Blockchain and SCM Integration

Question 1

Characteristics of Good Supply Chain

Answer 1

End to end visibility
Flexibility
Shared Trust
Control

Question 2

Blockchain Properties

Answer 2

Immutability
Transparent
Auditable
Fast settlement
Low cost

Question 3

IoT- Internet of Things

Answer 3

• Extending Internet connectivity beyond PCs and Smartphones and into things like Refrigerators and sensors
• Consists of hardware, software and protocols that enable the flow of data between the entities of the network
• Blockchain combined with low powered IoT trackers and sensors can help track shipments with information like GPS data, temperature, humidity, lights, sounds any deviation from the determined path etc

Question 4

Arduinos

Answer 4

• Consists of both a physical programmable circuit board (which is called the Micro controller) and a piece of software (which is called integrated development environment) used to write and upload computer code to the physical board
• With the advent of low powered tracking hardware like RFID sensors and Arduinos, Blockchain plus IoT can be used to track every batch of shipments uniquely to provide end to end visibility

Question 5

Integration Layer

Answer 5

• is required to manage the sensor and network entities so that data from different sources can be aggregated and then integrated with data from external sources to make informed decisions
• using the data from Integration layer, the network can determine the right course of action using Machine learning

Question 6

Integration Layer Configuration

Answer 6

Create- Sensor
Aggregate- Network
Communicate- Integration
Analyze- Augmented Intelligence

Question 7

Value Chain

Answer 7

• The movement of Goods from Suppliers through Business to customers and consumers
• Supply chain are the steps needed to facilitate that movement
• Process by which a company adds value to its articles
• Blockchain and IoT can be combined to create networks which connect all the different hierarchies of a supply chain for Integrated decision making

Question 8

SCM using Blockchain Technology

Answer 8

Physical flow of goods
Digital flow of information
Immutable Blockchain network
Easy access to ensure provenance

Question 9

Node Architecture

Answer 9

Enterprise Resource Planning
Cloud based network
Banking system
Real time data services
Intelligent business services

Question 10

UTXO

Answer 10

Unspent Transaction Output Model

Question 11

Advantages of Blockchain in SCM process

Answer 11

Increased Transparency
Increased Traceability
Archived Inventory History
Product tracking via Tokens (use to transact directly over the Blockchain)
Real time data for products

Question 12

Requirement Analysis (Blockchain Deployment Stage 1)

Answer 12

Need a common shared database
Looking for contractual solutions
Need to provide control to external services for validation
Need to control the functionality
Public/Private Ledger

Question 13

Factors to choose the best Consensus Mechanism

Answer 13

Participatory
Simple Majority
Consensus voting
Unanimous Agreement

Question 14

Examples of Consensus Algorithm

Answer 14

PoW
PoS
DPoS
PoA
PoC
DAG

Question 15

Factors to determine consensus decisions

Answer 15

Participatory
Simple Majority
Consensus voting
Unanimous Agreement

Question 16

Consensus Algorithms

Answer 16

PoW
PoS
DPoS
POA
PoC
DAG

Question 17

Decision Flow in Blockchain Deployment

Answer 17

Identify expected benefits
Pick the appropriate consensus method
Pick the appropriate Blockchain Platform
Make a suitable user interface
Write your Smart contracts
Define Blockchain instance

Question 18

Provenance

Answer 18

A record of ownership of a thing, used as a guide to authenticity or quality

Question 19

VeChain Thor (VET)

Answer 19

• One of the premier enterprise focused Blockchain Platform that aims to reimagine how products travel through the Supply Chain
• in house development of RFID chips and IoT sensors for temperature detection
• Based on a fork of Ethereum Blockchain
• Highly scalable and can handle upto 10000 tx/sec
• Uses 2 token system with masternodes to secure the system

Question 20

VeChain Stakeholders

Answer 20

Business Owners- User base of the platform
Application Service Provider or Smart Contact Providers
Infrastructure Service Provider- entities who run full nodes
VeChain Foundation and Community- for development and maintaining VET

Question 21

VeChain Economic Model

Answer 21

• VeChain has dual token model to ensure volatility in cryptocurrency prices doesn’t affect SCM operation
• VeChain token (VET) is the ‘Smart Money’ which is programmable and executable in smart contracts to carry out value transfers along with commercial activities running on the platform
• VeChain Thor Energy (VTHO) for carrying the value transfers and executing transactions on the VeChain Thor platform
• VET can be used to build the links among dots in ecosystem whereas VTHO can be used to pay the cost of facilitating payments and smart contract transactions

Question 22

VTHO

Answer 22

• VTHO is generated through holding VeChain Tokens (VET) with an established emission rate called Velocity
• Velocity is determined to enable any user with VeChain Tokens (VET) to make transactions at no cost if the user holds the tokens for long enough
• The function of VET is to serve as value transfer medium or smart money to build complex apps
• VTHO represents the underlying cost of using VeChain and will be consumed after the Blockchain operations are performed