Verification and Validation for a Project Information Model Based on a Blockchain

Abstract

Agile project management based on minimum viable products has some benefits against the traditional waterfall method. Agile supports an early return of investment that supports circular reinvesting and makes the product more adaptable to variable social-economical environments. However, agile also presents some intrinsic issues due to its iterative approach. Project information requires an efficient record of the requirements, aims, governance not only for the investors, owners or users but also to keep evidence in future health and safety and other statutory compliance-related issues. In order to address the agile project management issues and address new safety regulations, this paper proposes a project information model (PIM) based on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) with a ranked procedure for the verification and validation (V&V) of data. Each V&V phase inserts a process of authenticity, data abstraction and analytics that adds value to the information founded on artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP). The underlying DLT consists of smart contracts embedded on a private Ethereum blockchain. This approach supports a decentralised approach in which every project stakeholder owns, manages and stores the data. The presented model is validated in a real scenario: University College London—Real Estate—Pearl Project.