PeopleCert DevOps Pilot on Cardano

PeopleCert will pilot deployment of its DevOps certifications on Cardano, using technology developed in Catalyst Fund 6 and 7 projects.

PeopleCert is fast-growing global certification company delivering >1M certifications in 2022. LearnerShape and ProofSpace have funded F6/F7 projects for complementary certification tech. Together the 3 companies have huge experience with certification / associated tech.

[IMPACT]

PeopleCert (https://peoplecert.org/) is one of the world’s leading testing and certification companies, focusing on business and language skills. PeopleCert delivers exams in more than 200 countries, in 25 languages, through state-of-the-art assessment technology. PeopleCert has delivered over 5.5 million examinations and plans to deliver over 1 million examinations in 2022.

PeopleCert certifications (for candidates who successfully pass an examination) can currently be verified through a centralized certificate verification service and through issuance of shareable digital and paper certificates. PeopleCert has considered possible solutions for recording its certifications on blockchain, but has not yet done so. This pilot will be a first step to a blockchain solution.

The pilot solution will involve making PeopleCert DevOps certifications (https://www.peoplecert.org/browse-certifications/devops/PeopleCert-DevOps-37) verifiable on the Cardano blockchain. PeopleCert hopes to issue several thousand DevOps certifications as part of the pilot. PeopleCert is also considering offering charter membership in a ‘PeopleCert DAO’ to individuals who purchase blockchain certifications implementation of a DAO is not part of this proposal).

This solution will be delivered by:

• PeopleCert will market certifications for PeopleCert DevOps with blockchain verification, and work with the other two partners to make the blockchain certifications available to customers.
• LearnerShape will record the certifications on the Cardano blockchain (either testnet or mainnet, TBD) using the universal skills authentication protocol for Atala PRISM that it is developing in Catalyst Fund 6 (see https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/368250) and will provide web infrastructure at https://peoplecert.learnershape.com for verification of those certifications. The LearnerShape protocol will be piloted before the PeopleCert pilot on a Catalyst community credential as part of Fund 7 (see https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/381645).
• ProofSpace will enable the LearnerShape universal skills authentication protocol to issue Atala PRISM verifiable credentials through its Self-Sovereign ID SaaS platform. This will allow LearnerShape and PeopleCert to configure an end user workflow in the ProofSpace App for verifying customer identity, issuing course certificates and allowing the user to hold and share those certificates as verifiable credentials from the App, or as printable JSON-LD PDF certificates. ProofSpace is integrating Atala PRISM credentials in Catalyst Fund 7 (see https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/385204).

A chart illustrating the expected interactions and workflow of the three companies in delivering the protocol will be attached to this proposal. This workflow will be further refined as part of delivery of the proposal.

The proposed solution addresses the challenge in the following ways:

The overall question to be addressed by the challenge is “What solutions can we develop and implement with Atala PRISM to have the most positive impact and opportunities for rapid growth of Cardano?”

• By taking a first step to bring leading testing and certification provider PeopleCert onto Cardano, the proposed solution will bring high-value credentials to Cardano by supporting rapid growth of skills certification.

One of the areas of focus of the challenge is “Education, Career, and Emergent Reputation Primitives”.

• The PeopleCert offering is squarely in this area, and the pilot will involve PeopleCert DevOps, a key qualification for software developers.
• More broadly, the solution will be delivered using the technology of LearnerShape and ProofSpace, which offer general solutions for education and career certification.

The project is highly relevant to the key metrics for the challenge:

• The sum of realized production pilots or launches in 2022 – The proposal is for a significant pilot (following on another 2022 Catalyst pilot of LearnerShape’s technology).
• Discovery of repeatable patterns in use-cases – If the pilot is successful, the team members hope that it will lead to much larger deployment of certifications on Cardano of certifications from across the PeopleCert portfolio.
• The number of issuers, holders, and verifiers – The proposal will bring a major new issuer to Atala PRISM and Cardano, with the aim to involve thousands of new holders and verifiers who can seamlessly onboard using the LearnerShape protocol and ProofSpace SaaS platform.
• The number of verifications performed on credentials in production – For similar reasons, the proposal aims to enable thousands of additional verification of real credentials.

Possible risks to delivery of this proposal include:

• Integrating the operations and systems of the three partners PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace -- We will mitigate this risk through careful planning of integration, and assignment of experienced technical personnel.
• Ensuring that the LearnerShape and ProofSpace technology is sufficiently scalable and reliable for the proposed application -- The LearnerShape and ProofSpace teams have experience with delivering reliable applications at scale, and will ensure that their architectures are robust, secure and scalable.
• Ensuring that PeopleCert devotes sufficient marketing resources to deliver broad market update for the PeopleCert DevOps blockchain certification offering -- LearnerShape has a longstanding close relationship with senior management and the broader team at PeopleCert, and will work with them closely to agree appropriate resource commitments.

[FEASIBILITY]

We expect that the proposed PeopleCert offering can be brought to market within 6 months of approval of funding – no later than the end of 2022.

High-Level Tasks

• Finalize the workflow among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Implement the workflow among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Systems and API integration among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Agree and implement marketing plan with PeopleCert
• Run acceptance testing with key stakeholders and dummy data
• Market and deliver pilot 

Target Milestones & Deliverables

May

• Project approved by Catalyst voters
• Technical and commercial analysis of project workflow among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace, including integration of PeopleCert processes, LearnerShape universal skills authentication solution, and ProofSpace platform including ProofSpace Dash application

June

• Finalize project workflow and system design
• Begin detailed planning of marketing by PeopleCert of DevOps blockchain offering
• Begin API integration of LearnerShape and ProofSpace systems
• Plan data integration among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace

July

• Complete API integration of LearnerShape and ProofSpace systems
• Finalize data integration among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Demonstrate functioning workflow across PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Finalize marketing plan for PeopleCert DevOps candidates

August

• Pick up / finalize any outstanding issues during European summer quiet period
• Prepare for September launch
• Publish updates to LearnerShape open-source certification libraries from delivery of this pilot 

September

• Launch pilot and marketing campaign for it
• Initial DevOps candidates onboarded and going through workflow

October

• First DevOps graduates receive their VC certificates

We expect that on-going marketing and growth will result in thousands of certificates being issued through this workflow.

Our total budget for this proposal is $46,200. Our budget structure for this proposal is as follows:

Deliverable

• $Cost

KEY

PC = PeopleCert (not seeking any funding as part of this proposal, and views the opportunity to pilot blockchain technology with Catalyst funding for the work of LearnerShape (LS) and ProofSpace (PS) as a major benefit.)

LS = LearnerShape

PS = ProofSpace

BUDGET

Finalize the workflow and system design among PC, LS and PS

• $9,040

Systems and API integration among PC, LS and PS

• $13,560

Implement the pilot system among PC, LS and PS

• $9,040

Agree and implement marketing plan with PC

• $4,520

Run acceptance testing with key stakeholders and dummy data

• $4,520

Support delivery of PC pilot

• $4,520

Fixed expenses (cloud infrastructure, PS subscription, etc.)

• $1,000

TOTAL

• $46,200

This proposal leverages value from PeopleCert, who are investing in the pilot. PeopleCert will incur significant costs, primarily for internal personnel and external marketing expenses, to implement this pilot. The level of these expenses will be determined in the project planning process, and is likely to be at least several thousand dollars (at no cost to Catalyst).

As discussed above under Impact, PeopleCert is one of the world’s leading testing and certification companies, focusing on business and language skills. Key PeopleCert team members are:

• Thanos Moraitinis, Digital Products & Growth Director
• Christina Boubalou, Brand & Communications Director
• Sofia Tsoutsi, Senior Product Manager.

LearnerShape (https://www.learnershape.com/) is building the world’s first AI-enabled, open-source learning infrastructure, allowing organizations to deploy highly targeted learning applications. Key members of the LearnerShape team are:

• Maury Shenk, Founder & CEO – overall project management; background: experienced entrepreneur, investor and lawyer with 30-year track record
• Dr Jonathan Street, Head of Data Science – implementation of LearnerShape back-end solution; background: senior data scientist with 10 years experience at bioscience and data organizations
• Dr Sean Miller, Head of Web Development – implementation of LearnerShape back-end solution; background: experienced senior full-stack developer with 20-year track record
• Lorenzo Zorzi, Product Lead – support for design of pilot project offering, in collaboration with PeopleCert and ProofSpace; background: strong entrepreneurial experience and financial services background.

ProofSpace (https://proofspace.id, formerly ZAKA) is an advanced no-code SSI SaaS platform for issuing and verifying reusable identity credentials, with a track record in the US health system, international development and e-government. Key members of the ProofSpace team are:

• Nick Mason, CEO & Founder – project management for ProofSpace; background: experienced social entrepreneur and venture analyst with a proven track record of social venture funding and of starting and growing ventures in Europe and Africa
• Viktor Radchenko, CTO – overall technical delivery and support set up of ProofSpace Dash; background: 20-year R&D track record including for blockchain and mobile, with 6 publications in peer-reviewed journals 
• Dr. Ruslan Shevchenko, Solution Architect – integration of LearnerShape back-end solution into ProofSpace; background: skilled architect, researcher and serial entrepreneur with 30-year experience including blockchain and telecom, with 10 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

[AUDITABILITY]

Our key metric / KPI for this project will be the number of PeopleCert DevOps certifications recorded to the Cardano blockchain, which we hope will be at least several thousand during the pilot period of up to a year.

In addition, we will measure project progression against the Milestones & Deliverables plan above. Our progress will be reported in the monthly reporting for Catalyst and in our end of our project report. We may also present at Townhall and other community meetings on ad hoc basis. Key milestones / KPIs that we will track are:

June

• Finalize project workflow and system design

July

• Complete API integration of LearnerShape and ProofSpace systems
• Finalize data integration among PeopleCert, LearnerShape and ProofSpace
• Finalize marketing plan for PeopleCert DevOps candidates

August:

• Publish updates to LearnerShape open-source certification libraries from delivery of this pilot 

September

• Launch pilot with and marketing campaign for it

October

• First DevOps graduates receive their VC certificates

Success would involve:

• Deployment of web and mobile certification infrastructure for PeopleCert DevOps
• Issuance of several thousand verifiable credentials with that infrastructure
• High PeopleCert satisfaction with the results and verification of the business case between the partners, leading to broader deployment of PeopleCert certifications on Atala PRISM and Cardano (possibly resulting in proposals to future Catalyst Funds).

This proposal is a continuation of the following previously funded projects:

• Universal Skills Authentication (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/368250), F6: Atala PRISM DID Mass-Scale Adoption challenge – The technology being developed through this project is a key element of the current proposal.
• PACE: Skills credentials (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/381645), F7: Accelerate Decentralized Identity challenge – This will be the first pilot of the LearnerShape technology developed through the preceding project.
• No-Code SSI SaaS for mass adoption (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/385204), F7: Accelerate Decentralized Identity challenge – This involves integration of the ProofSpace platform with Atala PRISM.

SDG Rating

SDG goals:

• Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

SDG subgoals:

• 4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
• 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

• 4.3.1 Participation rate of youth and adults in formal and non-formal education and training in the previous 12 months, by sex
• 4.4.1 Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

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