System and method to provide supply chain integrity

摘要

A method of detecting abnormalities in a supply chain wherein items of a plurality of supply chain principals are transferred in an operational field from one supply chain participant to another through various transfer transactions, comprises the steps of utilizing distributed electronic data recording equipment to collect in real time and in the operational field transaction data relating to transfer transactions involving items of all the principals. The collected transaction data is associated with an integrity index and is stored in a central trusted database. A processor is used to process the collected transaction data and taking into account the index to determine data relating to normal behavior in the chain. The processor is further used to determine whether new input data relating to transactions in the chain is indicative of behavior that deviates from the data relating to normal behavior and to provide a trigger when an abnormality in the chain is detected. The processor further identifies groups of new input transaction data that are responsible for the deviation.