1. Kickoff Master’s Thesis: Using Smart Contracts for Digital Services: A Feasibility Study Based on Service Level Agreements
Stephan Zumkeller, 5th March 2018, Scientific advisors: Ulrich Gallersdörfer & Elena Scepankova

2. Agenda 1 Motivation 2 Research Questions 3 Approach 4 Timeline
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

3. Motivation – Blockchain’s potential exceeds CryptoKitties“
Blockchain has the potential to serve as an infrastructure for cross-organizational workflow management. [1] ”
vs. “
[Smart Contracts] improve the efficiency, speed and performance of contracts. [10]
Aside from cryptocurrencies, the Blockchain offers a technology that could reshape companies’ application landscapes
Blockchain as intermediary, as trusted integrator of business processes, as trusted shared database
Smart Contracts for the automation and integration of business processes ”
[9]
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

4. Motivation – Possible improvements for SLA
Information asymmetry
Providers monitor their own services and calculate service quality
Customers depend on providers for timely and correct reports
Availability and control of information is unbalanced towards providers
Customers require ability to verify performance reports [4]
[…] the blockchain could function as a transparency device to mitigate inefficiencies in markets with imperfect information. [3]
High complexity with multiple customers
High effort for providers to manage different SLAs for different services for multiple customers [5]
Automating the execution of contractual actions reduces complexity [7]
Blockchain as a trusted third party for monitoring and reporting
- Smart Contracts offer trusted automation of integrated collaborative processes
[…] smart contracts can make these transactions cheaper to execute and faster [8]
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

5. How can Smart Contracts support the execution of SLA contract actions?
Research Questions
How can Smart Contracts support the execution of SLA contract actions?
How can service level information be made available to Smart Contracts?
How to design and implement SLA management and execution on a Blockchain?
How can SLAs be improved with Smart Contracts?
What is the model of a SLA?
What parts are suitable to be programmed into a Smart Contract?
How do Smart Contract fit in SLA from a legal perspective?
What are the roles and life-cycle of a SLA Smart Contract?
How can service performance information be made available to a Smart Contract?
How can service performance be measured?
Which possibilities exist to feed off-chain information to Smart Contracts?
How to design and implement a SLA Smart Contract?
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

6. Approach: Design Science Research
Service Level Agreements
Providers & Customers
SL evaluations
Monitoring systems
Reporting systems
Information asymmetry
High complexity
Environment
Design Science Research
Foundations
Literature review
SLA
Blockchain
Smart Contracts
Experience & Expertise
Guided interviews with providers / customers
Knowledge Base
IT Artifact: Blockchain based SLA management
Rigor Cycle
Evaluation
Relevance Cycle
Design Cycle
[6]
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

7. Timeline Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Knowledge base
Literature Review
State of the Art: SLA
State of the Art: Smart legal contracts
Research Artifact
Concept: Service quality monitoring
Concept: Blockchain data feed
Design & Implementation
Evaluation
Writing Thesis
Today
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis

8. Sources
[1] Fridgen, G., Radszuwill, S., Urbach, N., and Utz, L Cross-Organizational Workflow Management Using Blockchain Technology - Towards Applicability, Auditability, and Automation. In Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. [2] La Rosa, M., Loos, P., Pastor, O., Weber, I., Xu, X., Riveret, R., Governatori, G., Ponomarev, A., and Mendling, J., Eds Untrusted Business Process Monitoring and Execution Using Blockchain. Business Process Management. Springer International Publishing. [3] Notheisen, B., Cholewa, J. B., and Shanmugam, A. P Trading Real-World Assets on Blockchain. Bus Inf Syst Eng 59, 6, 425–440. [4] Berger, T Konzeption und Management von Service-Level-Agreements für IT-Dienstleistungen. Dissertation, TU Darmstadt. [5] Paschke, A. and Bichler, M Knowledge representation concepts for automated SLA management. Decision Support Systems 46, 1, 187–205. [6] Hevner, A A Three Cycle View of Design Science Research. Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems 19, 2. [7] Berberova, D. and Bontchev, B Design of Service Level Agreements for Software Services. [8] Di Pascale, E., McMenamy, J., Macaluso, I., and Doyle, L Smart Contract SLAs for Dense Small-Cell-as-a-Service. CoRR abs/ [9] [10] Farrell, S., Machin, H., and Hinchliffe, R Lost and found in smart contract translation – considerations in transitioning to automation in legal architecture. King & Wood Mallesons, Australia.
Zumkeller Kick-Off: Smart Contracts for Digital Services: Study based on Service Level Agreements
© sebis