Smart Contracts in documents: creation and registration on blockchain (Polygon)

Description

Athento incorporates a feature that allows generating a smart contract associated with a document and registering it on a public blockchain network (Polygon).

In this feature, "registering a smart contract" means anchoring on blockchain a public and immutable proof that the document, together with certain business data associated with it (amount, date, reference, parties involved, etc.), existed and has not been modified at a specific point in time. Athento keeps an auditable record of that proof, and anyone can verify it independently by consulting the blockchain network itself.

This feature is especially useful for documents that require reliably and immutably evidencing their content and conditions to third parties: contracts, agreements, certifications, deliveries with financial milestones, etc.

Configuration

Before being able to use the feature on a document, you must indicate which data from the document are part of the "contract":

• In the configuration of each Metadata Type there is a check called "Include in smart contract".
• When you enable this check, that metadata will automatically be included as a contract parameter in all documents that use that metadata type. For example, you can mark the amount of an agreement, the date of a milestone, or any relevant business reference in this way. It is not recommended to include the name of the signing parties, to comply with PII laws.
• It is not necessary to mark all metadata of a document: only those you want to include as proof in the contract. The rest of the document information remains, as always, only in Athento.

Additionally, for the blockchain registration to work, the instance administration/support team must have previously configured the connection to the Polygon network; this is done within the team’s apps.

How it is used

1. The document must be locked. A smart contract can only be created on a document that is already locked, i.e., it has reached a point in its life cycle where it is no longer expected to change. This avoids registering as "proof" content that can still be modified.
2. The creation and registration operation is launched. In a single step, Athento:
   • Calculates the document fingerprint (hash).
   • Collects the values of all metadata marked as "Include in smart contract".
   • Combines both data and anchors them on the Polygon blockchain network via a real transaction.
3. A result record is generated, with the date, the registration status (successfully registered or failed), the blockchain transaction identifier, and the parameters that were included as proof.
4. The history can be consulted of all smart contracts created for a document, to see all registrations made over time.
5. Public and independent verification. With the returned transaction identifier, anyone can check in a public block explorer (for example, Polygonscan) that the proof truly exists on the network, without depending on Athento to confirm it. This is what provides the differentiating value compared to a simple internal record: the proof is public and verifiable by third parties.

In this first version, the operation is performed by means of a call to the Athento platform; there is not yet a dedicated button in the visual interface to launch it directly from the document page (see limitations section).

Which functionalities will be available later:

This feature will evolve to include later:

• Deployment of smart contracts with executable business logic. The creation of contracts that automatically execute actions such as conditional payments, escrow of funds, or release of guarantees will be enabled. What it does is anchor a proof of integrity and existence of the document and its key data. The execution of business logic on blockchain (contracts with automatic conditions).
• Dedicated screen in the user interface to create the smart contract or consult its history visually on the document page.

Messages and common cases

• "The document must be locked to create a smart contract." This message appears if you try to create a smart contract on a document that is not yet locked. You must lock the document first and repeat the operation.
• Registration with status "failed". If at the time of trying to register on blockchain there is a problem (for example, the connection to the network is not available or is not configured), the attempt is not lost: it is saved with status "failed" along with the reason, so that it can be reviewed or retried later without losing the information already calculated.