Proof of provenance whitepaper

We will use a set of real business use cases as a feasibility study to inform how the Cardano blockchain can facilitate proof of provenance.

Our team has extensive experience of mapping business processes against advanced technologies in very large organisations, and the authoring of resultant review papers.  The outcomes have always been step-changes in functionality and effectiveness.

Fund 7 proposal winner.

[IMPACT]

CA summary

Our proposal is a feasibility study that will specifically focus on the use of blockchain for companies that want proof of provenance for their products, especially in the food and beverage sector.

The resultant whitepaper will set out any gaps in capability between the blockchain capability and business use cases and how they can be resolved.

The whitepaper will be driven by the needs of the use case companies that are already on our client list.

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Introduction

It is incredibly exciting when technology reveals itself in solutions to problems that businesses were aware of but had no feasible solution to.

Now is one of those moments.

The first step is understand the gap between the capability of technology and the need of ‘business’, and to then close that gap with a viable solution.

This proposal is one of four feasibility studies that will research real world business use cases in the context of Cardano blockchain capability.  Each will result in a blueprint with steps for blockchain developers to deliver the business needs towards a future, proof of concept MVP.

The related proposals are:

Real world smart contract use - https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/400948

Real world business process use case https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/401023

Our proposal is to undertake a feasibility study and produce a whitepaper that will succinctly describe how the Cardano blockchain can facilitate the proof of provenance of produce in food and beverage company value chains.

We expect the whitepaper to produce a blueprint for creating applications that will deliver on this specific use case.

The use case

The company proposed for the use case we will reference is a large UK vertically integrated ‘seafood supplier’ who operate from the ownership of fishing fleets to the delivery of produce to retailers, restaurants and the public.  This business recognises the value in differentiating the quality of their product, and their brand, through proof of provenance.  Such a solution will generate new and exciting B2B and B2C opportunitiesthat will better engage their partners, consumers and employees.

The constraint

There is desire in the use case company to embrace blockchain technology aligned with a clear business case.  How the Cardano blockchain can enable the proof of provenance is understood, but it is not sufficiently articulated or described in new business processes.  

The solution

Our proposal is for a feasibility study that will investigate how the business processes needs can be translated into technical process descriptions that can then be assessed by Cardano blockchain developers.  Where  gaps between needs and capability are identified, the resultant whitepaper will describe the technical development steps needed to provide the Cardano blockchain capability  to the food and beverage sector of the economy. 

The solution that we propose will present a pathway that describes an impactful real world business use case that has a clear pathway to development and deployment of blockchain based applications.

It will achieve this by:

• Understanding the gaps between real world business needs and the technical capability of Cardano blockchain to prove provenance of food and beverage produce, and how to close those gaps.  We will work with technical developers within the Cardano ecosystem.
• Presenting the solution described as a configurable product that can be employed by companies operating in a value chain with clear opportunities to be gained from product and brand differentiation.

The solution will:

• Describe a product that supports a business solution
• Increase the number of companies proposing and being exposed to Cardano solutions
• Provide the platform to facilitate the proof of provenance

The solution will be communicated through our existing business client community.

• Challenge – identify key technical partners to assist in describing the gap between capability and deliver of the blockchain based solution/s

      o Mitigation – Engage with the Catalyst co-ordination team to identify appropriate partners

• Challenge – Describing the solution that delivers the outcomes required by the business use case in terms that will lead to a coherent scope of work for the development phase of the project in the future

      o We will partner with developers to learn what technical development needs to occur to technically deliver the solution, and how to describe it in a scope of work

[FEASIBILITY]

This is a feasibility study to determine the capability of the Cardano blockchain to deliver a specific business use case.

The main deliverable will be the creation of a whitepaper that describes the gaps between technical capability and business need, and how these gaps will be closed.  The whitepaper will describe how these actions will enable the crafting of technical scopes of work for future business solutions.

Project roadmap

Project roadmap is here.

After voting takes place and funding is successfully secured:

Understanding and articulating the business process use case (all times in duration of activities, not work effort)

• Meet business process owners – 2 days
• Agree requirements of blockchain – 2 days
• Map business processes – 2 days
• Agree process map with process owner – 4 days
• ID links to blockchain – 2 days

Investigate technical feasibility of blockchain technologies to deliver the business process use case

• Write technical description of blockchain requirements – 7 days
• Consultation with blockchain developers – 3 days
• Second round of developer consultation – 3 days
• Blockchain developer response to business process requirements – 2 days

Milestone – receive blockchain developer report

Writing of a whitepaper and development pathway to deliver the blockchain technologies to deliver the business process use case

• Map blockchain capability to business needs – 8 days
• Consultation with blockchain developers – 4 days
• Develop blueprint plan to close capability gaps – 2 days
• Whitepaper authoring – 4 days

Overall, the project will have a duration of about 7 weeks dependent on the availability of participants.

The total cost of this proposal is US$31,330

The cost rates that we have estimated are:

• Edify team – US$195/hr
• Blockchain developers – US$130/hr

Understanding and articulating the business process use case – US$8,190

• Edify team – 52 hours – US$8,190

Investigate the technical feasibility of blockchain technologies to deliver the business process use case – US$9,100

• Edify team – 36 hours – US$7,020
• Developers – 16 hours – US$2,080

Writing of a whitepaper and development pathway to deliver the blockchain technologies to deliver the business process use case – US$14,040

• Edify team – 36 hours – US$12,480
• Developers – 16 hours – US$1,560

Harry Hellyer

Harry will ensure that the requirements of the companies providing the use case/s will be met, and will liaise with the executive leadership of each company to ensure that they have a clear expectation of the capability of the Cardano ecosystem.

NED, and chairman, executive and business coach specialising in full value-based impact innovation programmes for enterprises and organisations.

Founding partner of 50th Generation – one of the UK's first Social Business Generational Accelerators – 2014-2018

Credited for supporting the development of the NHS's first Sustainable Development Vision and Strategy programme.

Coached Fellows on the Cambridge University, Programme for Sustainable Development,

Coached Fellows and Lectured for the Cambridge University, Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning - Social Enterprise

VP and director of strategy, marketing strategy and business development for several global IT, media and telecoms companies.

Alan Casey

Alan is a specialist in technology – business process integration.  He will lead the investigation into the needs of the use cases, their interpretation in technical scopes of work and the drafting of the resultant whitepaper.

Manager of a sovereign national grid control centre during a period of technological and cultural change.

Founder and consultant in an organisational effectiveness measurement system deployed into a global advertising and marketing communications network.

Founder of a conversational AI company creating systems that evaluate and improve competence in key organisational skills.

Member of the Edify Community.

Fellow of the RSA.

Mark Constable

25 years+ working in small business as a Leader, Founder, consultant and coach - Supporting impact focused business leaders in building future fit organisations

Proven track record of helping clients in building high value, high performing organisations focused equally on both wealth and wellbeing.

Relevant Experience: 

·      Development and delivery of high impact leadership programmes for fast growth businesses.

·      Launched a business line providing specialised business development training to bid management and sales teams globally.  

Member of the Edify Community.

Jon Arnett

Background in Operations and Project Management with startups, small businesses and social enterprises.

Founder of a coaching and consulting business supporting small businesses and startups. 

Experience in coaching, facilitation, workshopping and programme delivery (online and in person)

Won multiple EU funded L&D contracts, delivering workshops on entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and leadership to diverse stakeholders.

Member of the Edify Community.

Cardano blockchain developers

We will be partnering with recognised experts in the Cardano community on this project.  We will collaboratively investigate the requirements of the business case and how they can be met by the Cardano blockchain capability.

[AUDITABILITY]

We will create and deploy and project plan overseen by a programme manager.  The plan will have key milestones.

An overview of the plan is attached to this proposal.

‘Done’ for this project will be the publication of the whitepaper as described above.

It will describe a pathway towards the development of innovative products and services based on the Cardano blockchain.  

The specific business use case will describe how the eventual product will enable a previously unattainable level of product proof of provenance that will support greater value for consumers.

This is a new project.