What is event-based traceability?
Wholechain is designed to help businesses achieve end-to-end supply chain traceability, which is defined by the United Nations Global Compact and Business (UNGC) and Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) as:
The ability to identify and trace the history, distribution, location and application of products, parts and materials, to ensure the reliability of sustainability claims, in the areas of human rights, labor (including health and safety), the environment and anti-corruption.
Wholechain tackles traceability by breaking up complex supply chain webs into a series of steps - which we call events. Events capture the who, what, when and where of each activity a product undergoes in its journey to consumers, in addition to customizable data unique to each supply chain. We’ve strategically aligned our event types with GS1’s Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standards to make sure data is compatible with the global trade ecosystem businesses are already working within.
The combination of blockchain-based data collection, simple desktop and mobile app user experiences, and robust storytelling with Sourceview, means more trust and accountability between stakeholders within the supply chain as well as with consumers. Here's a summary of each of the events that comprise our traceability system:
Note: Users have the option to add custom data using templates to each event they log in Wholechain, and all event data is written written on a blockchain upon clicking "Log Event".
Commission
A Commission event represents a product coming into existence in its documented supply chain. It typically occurs at the farthest upstream point of the traceability journey - either the point of harvest, or the first time that a product is being documented as itself.
How it works:
- A Wholechain user creates a Commission event from a product's current inventory page, with the option to include custom data.
- The record of the commissioned product is written onto the blockchain to show the origin point of every supply chain.
Examples:
- An orchard commissions the harvest of apples as they are picked, sorted, and packed into crates for shipment to a produce distributor
- A salmon coop commissions a vessel's harvest of salmon as it is sold to a seafood broker.
Decommission
A Decommission event represents when a product exits the traced supply chain. A common example of a decommission instance is when a product is consumed (i.e. a customer purchases the product from a store). Another example would be if a product is damaged, destroyed, or for some reason needs to be removed from circulation.
How it works:
- A Wholechain user selects the item they wish to decommission, and is prompted to provide a reason for decommissioning.
- The Decommission event record is written onto the blockchain to show the ending point of every traced supply chain.
Examples:
- A shipment of apples is decommissioned after a portion of the crates is found to be damaged during transit and is deemed unfit for sale.
- A product is purchased by a customer at a retail store.
Ship (Internal)
An Internal Ship event represents product movement internally within a company's various business locations, or partner facilities while the company maintains custody. Products maintain their physical properties, they simply move from one location to another.
How it works:
- A Wholechain user selects the item(s) they wish to ship, and selects the ship date(s).
- The user selects themselves in the Recipient field, as well as the location the goods are shipping to. This location would have already been set up in the user's business settings.
The user can select to automatically log the Receive event, and will be prompted to enter the date the items were received.
Examples:
- A batch of coffee beans is shipped from a company's roasting facility to its packaging facility. Both facilities are owned and operated by the same company, ensuring the beans maintain their traceability within the internal supply chain.
- A product moves from a cold storage facility in one location to a processing facility in another location, both of which are owned and managed by the same company.
Ship (External)
External Ship events represent when product is shipped from one Company to another. Logging a Ship event moves product item(s) from a company's current inventory to its shipped inventory tab with the status "pending", until the recipient company either receives or rejects the item(s) in their account.
How it works:
- Option 1: a Wholechain user selects an item from their current inventory, and selects the recipient company + location as well as dispatch date.
- Option 2: a Wholechain user creates a Batch Ship event from the Shipping / Receiving page, where they can send multiple products and items at once.
Examples:
- A shrimp processor ships 3 pallets of shrimp to a distributor’s warehouse.
- A winery ships 500 bottles of wine to a retailer's distribution center.
Receive
Receive events represent when you confirm a product's arrival at your own internal location. Receive events normally follow Ship events, though you can log a Receive event from a non-Wholechain user, thereby starting the traceability journey in Wholechain at this point. If the user receiving product notices any discrepancies between the ship record and the physical product received, they also have the option to reject the record, which sends a notification to the shipper that some information was off and the event needs to be revised.
How it works:
- Scenario 1: A user goes to their Shipping / Receiving page and clicks on the Pending tab. The user selects items that they wish to receive, and confirms it to a specific internal location.
- Scenario 2: A user goes to the Shipping / Receiving page or any product's Current Inventory page and clicks Actions > Receive. This prompts them to select from whom the product came as well as the item details they are receiving. This scenario occurs when the goods come from a user who is not yet on Wholechain, or who did not use Wholechain to log a ship event.
- In Scenario 1 above, the recipient also has the option to reject the items in their Pending tab if the Ship event record appears inaccurate.
Examples:
- A distributor confirms receipt of the product and records shipped to them from a supplier.
- A grocery store confirms receipt of a shipment of fresh produce from a local farm, logging the arrival of the vegetables into their Wholechain system.
Aggregate
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
Disaggregate
A Disaggregate event is the reverse of aggregation - where discrete, individually traceable products from an aggregation are separated. Disaggregation can only occur after aggregation. Nothing about the individual items is inherently changed, they are just broken down to be treated as individual units again.
How it works:
- A Wholechain user selects the aggregation they wish to disaggregate, and the products are separated back out into the same discrete products they had been prior to aggregation.
- An aggregation must occur prior to a disaggregation event in the supply chain.
Example:
- 50 cartons of strawberries are disaggregated from a pallet at a retail store to be placed on the shelf for individual sale.
- A shipment of 200 bags of coffee beans is disaggregated from a large container at a distribution center, allowing the individual bags to be sent to various coffee shops and retailers.
Transform
A Transform event describes an activity that irreversibly changes a product, transforming it into a new, traceable output product with a new Primary ID (i.e. a new serial number or lot number). It could be that raw materials are combined, cut or melted to make a new product, or that a product is packaged for consumption.
How it works:
- A Wholechain user selects the input item(s) they want to transform from their current inventory, and is prompted to specify details about the output product.
- The user can enter the output product details manually or via CSV upload for multiple items.
- The new product appears in the Current Inventory of that product page.
- Users can also use the "+ product" tab in the event drawer to transform multiple inputs into multiple output products.
Examples:
- At a seafood processor, an input lot of whole sockeye salmon is processed into three distinct production lots of packaged sockeye salmon fillets.
- Traceable harvests from multiple fishing vessels are irreversibly combined into one container of whole sockeye salmon upon landing.
- At a pasta factory, workers mix flour, egg and water input products to create 4 differently-shaped pasta output products.
