Aggregate

What is an aggregate event?

An Aggregate event documents when multiple discrete products are physically grouped together, typically for the purposes of shipping or storing. The individual items being aggregated are typically identified by the pallet, container other logistical unit in which they’re grouped. With aggregation there is always the intention to disaggregate the items again later downstream towards consumption.

How it works:

A Wholechain user selects multiple product items and creates an aggregation, grouping them together while retaining their individual properties, and has the option to assign them to logistical unit or SSCC for shipping.
The aggregated product can now be transferred, sent or just stored as an aggregation.
At any point a user can reverse an aggregation in their current inventory by disaggregating the item back into its original items. All aggregations are reversible.

Examples:

50 cartons of strawberries are aggregated and loaded onto a pallet for shipment, later to be disaggregated back into the original 50 cartons of strawberries.
100 cases of bottled olive oil are aggregated and loaded into a shipping container for export. The individual cases will later be disaggregated back into the original 100 cases at the destination warehouse

How to do this on Wholechain:

1: Navigate to the Products page from Wholechain's left-side menu, and click on the product whose items you'd like to aggregate.
2: Using the checkboxes on the left side of Current Inventory table, select the item(s) you wish to aggregate and click Actions > Aggregate.
3: You'll be able to select the quantities of the input items you're aggregating, so enter the quantity in case you only want to send part of a line item. Next assign the aggregation a logistical unit ID (such as an SSCC), and select the date of the aggregation. Finally, add any optional identifiers per the product settings.
4: Click Log Event, and after the record is written to the blockchain, your aggregation will appear in the Current Inventory list, but will have a "+" icon that you can click to view the contents of the aggregation. Now you can treat the aggregated product just like a single product item and log events with it such as Ship or Disaggregate.

Note: Each time you log an Aggregate event, only one event record is written to the blockchain. When you disaggregate the items, the number of blockchain confirmations will match the number of items you are disaggregating. Learn more about how blockchain confirmations are calculated here