Blockchain technology based platform, to guarantee the traceability and regulatory compliance of the subcontracting chain

The project, coordinated by INNOLAB and in which Iberdrola, Gondor Solutions, IBM and the University of Deusto have participated, is based on Blockchain and guarantees the traceability of the subcontracting chain. Large companies like Iberdrola dedicate a great deal of time and resources to guarantee the traceability of their entire subcontracting chain. This is mainly due to the approvals and technical, economic or regulatory requirements that they demand from their suppliers. While the company can ensure that its suppliers comply with these criteria, the situation is complicated when the supplier delegates certain tasks to third parties. As soon as this happens, the company may lose the traceability of its production chain with all that this entails. This is the situation we started from after the Think Tank "Impact of digitalization in the financial sector" that we organized in April 2019, and in which Iberdrola participated presenting challenges of the purchasing department. In order to provide a solution to one of the needs detected, guaranteeing the traceability of Iberdrola's subcontracting chain, it was decided to set up a pilot project coordinated by INNOLAB Bilbao to find a technological solution. For this purpose, an ecosystem and work team was generated in which each agent contributed its know-how regarding the need transferred: Iberdrola, as the project promoter, providing access to internal information related to the case and in the definition of the initial architecture of the solution. Gondor Solutions, in the technological development of the platform. IBM, in the technical support and IBM's Blockchain and Cloud technology. University of Deusto, in the technical support to the development team. INNOLAB Bilbao, in the coordination of the project and the work team. The project started with an analysis of Iberdrola's needs and then designed an architecture and development environment that was adapted to it. After evaluating the different options, we finally opted for a platform with a multilayer architecture based on Blockchain that would facilitate scalability, maintenance and future improvements. "The Blockchain service in IBM Cloud has allowed us to deploy in an automated way a managed, scalable and resilient platform. IBM Cloud has also provided us with other managed services to complete the solution, such as a Kubernetes cluster, a database or an object storage service" - explains Izaskun Santisteban, IBM Software Client Architect Once the platform was developed and implemented, tests were carried out to test its usefulness and reliability. These tests were not only theoretical, but were also carried out with a real Iberdrola subcontractor. "In Gondor we focused the project using agile methodologies, leveraging our development infrastructure based on Continuous Delivery, which allowed us, together with IBM Cloud services and our previous expertise, to build a real solution, covering Iberdrola's needs in the expected time" - emphasize Carlos Moro and Laiene Herreros, co-founders of Gondor Solutions. After testing this platform based on Blockchain in a real environment, it was possible to verify its viability as a solution to ensure traceability and regulatory compliance in the outsourcing chain. The results have been positive, in the words of Imanol Barquín, Head of Purchasing Process Management of the Iberdrola Group "the project has been a success and we want to bring it into production as soon as possible. We value, above all, the agility with which the whole process has been carried out without the need to assign dedicated internal resources and with access to expert technological knowledge".