Polkadot and Kusama Validator SIPOC

One way to visualize a process, deconstruct it, and look for areas for improvement is through a SIPOC diagram. SIPOC stands for supplier, inputs, process, outputs and customers, and can help to understand the various levers of a process. At CertHum, we’re always looking at ways to improve our processes, and a SIPOC diagram is a good starting point.

Below, you’ll find a SIPOC diagram I created for validating on the Kusama and Polkadot blockchains.

You can see the label for each of the columns match up with each letter in the SIPOC acronym. You’ll also notice that in each column there is a number which aligns horizontally for different steps in the process. The bottom shows each of the major process steps, starting with ‘Create Server as Validator’.

When looking at this, we can already see areas where there are process improvements that have been implemented by people and organizations running validators, including CertHum.

For instance, Web 3 Foundation has created ansible playbooks for deploying a secure validator configuration. This can be seen as an improvement in 1 of the Inputs column, if the server is currently manually configured in your existing process.

The SIPOC diagram is the beginning of getting a better understanding of a processes, and the one provided above could certainly be edited with modifications to what has been included. The important part is that it should be seen as iterative, and a means to get into more detailed parts of the process and a way to look for areas for improvement.

As this is the first post under the CertHum banner, it’s worth noting that you’ll see more posts from us where we open source internal process and documentation (where possible and appropriate). We see this as a way to contribute to the community, and our hope is that this will help to build a more robust anddiverse network. The SIPOC diagram is just one of the many artifacts which we look forward to sharing and discussing with you.