As a SH, I can trust project management

To make periodic project status reports trustable, that is, impossible to face, the unique feasible technological solution is to publish project status reports files in Blockchain. In PMPeople, the organization owner can set the “reliable organization seal”, allowing status reports to have a certified copy in Blockchain.

In reliable organizations, any project manager can publish project status reports in Ethereum, at a cost of 0.10 USD each.

Four states are possible for any project status report:

  • Private: Project status has not been stored on Blockchain.
  • Public: Project manager has stored project status on Blockchain.
  • Verified: At least one stakeholder has checked that the stored project status matches the information in the PMPeople tool.
  • Invalidated: At least one stakeholder has checked that the stored project status does not match the information in PMPeople tool.

Imagine a project as of September 21st. Project status report has been published in Blockchain. At that time, the project is on track:

  • Users granted access to project status reports in PMPeople can see that dates August 17th and 24th have not been published.
  • August 31st report is published but nobody has verified it yet.
  • September 7th and 21st reports are verified indeed.
  • The September 14th report has been changed in PMPeople and does not match the Blockchain record.
  • Project managers can always publish August 17th and 24th.
  • Project managers can also “unpublish” September 14th and set it to public again—PMPeople will call a new Blockchain transaction that will be secured in a new block.

In reliable organizations, stakeholders and project managers know that project status reports are kept in Blockchain. PMPeople hide technical details, though.

In reliable organizations, stakeholders (SH) can verify or invalidate a project status report at CONTROL > Status Reports:

Unlike ordinary organizations, reliable organizations show this data:

  • Reliable state icon: Indicates if report is private, public, verified, or invalidated. Stakeholders can click this icon to change project status report state to “verified” or “invalidated”.
  • Ethereum Transaction: Public code of the Ethereum transaction containing status report file. This is not the real file, but the IPFS hash. Anyone can go to Eherscan, enter this code, and see the real Ethereum transaction. An Ethereum transaction can never be changed. The transaction data field contains the encrypted IPFS hash. This hash would allow anyone to get the actual file stored in IPFS.
  • IPFS File: Anyone can go to ipfs.io, enter this hash, and see the actual project status report file stored in IPFS.

Watch this video explaining blockchain implementation in PMPeople.

In reliable organizations, in section REPORTS, project stakeholders can use IPFS code to see the graphical report from the IPFS file. They can click button [from IPFS] and fill the text box in the pop-up window:

This way, stakeholders can keep their own copies of published status reports at several dates:

Stakeholders can see the XML file stored in IPFS. They can go to page ipfs.io and enter the IPFS code, like this one:

Any user with the Ethereum code, and the PMPeople project private key, is able to see the XML file, following 4 steps:

1) Go to Eherscan and enter Ethereum transaction code (try this example): https://etherscan.io/tx/0xce68af365517c7a4bebdfb3b4697db18c6964f124aa57309b243499f609313b4

2) Go to field “Input Data” to get the encrypted IPFS code: Wzw4LtkzOIJQDh/QXgkjttJS2Conf96oxq6hfbOlpoeFzAKAFgW2qylmDe46sptp

3) This text is encrypted with Data Encryption Standard DES, using the PMPeople project private key: MzeVnKO8. Any standard tool can be used to decrypt the text. In PMPeople, you can go to the pop-up window to fetch IPFS reports and click button [Decrypt]:

4) Finally, go to ipfs.io, enter IPFS Code (clear) to get the original XML file.

Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a project status report “verified” in PMPeople?

A report is verified when at least one stakeholder confirms that the published Blockchain status report matches the data in PMPeople.

How can I see a project status report stored in Blockchain?

Go to Etherscan and enter the Ethereum transaction code. Use the IPFS hash found in the input data to retrieve the file at ipfs.io.

Can a published status report be changed?

No. If changes are needed, the old report must be unpublished, and a new version is published in a new Blockchain transaction.