Cardano in a Nutshell: Constitutional Commitee Credential Manager

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We will make educational materials and run live workshops about the Cardano Constitutional Committee Credential Management System - an open source application used to organize consortium participation

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

This project depends on the Cardano Constitutional Committee Credential Management System software, an open-source project managed by Intersect MBO. Mike Hornan will also keep a fork of the repository in his GitHub account to ensure persistent access.

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

All software code is released under an Apache 2.0 open-source license. All educational materials will be released under Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA

[METADATA] Horizons

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

This project will create infographics and educational materials to explain the Cardano Constitutional Committee Credential Manager software, which allows groups to collaborate as a Constitutional Committee member. This will include explanations of:

• Credential Manager Tooling
• Various roles enforced by smart contracts within the hierarchy
• An explanation of how each role differs and what they are responsible for
• How to create Certificate Authority and Certificate Signing Requests using credentials
• Minting of cold credential NFT
• How the tool can be used by an individual (as opposed to a group) to make their CC keys more secure
• How to create an Update Committee governance action to be a candidate for the Constitutional Committee

The project will also include six (6) live workshops held in the ABLE Discord Server for review and group discussion on the Guardrail Scripts. These workshops will follow a similar format to the previous community workshops that were essential for teaching Cardano users how to engage with SanchoNet and were even attended by Input-Output Engineers such as Sam Leathers.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

This project will prepare Cardano Community teams to become members of the Constitutional Committee, equipping them with the tools and the knowledge they need to manage the hot and cold keys of their CC Consortium. Having a large number of experts on Cardano Governance is essential to ensure proper governance of the blockchain network. By training teams to perform these tasks, we can ensure a good pool of candidates for the Summer 2025 Constitutional Committee elections.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Mike and Adam work collaboratively with other members of the Cardano ecosystem to discuss and test open-source software. While there will be no other members of the project team, ideas for this project are frequently discussed with Input-Output Engineers such as Samuel Leathers, Carlos Lopez De Lara, Alexey Kuleshevich, Kevin Hammond, and members of the Input-Output Voltaire technical chats, which are open to the community.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Title: Project Orientation

A: Milestone outputs

• Develop an outline of infographic and educational materials
• Create draft calendar of events for training sessions

B: Acceptance criteria

• Completed outline of infographic and educational materials
• Draft calendar of events for training sessions

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Publish draft calendar of events and outline of infographic and educational materials on GitHub.

Title: Educational Materials

A: Milestone outputs

• Create an Infographic and educational materials.
• Finalize calendar of events for training sessions

B: Acceptance criteria

• Completed infographic and educational materials
• Finalized calendar of events for training sessions

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Publish infographic and educational materials on GitHub and the ABLE Pool Website.
• Public advertisement that materials have been published and are available
• Publish finalized calendar of events on GitHub and in ABLE Discord

Title: Training Sessions

A: Milestone outputs

• Advertise availability of training sessions
• Hold training sessions with relevant stakeholders

B: Acceptance criteria

• Advertisement of training session availability
• Training sessions held and documented

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Public posts on social media and Cardano related websites announcing training sessions.
• Effort made to appeal to Cardano stakeholders interested in Governance
• Document training sessions held and publish in Discord

Title: Final Milestone

A: Milestone outputs

• Create a final close-out report
• Create a final close-out video

B: Acceptance criteria

• Submit final close-out report
• Submit final close-out video

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Publish final close-out report on GitHub
• Publish final close-out video on YouTube

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Lead Author & Educator: Mike Hornan

X Profile: https://x.com/Hornan7

GitHub: https://github.com/hornan7

Stake Pool: https://able-pool.io/

YouTube: @hancoeur

Mike Hornan is Stake Pool Operator of ABLE Stake Pool, a Canadian Mission-Driven Stake Pool that donates its SPO Rewards to help entrepreneurs in developing countries. He has been involved with Cardano Governance since the launch of SanchoNet and is responsible for collaborating the bulk of community testing done on that network in preparation for implementation of CIP-1694. He has been hailed by Samuel Leathers, Input-Ouput Engineering Head of Product, and others, as one of the most impactful contributors to Voltaire Governance implementation for the community.  

Mike is active in the IOG Technical Community Discord and the core Cardano repositories on GitHub. He also serves as a member of the Cardano Atlantic Council, which was elected to the Interim Constitutional Committee by the Cardano Community and was the first organization to register CC keys on chain. He is fluent in French and English and lives in Quebec with his wife and children.

Proofreader & Project Manager: Adam Rusch

X Profile: https://x.com/AdamRusch

GitHub: https://github.com/adamrusch

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamruschtech/

Faculty Profile: https://ischool.illinois.edu/people/adam-rusch 

Adam Rusch is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Summon Platform team. He has been involved with Cardano Governance since the CIP-1694 Longmont Workshop which started the community review process of Voltaire governance. He went on to participate in SanchoNet, host several workshops on Cardano Governance, and became involved with the Cardano Constitutional process.

Adam is active with Intersect MBO as a member of the Civics Committee, the Constitution Ratification Working Group, and is head of the Governance Parameters Working Group of the Parameters Committee. He is also a member of the Intersect Constitutional Council which has a seat on the Interim Constitutional Committee. He lives in the US, near Chicago, with his wife and children.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Total Budget: 75,000 ADA ($.35 USD/ADA = $26,250)

Planning & Scope: 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Mike & Adam will discuss aspects of the Credential Manager software to be covered, create an outline of the work, and plan a schedule of live workshops for Cardano Community education.

Credential Manager Research: 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Mike will collect all pertinent facts and figures related to the Credential Manager software from official Cardano documentation and consultation with other subject matter experts.

Infographic Production: 20,000 ADA (26.7%)

Mike will produce Infographics that outline the Credential Manager software, allowing Cardano users to easily visualize the software for a better understanding of the system. Adam will serve as collaborator and proofreader for quality assurance.

Live Workshops: 20,000 ADA (26.7%)

Mike will plan and execute six (6) live online workshops, each running approximately 2 hours, to educate the Cardano Community on how to use the Credential Manager software These workshops will be facilitated by Mike and open to anyone who wishes to attend.

Presentation Preparation: 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Mike and Adam will prepare the Credential Manager materials for future presentations at Cardano Community events such as the Cardano Summit, Rare Evo, or other Cardano related workshops. All information related to the project will also be made available open access so that it can be used by anyone in the community who wants to add future developments.

Project Facilitation: 5,000 ADA (6.7%)

Adam and Mike will prepare updates, Milestone reports, and other materials for the Catalyst community to show that the project is on track.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

In North America, the location where Mike and Adam are located, freelance consultants in the technical writing industry can demand rates of $50-150 per hour and technical educators can demand hourly rates of $100-200. Because of the highly specialized nature of this work, a rate of 420 ADA per hour ($150 per hour at $.35 USD/ADA) is reasonable.

Total Budget: 75,000 ADA ($.35 USD/ADA = $26,250)

Hourly Rate: 420 ADA/Hour

Expected Hours: 178.5

Planning & Scope: 23.8 Hours - 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Credential Manager Research: 23.8 Hours - 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Infographic Production: 47.6 Hours - 20,000 ADA (26.7%)

Live Workshops: 47.6 Hours - 20,000 ADA (26.7%)

Presentation Preparation: 23.8 Hours - 10,000 ADA (13.3%)

Project Facilitation: 11.9 Hours 5,000 ADA (6.7%)

Mike and Adam will also be providing all resources to facilitate the project including design software, server subscriptions, testing infrastructure, and paying self-employment taxes.