Tracking assets in supply chain

Problem statement: Need for geo-tracking the donations.  

Assumption: 

• Bag(s) are used as a primary means for hand-over between the donor, the driver, and the recipient.
• Each entity has a smartphone with a working internet connection. 

Possible solution: 

• The donors and the drivers would be given a bag with a printed barcode on the outer side.
• The barcode would be created by summer project group (could be done using excel)
• These bags would be primarily used for initial segregation (donor) and the hand-over (donor to the driver, driver to the recipient)
• Every time a donor decides to donate, they will fill the bag with the items. 
• Once the items are placed in the bag they will scan the barcode using the donor facing mobile application and update the ownership of the items. This will geo-tag the items and would put the donor’s location on the map.
• The application will then further require them to add details. eg: 4 apples, 2 oranges.
• The donor can follow a similar process for further adding/removing the items.
• Similarly, this will update the driver and recipient facing availability database.
• Once the driver gets a notification for pick-up, they would carry the bag and transfer the items from the donor's bag to theirs.
• The driver would be able to reach the donor(s) by looking up the geo-tag.
• After the items are moved in the driver's bag, they will scan the barcode using the driver facing application and update the database for ownership of the items. (this creates transparency, as the database is visible to everyone)         
• The drivers mobile would be used as a point of contact to get live feed on their location. (the way ride-sharing apps work, Google API)
• Once the donor receives the package, they can update the status using the app / the driver can update the database with a status.

Ownership theory: 

• This theory is based on the public-private key concept. 
• Each user has a public key (visible to everyone) and private key (only visible to the owner). 
• For an owner to certify their ownership, they have to apply their public and private key combination every time they scan and update the database (transaction). 
• This would let the application keep track on ownership of all the entries/transactions in the database.
• Users would be able to identify each entry in the database by referring to the public key of the owner.   

Persona: 

• Donor identifies items to be donated, fills the bag and scans the code. 
• The database gets updated with the items, ownership (can/cannot be visible), geo-tagged. 
• The recipient sees the availability using the app and requests the donation, this acts as a trigger for the driver. The driver also receives the delivery location details. 
• Driver finds the location of the donor using the geo-tag.
• Driver transfers items to his bag scan the code and drive to the location they have received with the initial donation trigger from the recipient. 
• Meanwhile, the donor and recipient can see the live location details of the driver.
• The driver drops off the items to the recipient’s location. 
• The driver can update the status of the delivery using the app/recipient can update the status (being anonymous).    
• The donor can check the updates on the items using the donor facing application.   

Data points for the ledger: Item entries in the database with ownership, geotags, ownerships timestamps

Technology Stack: Google maps API, database management systems, public-private keys (cryptography), excel