[IMPACT]
Adaglass is an ambitious, community-driven and unified solution that continuously observes, enriches, presents and shares data in relation to the Cardano ecosystem. It uniquely brings data, views and analytics’ tools in an intuitive and engaging user experience that enables Cardano stakeholders to gain end-to-end visibility, instant insights and actionable intelligence.
The platform combines modern, enterprise-grade and open source telemetry, search and machine-learning technologies to provide the community with unparalleled transparency of the Cardano ecosystem, helping everyone tracks, learns from and reports on key events, actors, assets and performance indicators.
Adaglass aims to restore trust to the Cardano blockchain – creating, through data, a community-driven, transparent, and sustainable foundation for developers, operators, investors, partners and users to visualize the performance, growth and opportunities of the Cardano ecosystem.
With this proposal, we are looking at kickstarting the Adaglass operations.
The heart of the Adaglass platform is a fast and scalable search and analytics engine, which helps collect, normalize, enrich, aggregate and share data and metrics originating from a large set of data sources. A primary focus is then to setup a secure, resilient, reliable and highly-available CSA (Cardano Search & Analytics) platform, and integrate with a critical set of data providers.
The incarnation of Adaglass also comes with allowing users to visualize into one unified view the growth and performance of the Cardano ecosystem. This will be a first iteration and made available through the launch of the CSI (Cardano Service Intelligence) application, and the delivery of an innovative stake-to-subscribe model, sustained by a yet-to-provision ADAG stake pool and the possibility to connect a Cardano wallet directly from the application.
Finally, while this operationalization phase is about releasing the technological building blocks and unlocking value through the CSI application, it is also about gaining support from the community, successfully turning our vision into reality and setting the pace for our mission to uniquely bring transparency to the Cardano ecosystem via data, tools and engaging views.
Adaglass addresses the challenge in numerous ways but most primarily it provides the following benefits:
- Maximize engagement and growth of the Cardano ecosystem and community with an always-on, one-stop-shop for every Cardano question
- Perpetual increase of the global awareness and credibility of Cardano for developers, investors and influencers with easy access to end-to-end service performance views
- Move towards restoring trust to the Cardano blockchain and uncovering new and hidden opportunities with increased transparency and accurate, unbiased, and correlated data
- Expand business to new areas with unique analytics’ tools that provide instant insights and actionable intelligence to make informed decisions on everything Cardano
Risk #1: Low level of community acceptance and usage post launch
Probability: Low, Impact: High
Mitigation Measures:
- Identify an initial set of metrics in high demand and low supply
- Build and unlock value quickly
- Share progress updates regularly and publicly
- Share engaging release notes and notable change events on telegram
- Promote the brand and the service with a video on the site and Youtube
- Promote service with nurturing and acquisition campaigns
- Build and publish a roadmap
Risk #2: Heavy reliance on third-party data, applications and interfaces
Probability: High, Impact: Medium
Mitigation Measures:
- Build partnerships with critical data source providers and obtain long-term buy-in support
- Design flexible data source connectors
- Monitor and alert on data source availability and third-party service change
Risk #3: Poor data accuracy and frequent occurrence of data loss / data gaps post launch
Probability: Medium, Impact: High
Mitigation Measures:
- Establish validations criteria by means of audit trails
- Monitor and alert on data source availability and third-party service change
- Maintain both incremental and full data backups that can be restored
- Build backfill capabilities and automated jobs early in the process
Risk #4: Schedule and cost overrunning
Probability: Medium, Impact: High
Mitigation Measures:
- Establish a strong project governance framework
- Lock down the final MVP scope early
- Protect team from distraction and scope creep
- Unlock revenue stream early with provisioning of the service stake pool and a wallet connector
- Advertise the stake-to-subscribe model, outline upcoming features, be transparent in service tiers
Risk #5: Unsustainable storage and networking costs
Probability: Medium, Impact: High
Mitigation Measures:
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Limit the initial set of metrics, filter raw data stored, normalize early
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Monitor data volume and growth levels over the first 3-6 months, set a baseline, review regularly, accommodate the business model according to actual needs
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Use synthetic data in non-production environments
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Limit historical data persistence and data transfer to its bare minimum until the model is proven and is sustainable
[FEASIBILITY]
This initial effort is to design, build, test, and deploy a minimum viable product (MVP).
In other words, it is to fund the Adaglass Phase 1 (Operationalization) scope, estimated to deliver the MVP of the Adaglass Data Intelligence Platform within 5 months from the date funds are received.
Deliverables
The MVP is composed of the following deliverables:
- System and Application Design Documentation
- ADAG Stake Pool
- CSA Platform (Staging and Production)
- CSA Back-end Application
- CSI Front-end Application
- User Guide Documentation
- Adaglass Front-door Site
- CSI Application Overview Video
- Early Adopter Marketing Campaign
Detailed plan and timeline
The MVP will be achieved as per the following high-level plan:
Initiate (week 1)
- Setup delivery service, code repository and project board
- Develop and load high-level product backlog
DevOps (month 1)
- Develop high-level system design
- Build and provision staging environment
- Build and provision production environment
- Develop build and deployment pipelines to streamline delivery process
- Develop code quality and security inspection controls
Infrastructure (months 1 and 2)
- Build and configure ADAG stake pool
- Build and configure CSA staging platform
- Build and configure CSA production platform
CSA Application (months 2, 3 and 4)
- Develop high-level CSA app design
- Build CSA app data connectors
- Build CSA app entity-based searches
- Build CSA app kpi-based searches
- Build CSA app report-based searches
- Build test plans
- Build automated acceptance / regression test suite
CSI Application (months 3 and 4)
- Develop high-level CSI app design
- Build CSI app code architecture
- Build CSI app content UI components
- Build CSI app data-driven UI components
- Build CSI app dashboard UI component
- Build CSI app wallet connection UI component
- Build CSI app staking checker UI component
- Build CSI app subscribe service
- Build CSI app subscribe early adopter offer
- Build CSI app homeview page
- Build test plans
- Build automated acceptance / regression test suite
Launch (month 5)
- Deploy CSA app live
- Deploy CSI app live
- Execute final E2E test run
- Execute final Performance test run
- Execute final Penetration test run
- Develop and release final hot-fixes
- Document and publish user guides
- Update brand site
- Produce and publish CSI app overview video
- Run early adopter campaign
This proposal is seeking pre-seed funding, covering for up to 5 months and the delivery of the minimum viable product (MVP) as well as related business and infrastructure operations. The cost-estimate is based on the activity list shown above. Any other incurred costs not listed will be provided as initial investment and effort from the proposer.
Detailed budget breakdown
Project Setup = USD 2,125
Product Design = USD 5,625
Stake Pool Infrastructure Build = USD 5,000
Stake Pool Infrastructure Run (5 months) = USD 4,500
Stake Pool Infrastructure Pledge = USD 2,000
CSA Infrastructure Build = USD 10,000
CSA Infrastructure Run (5 months) = USD 9,000
CSA + CSI Applications Build = USD 20,000
CSA + CSI Applications Run (5 months) = USD 2,500
Site Build = USD 2,500
Site Run (5 months) = USD 1,250
Content Production = USD 6,000
Marketing Campaign Design = USD 1,000
Marketing Campaign Execution = USD 2,500
Total = USD 74,000
We are a small team of 2 engineers combining 20+ years of experience in providing end-to-end IT and digital services across CX, Cloud, Cyber, Data for public and private sector organizations worldwide, working in companies operating across the UK, France and Switzerland.
Together, we will handle a large amount of work across creative, technology, marketing and operations. At this stage, technical leadership and architecture will be key to the success of the project. Damien, who is leading this initiative, will provide this capacity.
Team Lead - Damien Despas
With more than 10 year experience working in the consulting and digital market as CTO of a leading UK service provider, I bridge the gap between theory and pragmatic transformation for global organizations, delivering enterprise-grade digital platforms and solutions across Technology, Customer Experience, Data and Change disciplines.
I bring a blend of management, technical and operational expertise in areas such as business strategy, technical architecture, product design, team management, project management, software development, IT operations, user experience and data engineering. Most recently, I have specialized in technologies covering content management, ecommerce, observability, search and data analytics, and have built platforms that support Executive, Marketing, Security and Network teams operating within the Finance, Telecommunications and Healthcare industries.
My experience and set of transversal skills allow me to lead and respond to the complex needs of creating a new venture within the Cardano ecosystem, from ideation through product launch and to future industrialization.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/despasdamien
IT Operations, Engineering and Cybersecurity - Hugo Allamel
With more than 10 year experience working as an engineer in the French and Switzerland IT service industry, I deliver and operate world-class infrastructure and specialize in domains like Cloud, Network and Security.
My experience and skills allow me to design, build and operate resilient, secure and highly-scalable global infrastructure that never sleeps.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-allamel-571b9526
[AUDITABILITY]
We follow an agile approach that uses a combination of Kanban and DevOps practices to enable the design, development and continuous deployment of the service.
On a day-to-day basis, all work is driven by the continuous build, development and management of a product backlog with work items moving across 4 delivery gates (Design, Development, QA, Live).
Work items get grouped by components and when key achievements and/or major milestones are reached a release is created, deployed and a release note gets published to the public as a site ‘release type’ blog post, a medium article and a notification on telegram and twitter.
Additionally, weekly progress status report gets compiled and published to the public as a site ‘fund update type’ blog post, a medium article and a notification on telegram and twitter. This includes information such as generic progress updates against the delivery plan, activities completed, top risks, issues and decisions the team has made or encountered, and few words on next steps.
Finally, a project completion report gets put together and published to the public as a site ‘fund close type’ blog post, a medium article and a notification on telegram and twitter. This includes the output of a retrospective reporting on the positive and the negative of the delivery since funds were received, and calls out a plan for future improvements.
Three core delivery services enable our way of working:
- To help us manage, plan, track and report on progress, we use Jira
- To help us create, collaborate, and organize information and knowledge, we use Confluence
- To help us streamline the build-test-release cycle for reliable and continuous delivery of the service, we use Go CD
Four delivery channels facilitate the communication and notification of progress back to the community:
- The Adaglass site blog
- The Adaglass medium account
- The Adaglass annoucement telegram account
- The Adaglass twitter account
Over the course of this initial phase, we will produce a set of deliverables that will mark the success of the project and will prove completion of key milestones in the delivery plan. While some of those deliverables will easily be accessible by everyone browsing the site as it represents the online service itself, some others will be made available on dedicated channels such as github, medium, telegram, twitter and the Adaglass blog.
The main deliverables to keep an eye on include, but are not limited to, the followings:
- An operational ADAG Stake Pool (MVP)
- A functional CSA platform (MVP)
- A functional CSA application (MVP)
- A functional CSI application (MVP)
- A functional Adaglass front-door site (MVP)
- A set of project completion reports (governance)
- A set of test completion reports (quality)
- A set of user documentation (adoption)
- A service overview video (adoption)
- A set of analytics’ reports (operational performance)
Additionally and as part of the MVP scope, we will be validating our delivery by testing that at least the following high-level acceptance criteria are met:
ADAG Stake Pool Features
- Can find the ADAG stake pool from a Yoroi wallet
- Can delegate to the ADAG stake pool from a Yoroi wallet
CSI Application Features
- Can browse the CSI application from a mobile device
- Can browse the CSI application from a desktop device
- Can see what the CSI application is in a short overview video
- Can explore what features the CSI application offers
- Can explore what STS plans, associated staking amount and features the CSI application offers
- Can explore the catalog of metrics the CSI application supports
- Can see the option to connect a wallet to the CSI application
- Can see the option to connect a Nami wallet to the CSI application
- Can see the option to connect a CCVault wallet to the CSI application
- Can connect a Nami wallet to the CSI application
- Can connect a CCVault wallet to the CSI application
- Can disconnect a wallet from the CSI application
- Can learn how to stake to the ADAG stake pool
- Can see which STS plan applies to a staked wallet
- Can delegate to the ADAG stake pool from the CSI application
- Can see the CSI application homeview dashboard
- Can only see the CSI application homeview dashboard if the user is connected with a staked wallet
Adaglass Site Features
- Can browse the site from a mobile device
- Can browse the site from a desktop device
- Can explore what Adaglass is, its mission and core values
- Can explore what the Adaglass vision and roadmap are
- Can explore who the Adaglass core team is
- Can explore news and updates
- Can explore the service terms and conditions
- Can explore the service privacy policy
- Can get notified on default privacy settings from any page
- Can review and provide consent to privacy settings from any page
- Can customize my privacy settings from any page
- Can get information to contact the Adaglass management team from the home page
- Can quickly access the team’s latest notification or update from the home page
- Can quickly launch the CSI application from the home page
Although we asked the community for help in funding parts of the initial Adaglass efforts as part of Catalyst Fund 7, this proposal is new. It indeed expands on our initial vision, factors in our progress to date, benefits from important product refinements, and now includes the build and launch of the minimum viable product.
We believe the changes brought in this round, in comparison to the original proposal, make Adaglass a compelling solution that meets the community expectations and needs, and better aligns with the ambition of this Business Solutions (B2B & B2C) challenge.
Catalyst Fund 7 proposal link (unfunded): https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/383705