Getting started with Wholechain in 6 steps
The traceability enabled by Wholechain is rooted in a simple yet sophisticated system of logging supply chain events as product moves downstream towards consumers. With a custom template creator and storytelling features, Wholechain lets you collect robust data while streamlining the flow of information through your supply chain.
Wondering how to get started? These 6 simple steps will have you tracing your supply chain in no time.
(Click here) for a guide to started on Wholechain's mobile app):
1. Create an account for your company and select your plan
2. Add Companies to your Network
3. Create a product
4. Create a template
5. Commission a product
6. Confirm a Ship event
1. Create an account for your company and select your plan
Create a username and password, verify your account with an email confirmation, and you're good to log in!
How: After signing in on the web app, Navigate to Settings in the top-right corner. Here you can set up company details, add internal team members, add locations that product passes through, and manage your plan details.
2. Add Companies to your Network
Companies in your Network are like contacts associated with your supply chain, both downstream and upstream players, third-party certifiers or brands, etc. with whom you'll communicate about the movement of products.
Note: In order for any of your partners to send and receive Wholechain records through the platform, they must be set up with a Wholechain account. Pass along this article to help them get started!
How: To connect with a Company, simply navigate to the Network page on your Desktop or Mobile device, and select Add. (A more detailed step-by-step on how to add companies to your network can be found here.)
You can either manually add a Contact that is either on Wholechain or not, or use a CSV to add multiple companies at a time.
To add multiple companies to your Network, select the CSV upload option and include Defined Attributes or not to download a CSV template you can fill out with the relevant Company information. (Read more about defined attributes here)
Read more about how to manage the companies in your Network here.
3. Create a product
A product in Wholechain is simply a good that you're handling in your supply chain, and will be the basis for any events you log. We advise creating a product for every stage of your product's life cycle that you want to trace.
For example, if you are tracing apple sauce that goes through a processing a packaging event, you would create a product to represent the raw whole apples, one for the resulting apple sauce from processing, and then a final packaged product as the output of the final packaging event.
Creating a product requires that you know that Unit of Measure that product is measured by and if you want to allow events using the product to have an open or restricted data sharing protocol with the Companies in your Network that you ship events to using this product.
How: Navigate to the Products page and click Add. (More detailed, step-by-step instructions on creating products can be found here.)
4. Create a template
Every event record in Wholechain is based on a Template. Templates are fully customizable with a simple creator tool so you can match the key data elements you and your partners need to collect. You can also share templates with your contacts to ensure consistency across your product's journey.
How: Go to your Templates page and click Add to create a new template. Certain data is required in for every record template, but you can customize additional fields in a variety of formats to meet your needs. (More detailed, step-by-step instructions on creating templates can be found here.)
5. Commission a product
Now you're ready to create and send your first record! Records are what contain the data about product attributes and their movements along the supply chain.
How: Go to your Records page and select Add > Single Record. Enter the recipient contact, the template and the product you're referring to, as well as all the other custom data fields associated with your template. If your record is concerning product received from another Wholechain contact, link your record to those previously received records.
Click Save and draft of your record will be created for you to review, and Send to transmit the record to your contact. The record will move into the "Sent" tab, and show as "Pending" until your recipient confirms the contract.
(For more detailed step-by-step instructions: Creating and sending records, Linking records, Using Quick-scan to create records with the mobile app)
6. Confirm a Ship event
The last critical step to start working with Wholechain is to confirm or reject each you receive from a contact. Similarly, your sent records will only appear as "Confirmed" in your Sent records tab once the recipient to whom you've sent records has confirmed them.
Note: The record confirmation is the point in the Wholechain process at which the record data is written to blockchain, thus creating tamper-proof transparency into product attributes and the chain of custody.
How: Any record you receive from your contacts will appear in the "Received" tab with the status "Pending". Click View on a record, and review the details to ensure its accuracy. If all seems good, click Confirm, and the status will update to Confirmed, and will ready to link to any future records you create. If the record is inaccurate or missing information, click Reject, and contact who sent the record will know they need to resend an updated version. (More detailed step-by-step instructions on how confirm shipping events can be found here.)
