifact conforms to said rule, and wherein, if said artifact causes a non-conformance, said runtime engine generates and includes in said result output at least one result message containing (1) a result pointer that links to a location of a cause of said non-conformance in said artifact and (2) a result meta data that includes (i) a text description of said non-conformance, (ii) date and time of a run resulting in said non-conformance, (iii) an identity of a system executing said run, and (iv) input provided for said run. 13. The compliance system according to claim 6 , wherein said conformance requirements are selected from the group consisting of individual policy, team policy, department policy, corporate policy, vendor policy, and industry best practice policy.