Modelling Blockchain-based Supply Chain Applications: Understanding Re-occurring Patterns from Case Studies and Literature Perspectives

Integration of blockchain technologies in supply chains (SC) provides the possibility for improved transparency, efficiency, and data interoperability in inter-organizational processes that occur within SC processes. This ensures that SC managers have complete visibility of their multi-organizational business processes, further providing real-time access to data for important business decisions. Still designing, developing, and deploying blockchain applications for various SC operations remains a difficult and complex task, due to the technical requirements of blockchain applications and business requirements of supply chain operations. Hence, the goal of this research is, first, to identify these common components and secondly, to understand the smart contract-based verifications carried on data generated from these blockchain-executed components. To achieve this, a combination of case studies and systematic literature review is used as a research method for identifying common re-occurring patterns in SC applications that are deployed on blockchains. The results of this work will provide input in developing a model-driven framework for building blockchain applications for various SC use cases.