Disaggregate Events
A disaggregate event removes or ends the recorded association between a logistics unit and its contents. In plain terms: the pallet or container is…
Start with Understanding Event-Based Traceability in Wholechain for shared concepts. To perform this event in the application, see Disaggregate.
What a disaggregate event represents
A disaggregate event removes or ends the recorded association between a logistics unit and its contents. In plain terms: the pallet or container is being broken down, and its contents are individually handled again.
The items themselves don't change. They are only ungrouped.
When and why to use it
Use disaggregate when you unload a pallet or container, or otherwise separate its contents, and want those contents individually traceable again: to store them separately, sell them separately, transform them, or ship them to different places.
A common sequence:
- Aggregate contents onto a pallet (Aggregate Events).
- Ship the pallet (Ship Events).
- Receive it at the destination (Receive Events).
- Disaggregate when unloading or separating its contents.
Receiving and disaggregating record different activities. A pallet can arrive and sit on the dock, still aggregated, for hours. Arrival doesn't automatically mean unloading.
When you must disaggregate
An aggregation carries across to the receiver. Until the container is disaggregated, the only events you can record on its contents are a subsequent ship (shipping the container onward) or an observe. To act on the contents with any other event, such as a transform, disaggregate first.
What it does to traceability history
Disaggregation adds a "these items are no longer grouped in this unit" step. Before it, the history says the items were in the unit. After it, each item stands on its own. The earlier aggregation, shipping, and receiving records stay in the history.
Required information and master-data prerequisites
| Category | For disaggregate |
|---|---|
| Location | Where the unit was broken down. |
| Item | The contents being released. |
| Lot or serial identifier | The instances being released. |
| Event date and time | When the contents were separated. |
| Container identifier | The logistics unit being broken down. |
Set up the items (Trade Items) and your Location (Locations) before recording the event.
Relationship to inventory, lots or serials, and other events
- Inventory. The contents appear in your inventory as individual items rather than as part of the unit.
- Lots or serials. Contents keep their identifiers.
- Other events. Disaggregate follows aggregate, usually after receive.
Example
Metro Fresh Distribution receives Northline's pallet at its warehouse, recording the receive when the truck arrives. Two hours later, workers unload and split the pallet. Metro Fresh then records a disaggregate event, so lots FIL-0412-A and FIL-0413-B can each be stored, transformed, or shipped independently.
If a business keeps pallets intact and ships them onward unchanged, it may never need a disaggregate event.
Common misunderstandings
- "Receiving a pallet disaggregates it." It doesn't. Those are separate events.
- "Disaggregating changes the items." It doesn't.
- "I can disaggregate anything." Only something that was aggregated.
- "I can disaggregate just some of the contents." You can't. Disaggregation applies to the whole container.
- "I can reuse the pallet ID afterward." You can't. Container identifiers can't be reused.
- "I must disaggregate before I ship a pallet onward." You don't. You can ship the container as it is.
Relevant restrictions
- Disaggregation is recorded at your own Location. If a Trade Partner is Wholechain connected, your account can't disaggregate at that partner's Locations. See connected trade partners.
- Disaggregation ends an existing association, so it follows an aggregation.
- You can't partially disaggregate a container.
- A container identifier can't be reused after disaggregation.
- Nested containers aren't supported at this time.
Notes on standards and regulations
- GDST (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability) and FSMA 204 (the U.S. FDA Food Traceability Rule): See GDST and Wholechain and FSMA 204 and Wholechain for how container-level records relate to lot-level records.
Disaggregation doesn't by itself establish compliance with a standard or regulation.
Related documentation
- To perform this event, see Disaggregate. For all event types, see the Wholechain Events Overview.
- Understanding Event-Based Traceability in Wholechain
- Aggregate Events · Receive Events · Ship Events · Transform Events
- Event-Based Traceability FAQ
- Trade Items · Locations
- GDST and Wholechain · FSMA 204 and Wholechain