Event-Based TraceabilityEvent-Based Traceability FAQ

Event-Based Traceability FAQ

Short answers to common questions about event-based traceability in Wholechain, with links to the fuller articles.

Short answers, with links to the fuller articles. For how-to steps in the app, see the Wholechain Events Overview and the Events and Shipments FAQ.

The basics

1. What is event-based traceability?

It is a way of tracing products by recording a sequence of events: what happened to identified items, where, when, and how they moved or changed. Linked together, the events form a traceability history. See Understanding Event-Based Traceability in Wholechain.

2. How is traceability different from an inventory list?

An inventory list says what you have now. Traceability keeps the history: where each lot came from, what it became, and where it went. See the overview.

3. What is the difference between an item and an item instance?

An item is a reusable definition, such as "Frozen salmon fillet, 10 kg case." An item instance is a specific lot or serialized unit of that item, such as lot FIL-0412-A. Events happen to instances. See Master data, item instances, and events and Trade Items.

4. Why do I need lots or serial numbers?

An item name doesn't say which goods were involved. A lot or serial identifier does. Without it, you couldn't tell which shipment, process, or pallet a problem came from. See How lot and serial identifiers work.

5. What are the five core information categories?

Location, item, quantity (in the item's configured unit of measure), lot or serial identifier, and event date and time. This is a conceptual baseline, not a complete field list. See the overview.

6. What master data must exist before I record events?

Trade Items (with a unit of measure), Trade Partners, and Locations. Locations must sit beneath their Trade Partners and include appropriate address or geographic information. See Trade Items, Locations, and Trade Partners.

Getting started

7. Which event should I start with?

It depends on your role. A first-mile operator often starts with commission. A processor, distributor, or retailer often starts with a receive. Use the Which Event Should I Use? table, or see Starting Traceability in Wholechain. To record the event, open the Wholechain Events Overview, which links to a how-to article for every event type.

8. Can I begin without my supplier's upstream history?

Yes. You can start your recorded history at receipt, or commission an instance yourself. Your records will begin where you start. Wholechain can't add earlier activity that was never recorded. See Starting Traceability in Wholechain.

9. What is the difference between commission and receive?

Commission starts the recorded history of an instance at a Location, usually because you created or first documented it. Receive records arrival of goods at your Location, usually after someone shipped them, and can also start your history. A Receive posted with Direct Receive does not require an earlier Ship. See Commission and Receive, and to record them, Commission and Receive.

10. Can I submit shipment traceability without existing inventory?

Yes. Wholechain supports a shipment entry workflow that lets you submit shipment information without previously recorded inventory. It is a type of ship event, not a separate type of traceability event. In the app it is a Direct Ship, which you can record from the Add Events form or from the Shipments module. See Direct Ship and Direct Receive, the Shipments overview and Starting Traceability in Wholechain.

Moving, grouping, and changing

11. Why are ship and receive separate events?

A shipment is often one business transaction, but the sender and receiver each know different things. The sender records departure. The receiver records arrival. A Receive posted with Direct Receive does not require an earlier Ship, so the receiving entity can log its Receive before the Ship is posted. When a Receive is linked with Link Trace Info, a Ship is required: it is the only event type that can be linked to a Receive. See Ship and Receive. To record them, see Ship, Receive, Direct Ship and Direct Receive and Link Trace Info.

12. Does receiving mean unloading?

No. Receiving records arrival at the Location. Unloading, unpacking, or shelving may happen later and, for pallets, is recorded with disaggregate.

13. Can goods change ownership without moving physically?

They can be represented that way. A transfer between separate Location records, for example at the same physical warehouse, can reflect a change of ownership or possession without geographic movement, depending on your configured business process. See Ship Events.

14. What is the difference between aggregation and transformation?

Aggregation groups items on a logistics unit like a pallet without changing them. Transformation turns inputs into new outputs and isn't reversible. See Aggregate and Transform.

15. When should I disaggregate a pallet or container?

When you unload or separate its contents and want to act on them individually. An aggregation carries across to the receiver, who must disaggregate before acting on the contents with events other than a subsequent ship or observe. See Disaggregate Events.

16. How do I handle a supplier lot number that differs from my ERP lot number?

Record the goods with the supplier's identifier, then establish your own through a transform. This keeps both identifiers and the link between them. See Transform Events and, for the steps in the app, Change the lot or serial number of a product.

17. Can a transform have multiple inputs and outputs?

Yes. Transforms can be one-to-one, many-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. See Transform Events.

18. When should I use observe instead of transform?

Use observe when the product is the same and you're recording a measurement or a quantity difference, such as re-weighing Lots or stock taking. Observe does not change the Lot number. Its Business Step defaults to Packing (CBV) and you can change it, for example to Stock Taking or Temperature. Use transform when the product changes or needs a new identifier.

19. How should I represent shrink, swell, damage, or destruction?

Shrink or swell of the same product: observe. Damage or destruction that removes product from the active lifecycle: decommission, where the Disposition records why. If damaged product is processed into something new, that's a transform.

20. Does decommissioning delete the lot's history?

No. Decommissioning ends active traceability, but the lot stays discoverable in Wholechain's historical records. See Decommission Events.

Partners, systems, and standards

21. Why can't I record events at a connected partner's facility?

When a Trade Partner is Wholechain connected, its Locations are managed through that partner's account. You can select those Locations as destinations of your ship events or sources of your receive events, but not run operational events there. They record their own. A shared Location can be used as the destination Location on a Ship event and as the origin Location on a Receive event. See connected trade partners and Invite Trade Partners to connect.

22. Why might another system show less traceability than Wholechain?

The receiving system may accept only certain event types, fields, or predefined datasets, and what's exchanged depends on the integration. Recording a complete chain in Wholechain doesn't guarantee another system receives or displays every upstream event. See Sharing data with other systems.

23. Does using Wholechain automatically make me compliant with GDST or FSMA 204?

No. Using Wholechain or selecting an event doesn't by itself establish compliance with a standard or regulation. See GDST and Wholechain and FSMA 204 and Wholechain, and check the requirements for your own role.

24. Who can help map my business processes to events?

Email support@wholechain.com.

More questions

25. Can two companies use the same lot number for the same item?

Yes. Wholechain reads every lot or serial identifier together with the item's unique underlying ID, so identical strings from different Trade Partners don't conflict, even when both send to the same account. Within your own account, Wholechain rejects a duplicate lot or serial for the same item. See How lot and serial identifiers work.

26. Are lots and serials handled differently?

No. They share one lot/serial field and follow the same rules.

27. Can I change a lot or serial number after it's created?

An identifier is fixed when the instance is created. To change it on purpose, for example to adopt your ERP lot number, use a transform. If you simply mistyped it, you'll need to remove the event and re-run it.

28. Do I need to understand EPCIS?

No. Wholechain supports EPCIS interoperability and handles the mapping internally. You choose the Wholechain event that matches what happened. See Sharing data with other systems.

29. Can I send data to ReposiTrak, iFoodDS, or FoodLogiQ? Can I receive from them?

Wholechain sends to these systems using formats they define, alone or with Wholechain. To get data from suppliers on those systems into Wholechain, check with the system whether it supports EPCIS or GDST, or has an integration with Wholechain. The iFoodDS, ReposiTrak and FoodLogiQ integrations are described in Integrations and API keys.

30. What if my supplier records its shipment after I record my receipt?

Wholechain's Event Resolver can link the two afterward. With Direct Receive, the receiving entity can also log its Receive before the Ship is posted. On a Receive, Link Trace Info lets you link upstream events that occurred with a date/time prior to the Direct Receive's date/time. See Direct Ship and Direct Receive and Link Trace Info.

31. Can I use only part of a lot in an event?

Yes. In every event except commission, you can use all or part of a lot's quantity, and a Ship can use only part of a lot. For example, you can aggregate part of a lot to portion it out before shipment, or transform, ship, observe, or decommission only part of it. See Aggregate Events.

32. Can I reuse a pallet or container ID?

No. Container identifiers can't be reused, whether you use an SSCC or a general Logistic ID. See Aggregate Events.

33. Can I disaggregate only part of a pallet?

No. Disaggregation applies to the whole container. See Disaggregate Events.

34. Does a decommission have a Reason field?

No. A Decommission requires a Disposition only, and the Disposition records why. A Decommission also cannot use the Containers tab: disaggregate the container first. See Decommission Events and, to record one, Decommission.

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