A decision framework for decentralised control of distributed processes: Is blockchain the only solution?

• Main Authors: GRIFFIN, Paul Robert, MEGARGEL, Alan, SHANKARARAMAN, Venky
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
• Subjects: Decentralised control; Distributed process; MFT; Messaging; WebAPI; Blockchain; DLT; Business process; Databases and Information Systems
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/4826
• Institution: Singapore Management University

A typical example of a distributed process is trade finance where data and documents are transferred between multiple companies including importers, exporters, carriers and banks. Blockchain is seen as a potential decentralized technology that can be used to automate such distributed processes. However, there are also other competing technologies such as managed file transfers, messaging, and WebAPIs that may also be suitable for automating similar distributed processes. In this chapter, a decision framework is proposed to assist the solution architect in deciding the technology best suited to support decentralised control of a distributed business process where there are multiple companies involved. The framework takes as inputthe different areas of concern such as data, processing, governance and technical, the pros and cons of the technologies in addressing these areas of concerns and provides a method to analyse and highlight the best technology for any process in question. Two example processes, trade finance and price distribution are used to show the application of the framework.