## 4 Platform Evaluation and KPIs Analysis
### KPIs Analysis  
The results of the aforementioned questionnaires, coupled with evidence from the platform's databases, allowed us to assess the level to which every KPI of the pilot was achieved. The results for the six KPIs that were presented in Section 3.2 are presented below and they show an overall positive evaluation of the smart badges functionality by both students (undergraduate and Ph.D.) and professors. Student skillset improvement: This KPI was measured from the QualiChain platform, based on the average number of smart badges that were awarded to students. The 50 undergraduate students that participated in this pilot case were awarded on average about seven smart badges each. These smart badges only represent the skills that students can learn from the courses of professors who also participated in the pilot. In addition, many of those smart badges represent soft skills such as leadership, team spirit, communication, and ability for presentations, among others. Before the application of the pilot, students would not be able to prove that they possess these skills other than with a recommendation letter from a professor. Of course, students would still possess those skills in any case but with the help of QualiChain, they can now prove so to prospective employers. In addition, the existence of smart badges in the QualiChain platform can give students the incentive to participate in the activities that will give them the opportunity to earn additional skills and qualifications. As such, it can be surmised that QualiChain can lead to an increase in a student's skillset. Number of smart badges/students: All in all, the 90 students (40 Ph.D. and 50 undergraduates) who participated in the platform were awarded on average about seven smart badges with some small variations among undergraduate and Ph.D. students. It can be said that the smart badge accreditation functionality was one of the most well received by the participants. This can also be proven by the answers that participants gave to the question \"state your level of agreement with the following statement: The smart badges that I have received from QualiChain will help me build a stronger professional profile\". In total, 1/90 (1%) answered disagree, 8/90 (9%) answered neutral, 30/90 (33%) answeredagree, and 51/90 (57%) answered strongly agree. As such, and given that 90% of students agreed with the significance of smart badges in an academic/professional profile, it can be said that the value of smart badges was evident to the pilot participants. Average percentage of verified skills in a student's profile: On average, the 50 undergraduate students that participated in the pilot had about 10 skills on their CVs. Based on the previous KPI, the average number of smart badges for students was about seven. This leads to 70% of skills being verified. The smart badges that the students received do not necessarily validate skills already existing on their CVs. This fact makes sense since most of the skills that students have on their CVs might have been earned by courses whose professors did not participate in the pilot or through other means (online courses, work experience, etc.). Despite that fact, these numbers prove that smart badge accreditation has the potential to revolutionize the way that skills are validated, especially if the QualiChain platform included more professors, employers, etc. Number of validated Ph.D. student tasks: The 11 professors who participated in the pilot created 25 distinct smart badges in total for their Ph.D. students. Coupled with the answers from the questionnaires, 0/11 (9%) created no smart badges, 6/11 (55%) created 1-3, and 4/11 (36%) created 4-7. The fact that some professors created fewer or no smart badges can be explained by the fact that professors can award to their students smart badges that have been created by other professors (e.g., thesis completion) and in that case, most of their needs are being covered by the earlier users.