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Blockchain for Supply Chain
May 23, 2020
You Too Can Quickly Build a Blockchain POC Using Pre-assembled Oracle Cloud Tools
You might've seen the presentation on Modernizing Intercompany Billing Using a Permissioned Blockchain Platform [PAN6441] from the last OOW, or more recent versions at Analytics and Data Summit in February (pdf) or ODTUG "Learn from Home" Series, which took place last week. The implementation of this Intercompany billing and reconciliation use case produced very sophisticated set of capabilities for managing this challenging Intercompany process using distributed ledger based on Oracle blockchain technology and related cloud services. Looking at the results you might've wondered how difficult would it be to implement a blockchain application that integrates with ERPs, Analytics, and role-based Security. Would you need an army of consultants and would it take six month or a year to build it?
The answer to both is No. And now, in his recently completed 3-part blog series, Oracle ACE Director and GE Principal Architect Gary Crisci shows you how. He details how Oracle Blockchain Platform and other services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, including Autonomous Data Warehouse and Oracle Analytics Cloud snap together and enable you to build a similarly sophisticated blockchain application. The key is Oracle's solution architecture pattern that starts with a comprehensive blockchain platform and surrounds it with Integration, Analytics, and Security services - pre-assembled, out-of-the-box, or to quote Gary, "wing-to-wing architecture."
Typical Blockchain Solution Architecture Pattern
This solution architecture is made possible by three innovative features in Oracle Blockchain Platform:
- The REST Proxy-based API gateway that enables bi-directional event-driven integration with back-office applications. This is how ERP events related to POs, invoices, receipts, can be captured by the Integration cloud adapters, transformed into REST Connector calls to submit these business objects to the blockchain smart contracts. And how events published by smart contracts trigger ERP updates or invocations of process flows in the Integration cloud necessary to handle exceptions, discrepancies, approvals, etc. The bi-directional Event-Driven Architecture enabled by the API gateway coupled with a vast library of Integration cloud application adapters can drastically simplify integration of blockchain with any systems, in the cloud or on-premises. If your Oracle Blockchain Platform is deployed on-premises (using Enterprise Edition), the SOA Suite adapters can be used as well.
- The Rich History Database feature enables off-chain data synchronization capability, which stream transaction history updates and metadata into ADW or other Oracle Databases. The pre-defined relational schema and the asynchronous data pump are built into the blockchain platform infrastructure, you just need to provide a database connection and click a checkbox to enable the streaming for any channel in your blockchain. The platform does the rest. And now with your data in the relational database schema, including world state and transaction history, the powerful analytics capabilities of the Analytics cloud (or your on-premises Analytics server.)
- The pre-integrated Identity Management feature enables basic auth and OAUTH2 token-based integrations with the REST proxy, as well as role-based access control to blockchain services, analytics service, and any front-end Web application components. It further enables federation with external Identity Providers, to make it easier to leverage current accounts and credentials already defined in your and your partners IdM systems.
How to Use This Architecture Pattern and the Underlying Tools
With this introduction about the blockchain solution architecture pattern and the key enablers that make it a snap to connect Oracle blockchain with Integration, Analytics, and Security, please read Gary's 3-part series on how to use these tools so you too can wow your organization with an impressive blockchain application. You have a 3-day weekend coming up, don't you? Just think how much more you could achieve next week if you read and practice these tutorials over the next 3 days:
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Oracle Blockchain Platform tutorial, Part 1 of 3: Building a Hyperledger Fabric network
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Oracle Blockchain Platform tutorial, Part 2 of 3: The Rich History Database
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Oracle Blockchain Platform tutorial, Part 3 of 3: Blockchain Analytics with Oracle Analytics Cloud
Going into the weekend, let me leave you with a quote from Don Tapscott, one of the world's leading authorities on the impact of blockchain technology on business and society: "Future is not something to be predicted, it's something to be achieved" from his 2016 book, Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology behind Bitcoin Is Changing Money, Business, and the World. Of course, to achieve the future you'll need some tools, so here they are, ready to go in Oracle Cloud. And if you need more help on using the blockchain platform, creating smart contracts, etc. please visit our blockchain developer site and read the Blockchain Developer eBook.