Building apps overview

IBM Food Trust member organizations submit supply chain data to the network and authorize it to be shared with their selected business partners. IBM Food Trust then collects and integrates this data, creating comprehensive, end-to-end supply chain views specific to each organization. This data management method enables the development of applications that are aimed at increasing food safety and freshness, unlocking supply chain efficiencies and minimizing waste. 

IBM Food Trust provides pre-built applications by subscription, including product Trace, member Onboarding, and Documents management. To support the development of more applications, IBM Food Trust provides several methods to choose from. These methods can be used individually, or in combination, to extend data to both private client-specific applications and public generally available applications.

Choosing a method

IBM Food Trust shares its application development methods and capabilities with member organizations for building applications for private or commercial use. Applications create value by using integrated data from across the IBM Food Trust supply chain, transcending organizational boundaries and providing innovation and insight.

To build applications, use one of the three supported methods individually, or in combination:

  1. Use the APIs method when your priority is ease of use and speed of deployment.
  2. Use the data subscription method when your priority is analyzing the value of data at scale.
  3. Use the smart contracts method when your priority is transparency and trust between transacting parties.

Smart contracts method

The smart contracts method enables authorized third-parties to retrieve and process unencrypted IBM Food Trust data. To protect sensitive information, private smart contracts run on private network channels. For more information, see Building apps from smart contracts.