5. Cost Reduction & SLA Prioritization

Summary: we cut verification cost and latency by triaging work before PoV, routing windows by SLA class, and removing rework. PoV rules do not change: quorum, equality, and One-Claim are enforced at the Gate. What changes is which items reviewers see first and how much manual time each item needs.

What we optimize

We want lower cost per verified claim, faster T2C (time-to-cash), and fewer attestor minutes per window, without weakening PoV. The levers are simple: send “easy” windows straight through, quarantine only what needs eyes, and give high-value items a faster lane.

SLA classes

Each window gets an SLA tag at ingestion:

• Standard — target t_verify ≤ 24h. Default for most energy and carbon.

• Priority — target t_verify ≤ 2h. Triggered by queue size, buyer deadlines, or enterprise plans.

• Critical — target t_verify ≤ 30m. Used for large settled_edusd or milestone tranches.

The tag is sla_class; the target is sla_target_min. These are inputs to routing—PoV still decides admissibility.

How items are routed (clear playbook)

1. Compute a simple priority score from sla_class, settled_edusd (or expected), quarantine_reason, and flagged state.

2. If the window is “easy” (bounds ok, no overlap, normal rate-of-change), mark PASS and push to attestor batch for the right SLA.

3. If suspicious but not wrong, mark QUARANTINED with a precise code (for example SPIKE_RATE), and route to a human queue.

4. If clearly wrong, REJECT with a specific code (for example OVERLAPPING_WINDOW).

Important: routing changes order and reviewer effort, not PoV invariants.

Dedup and reuse

We never ask reviewers to check the same thing twice.

• Reuse the exact evidenceHash: if a duplicate payload arrives, short-circuit to the prior decision.

• Cache method outputs keyed by method_hash and inputs_hash for nearby windows (for example, same day and device class).

• Decode EAS attestations once per batch; pass handles between queue workers instead of re-parsing.

Simple priority function (TypeScript)

type SLA = "standard" | "priority" | "critical";

export function priorityScore(params: {
  sla_class: SLA; expected_settlement_edusd: number;
  quarantine_reason?: string; flagged?: boolean;
}) {
  let score = 0;
  // SLA base
  score += params.sla_class === "critical" ? 1000
       :  params.sla_class === "priority" ? 500 : 100;
  // Money matters
  score += Math.log10(Math.max(1, params.expected_settlement_edusd)) * 50;
  // Clean items first
  if (!params.quarantine_reason && !params.flagged) score += 100;
  // Quarantined still move, but behind clean items
  if (params.quarantine_reason) score -= 50;
  if (params.flagged) score -= 200;
  return score;
}

The queue pops highest score first; workers sized per SLA class hit their sla_target_min.

Who pays for fast lanes

Protocol fees are still in EDM at settlement (with 50% burn). SLA services (review time) are a separate EDUSD service fee paid to attestors or the program—transparent, metered, and off the PoV path. Never discount the burn; if you rebate, touch the treasury half only.

House rules that reduce cost without risk

Explain them plainly so reviewers and auditors trust the process.

• Quarantine ratio — keep quarantined / total ≤ 10% by improving rules, not by forcing PASS.

• Reviewer budget — cap manual minutes per window; if exhausted, escalate to Priority queue or request more evidence.

• Batch similar items — same device_id, adjacent start_ts, same method_hash → one reviewer pass, many windows.

• Early stop — if any hard failure (overlap, non-canonical), stop the pipeline and respond immediately with the exact error code.

KPI scoreboard (you’ll publish these)

• SLA attainment — % of windows verified within sla_target_min by class

• Cost per verified MWh — total reviewer minutes ÷ verified MWh

• Quarantine yield — % quarantined that turn into REJECT (the higher, the better the rules)

• T2C — median settlement_ts − end_ts

• Rework rate — % of items reopened after decision (target near zero)

Guardrails that never change

• Gate still rules: the PoV Gate enforces quorum, equality, and One-Claim.

• No auto-swap: if a user lacks EDM at settlement, the call reverts even if EDUSD is present.

• Proof mints are gas-only on Base; fees apply only at settlement.

Conformance

Add sla_class and sla_target_min to the queue record; compute a transparent priority_score; short-circuit exact duplicates by evidenceHash; batch by method_hash where possible; publish SLA and KPI dashboards; never bypass the PoV Gate or One-Claim exclusivity.

Bottom line: prioritize what matters, quarantine what’s suspicious, and stop what’s wrong—while keeping PoV intact. That’s how you lower cost, hit SLAs, and keep trust.