## 3 QualiChain Architecture, Pilot Concept, Research Questions, and Execution Methodology
### Research Questions, Test Cases, and KPIs  
This section presents the main research questions that this pilot investigated, the test cases that have been designed, and the KPIs that will be used to measure the performance and usability of the smart badge accreditation functionality.  
As previously mentioned, most students do not have a structured way to select courses and make informed decisions that could help them follow their desired career path. Therefore, this pilot tried to understand whether the analytics and decision support tools of the QualiChain platform can simplify students' choices and help them make informed decisions about their future careers. In addition, there is a growing gap between the skills that are being taught in HEIs with the ones that are required by the respective labor market. Therefore, this pilot investigated whether the QualiChain platform could bridge the gap between academic organizations and the job market by providing recommendations for restructuring the ECE School's curriculum. Moreover, this pilot investigated the importance and added value of a smart badge ecosystem in a university setting. Finally, a research question that was relative to this pilot but was tackled under the context of other QualiChain pilots (public sector-related pilots) was whether blockchain has the potential to provide a new solution for decentralized certificate verification. The aforementioned research questions helped us shape three main test cases that guided the pilot-specific experiments. These test cases are presented in Table 1 below.  
Based on the test cases, the following two main technological offerings were tested: data analytics and decision support, and blockchain for certificate verification and issuance of micro-accreditations. While the students of the ECE School tested the full functionality of the platform, the results and evaluation of the data analytics and decision support functionalities in the context of this pilot have been presented and sufficiently explained in [2]. As such, the current publication will focus on the blockchain part of the platform and pilot (Test Case C) and delve deeper into the execution methodology of the pilot, as well as lessons learned and policy recommendations that can be derived from the available results. The pilot execution methodology is presented in Section 3.1, while the lessons learned and policy recommendations are discussed in Section 5.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Case** & **Scope** & **Actors** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{A} & Students create personal profiles and use & \\  & analytics and decision support to improve their & \\  & skills and knowledge and select suitable & \\  & courses/extracurricular activities. & \\ \multirow{2}{*}{B} & Professors use analytics and DSS tools to update & \\  & their courses. & \\  & Undergraduate and Ph.D. students receive smart & \\ \multirow{2}{*}{C} & badges from professors to validate their skills & \\  & and qualifications. & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Test case scenarios of the pilot.  
The KPIs that will be examined in the context of this pilot concern the usefulness and satisfaction of students and professors towards the blockchain micro-accreditation that the QualiChain platform offers. In Table 2 below, these KPIs are presented.