In this post, we provide an extensive update on our role as Ecosystem Actor, our roadmap and release targets, as well as an overview of our progress so far.

This status update is the first one since a while ago. As a result, it covers a lot of ground that we want to explore in more detail with the MakerDAO community. In the coming weeks and months, community calls will be scheduled to talk about specific topics that are mentioned throughout this write-up.

Powerhouse is involved in building and rolling out software that will implement the Atlas rules in form of the Universal DAO Toolkit

• Building the software for efficient decentralized operations, transparency reporting, and operational data management.

• Conducting business process analysis, identifying best practices, and embed these best practices in the user journeys of the DAO’s specialized operational modules (business features.)

• Co-create with stakeholders and iterate based on stakeholder feedback.

• Enabling maximum progress towards automation, AI integration, and agent participation in the DAO.

• Tying it all in with a decentralized identity solution for pseudonymous contributors with a reputation-based system to incentivize Atlas-aligned behavior.

Over time, Powerhouse will offer a wide range of products and services to cover all aspects of decentralized operations for DAOs. Here is the latest overview:

Our suite of open-source products include a public collaboration and transparency platform, an identity and reputation solution for pseudonymous contributors, document editing and sharing features for teams, and an open API with access to all the DAO’s operational data in one place.

For MakerDAO, these products will be fully integrated with the Atlas.

Using the tools and building blocks provided by the base infrastructure layer, the organization’s data and processes can be effectively modeled and automated. For MakerDAO, this means the development of specialized features such as RWA portfolio reporting, AVC membership administration, DAO legal tech, and customized project management and transparency reporting features.

Our entire infrastructure is designed for progressive automation with AI agents as first-class participants in mind. Every feature is available as API to provide access, not just to the data, but to the permissioned operations to manipulate the data, as well as the data schemas and meta information. Full support is built in for training and interacting with the future AI models that will assist contributors and automate operations over time.

Last but not least, we help the organization with succesfully rolling out and adopting the software we develop, and we offer continued assistance with coordination, project management, and iterative process improvement and automation.

Read our original Ecosystem Actor Introduction post for more info.

To understand the timeline of our roadmap, it is important to be aware of the different development stages that are involved.

• At its core, Powerhouse is building the tools to make process automation in DAOs more efficient. While this has great future potential, there is a strong flywheel effect involved in the progress that we’re making: slower at first, accelerating over time.

• This is because it takes time to put the base infrastructure in place first, before we can start producing the business features that MakerDAO is eagerly waiting for. Once the core infrastructure tooling is working correctly, new business features can be added very fast.

In general it’s good to think about our roadmap in 3 stages following an accelerating progress curve. Our focus so far has been on stages 1 and 2.

While we need to put the core infrastructure in place to benefit from the many efficiency gains that Powerhouse tooling eventually will offer, the team has also been working on a number of prototypes for MakerDAO that have already provided significant value.

Visit https://expenses.makerdao.network/ for the latest release of our transparency dashboard prototype.

The effort we put in these prototypes will not get lost as we are developing and adopting our new architecture. Rather than discarded, many of the prototypes will be refactored into the future Powerhouse products:

As a first release of the new architecture, we are targeting an MVP Alpha Version that will merge the work on the new architecture with the extended and refactored prototypes we built before:

The scope of this alpha release will contain two things:

• RWA Portfolio Reporting feature based on the new architecture, and

• A revamped version of the transparency reporting features already available on https://expenses.makerdao.network/

Release Target

The current target for this release is early Q2 next year

We’re giving more details on our progress on both tracks in the following sections.

This track contains the work that was started from scratch a couple of months ago. This constitutes the new Powerhouse infrastructure that is built to support all the future requirements that weren’t part of the scope of the earlier prototypes we built for MakerDAO.

At the core of the Powerhouse architecture is a framework for the efficient creation of document and process models that capture the inner workings of the DAO. These models implement the organization’s best practices as defined by MakerDAO governance, which will be naturally adopted by ecosystem contributors when they are using the software.

A preview of Powerhouse Connect with public, team, and local document drives.

This core functionality can be thought of as the DAO equivalent of Google Drive or Dropbox, with a number of important differences:

• Rather than using generic documents such as text documents or spreadsheets, the document models are very domain-specific and they evolve together with the organization.

  • There can be many of them: RWA Portfolios, Ecosystem Actor Profiles, AVC membership lists, … are all examples of potential MakerDAO-specific document formats.

  • As these models change throughout the lifetime of the organization, adopting lessons learned and propagating them to newcomers, they act as the DAO’s brain and its collective memory. They give the DAO the ability to learn, adapt, and remember, removing the tendency to repeat past mistakes over and over again.

• All documents can be understood and modified by humans and AI agents alike

  • For the humans among us, user-friendly editors are available with built-in support for sharing, synchronization, versioning, visual comparison, and other key collaboration features.

  • For our digital companions, all permitted document operations can be inspected and called through an API. This opens the door for limitless automation through data integration scripts, AI agents, and so on.

• All document modifications are cryptographically signed, and these signatures are verifiably tethered to the user’s Ethereum identity.

  • Other than a private key for signing document operations, no account is needed. This enables pseudonymous contributors to fully participate in the DAO ecosystem.

  • Cryptographic signatures create an auditing trail that keeps track of who changed what, with the option to factor this into user reputation, and with strong value as legal proof.

• The DAO and its contributors have full control over data ownership

  • There is the option to create local drives or team drives stored on a decentralized network infrastructure. Document sharing supports end-to-end encryption for privacy protection.

As an example of a document model with a specialized editor, we’re sharing the wireframe of a RWA Portfolio Report.

• This is the business feature that is being prepared for the MVP Alpha Release version.

• The wireframes have been shared with a number of Ecosystem Actors and future users for knowledge sharing, coordination and feedback. (Most notably Steakhouse, Monetalis and BA Labs.)

RWA Portfolio Report editor showing a side-by-side comparison view of 2 snapshots of an example portfolio.

Arrangers will use this editor to report on the off-chain transactions that are underlying their RWA portfolio.

• On a regular basis, Arrangers will push the latest updates in the document to the relevant AllocatorDAO Operator. These updates may be every month, or every week, or live, depending on MakerDAO preferences.

• AllocatorDAO Operators will be able to easily inspect all the changes that were made: newly submitted transactions, newly attached evidence, or any corrections to existing data.

• Once their review is finished, Operators will publish the latest version of the document on the Fusion transparency dashboard. Confidential information is removed in the process, but the cryptographic signatures remain to preserve auditability.

Note that this feature is not in scope for the MVP Alpha Version launch. It is explored as an example of an automated legal process.

An essential part of DAO operations is to build the necessary legal infrastructure for the Maker ecosystem, minimizing legal risks for individual actors and maximizing the legal resilience of the system itself.

This legal infrastructure comprises novel structures, processes, and services adapted to the specificities of DAOs. The procedures and services will be productized and turned into software features, governed in the Support Scope, and implemented in the DAO toolkit. This will enable fully transparent, efficient, and trust-minimized legal support that doesn’t require a dedicated legal expert as a middleman.

Three verticals will be prioritized:

• Legal Defense Infrastructure

• Legal Risk Management

• Legal modeling and structuring

As a second example of a document model editor, we show a preview of the first legal tech implementation planned for the DAO toolkit: a fully automated, anon-friendly, on-chain onboarding process for the world’s first DAO legal defense fund (”Maker DAO’s Resilience Fund”).

Resilience Fund Onboarding

The user will sign a message from an address that proves their engagement with MakerDAO (“Cryptographic Proof of Eligibility”), verifiable by anyone with the spell that enacted an executive vote ratifying the respective governance decision.

This track involves the continued development and evolution of the original Expenses Dashboard (which will become a part of Powerhouse Fusion) and the associated API (which will become a part of Powerhouse Switchboard.)

We’re discussing three major updates to the feature set of the dashboard and API since the latest status update on the forum back in March:

• Snapshot Reports, which contain the wallets and transactions related to a given expense report. Where the expense report document is used to categorize expenses according to project (see further) and expense category (comp & benefits, travel, etc.), the snapshot report reconciles these reported numbers with the on-chain (and optionally off-chain) contributor team reserves.

• Aggregated Finance Views, a whole new set of analytics and charts that aggregate the budgets, forecasts, expense actuals, on-chain transactions, and even the off-chain balances and FTE numbers where available. Based on an upgraded version of our analytics engine that provides the same data through the latest API version.

• Project-Based Workflow features that prepare us for a more advanced procurement process for the DAO with better follow-up and deliverables sign-off during execution. The first set of features will allow us to associate projects and deliverables with the contributor teams, and group those deliverables into milestones as part of a roadmap.

We’re striving, at launch, to have the data on the platform include both the new endgame budgets as well as the legacy budgets from the past years. Projects and roadmaps are currently being assessed to determine how much information can be made available.

The Onchain Reconciliation deliverable provides a more complete financial reporting picture, as earlier versions of the Expense dashboard included mostly offchain reporting data. Through Snapshot Reporting feature, we are showing on-chain reserves and expense data, relating it to the relevant reported numbers, allowing for better understanding the flow of payments for specific team budgets and hence identification of any inconsistencies.

This feature uses data from the BA Labs API.

This deliverable includes features that all increase visibility and accessibility of budgetary information via comprehensive overview of MakerDAO’s budgets at varying scales - from the highest level down to individual scopes and sub legacy budgets. They allow the MakerDAO community to easily access and understand budget allocations, their progression, and relative percentages without wasting time searching for each budget individually.

Note: all numbers are for illustrative purposes only. General functionality will be included in the Alpha Release, but details may be different or missing altogether.

Mapping the complexity of MakerDAO budgetary data

At the highest level (MakerDAO Finances), the feature improves navigation and orientation via Budget Summary box and surfaces latest financial activity via Latest Monthly Expense Reports section. This is complemented with a comprehensive table detailing financial information for each budget/scope at that level.

Budget summary & navigation for top level MakerDAO Finances page

Endgame scope budget - example view of MakerDAO’s finances at varying levels

Breakdown table of MakerDAO’s finances at the top level

This feature introduces a stacked bar chart that surfaces relevant budgetary data to the context it is presented in (MakerDAO finances, Core Unit finances etc). Stakeholders can further modify view by changing expense metrics (Actuals/ Forecast/ Net Expense On Chain/ Net Expenses Off-Chain included/ Budget) and granularity views (Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly).

MakerDAO breakdown chart offers a clear understanding of finances at the top level.

The feature introduces a waterfall chart tracking the flow of funds for specific entities within MakerDAO and for the ecosystem as a whole.

MakerDAO flow of funds including Initial balance, Outflow, and Inflow data

Line chart that surfaces five expense metrics (Budget/ Forecast/ Actuals/ Net Expenses on-chain/ Net expenses off-chain included) presented at various levels.

Feature that supports understanding of organization’s labor costs - a stacked bar chart for visual assessment of the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) compensation and its trends.

Understand the headcount, non-headcount and other costs that relate to DAO’s contributing teams.

This project includes deliverables that will enable MakerDAO to improve the way in which the work is being proposed, budgeted, reported and rewarded. In transition towards Endgame and the new ways of contributing to the DAO, we are rethinking the work domain, tying loose ends, and implementing a project-based workflow (including RFPs, proposals, progress reporting, and budgeting). To begin, we prioritized the work on Project Progress Reporting and Project Budgeting deliverables. In addition, Endgame Milestone Progress feature ties the Project Progress Reporting with our Endgame Operational Support efforts.

Note that RFPs, Proposals, and Budgeting are NOT in scope for the Alpha Release. It will include only the base functionality for displaying team projects and deliverables.

This feature provides an overview of the specific projects that teams within MakerDAO are engaged in. Starting from the contributor team page, Projects and Deliverables this team is involved in are surfaced. In addition, project progress reporting elements like timeline, status, deliverables, key results, short descriptions communicate a clear roadmap information.

An alternative view on Projects and Deliverables that emphasizes progress on integrated solutions, the Roadmap Milestones View will group project deliverables across teams into milestones of a roadmap, and indicate their completion status.

• We presented a status update on the evolving role of Powerhouse as an Ecosystem Actor in the MakerDAO ecosystem.

• We highlighted the different areas of our work involving the development and roll-out of a base infrastructure layer for decentralized operations, business process analysis and the development of operational business features, their future automation through AI, and the related operational support we’re offering.

• We presented a timeline and rough scope for our MVP Alpha Release which is targeted at early Q2 next year. We identified the two tracks with (1) the New Architecture MVP and (2) the existing Prototypes’ Extension and Refactoring.

• We gave an extensive update on the features included in these two tracks.

  • Core infrastructure document modeling and editing with two example editors: RWA Portfolio Reporting and the Resilience Fund Onboarding

  • Snapshot reporting, aggregated finance views, and project-based workflow features as an on-going evolution of the expenses dashboard prototype.

• While the team will continue to work towards the MVP Alpha Release next year, we will organize a number of calls to provide further clarity on the roadmap and collect feedback from the community.

• A first call will be scheduled in the week of Dec 11. An invitation for the call will be posted on the forum.

In the meantime, feel free to put your questions and feedback in the thread.

–
The @Powerhouse team