Traceability is the capability to trace something. In some cases, it is interpreted as the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of documented recorded identification.
Other common definitions include the capability (and implementation) of keeping track of a given set or type of information to a given degree, or the ability to chronologically interrelate uniquely identifiable entities in a way that is verifiable.
Traceability is applicable to measurement, supply chain, software development, healthcare and security.
Measurement
The term ''measurement traceability'' is used to refer to an unbroken chain of comparisons relating an
instrument's
measurement
Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events.
In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared ...
s to a known
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
.
Calibration
In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of know ...
to a traceable standard can be used to determine an instrument's bias,
precision
Precision, precise or precisely may refer to:
Science, and technology, and mathematics Mathematics and computing (general)
* Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter
* Significant figures, the number of digit ...
, and
accuracy
Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''.
''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their ''true value'', while ''precision'' is how close the measurements are to each other ...
. It may also be used to show a
chain of custody
Chain of custody (CoC), in legal contexts, is the chronological documentation or paper trail that records the sequence of custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of materials, including physical or electronic evidence. Of particular ...
- from current interpretation of evidence to the actual evidence in a legal context, or history of handling of any information.
In many countries, national standards for weights and measures are maintained by a National Metrological Institute (NMI) which provides the highest level of standards for the
calibration
In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of know ...
/ measurement traceability infrastructure in that country. Examples of government agencies include the
National Physical Laboratory, UK
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is the national measurement standards laboratory of the United Kingdom. It is one of the most extensive government laboratories in the UK and has a prestigious reputation for its role in setting and mainta ...
(NPL) the
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
(NIST) in the USA, the
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, with scientific and technical service tasks. It is a higher federal authority and a public-law institution directly under fed ...
(PTB) in Germany, and the Instituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRiM) in Italy. As defined by NIST, "Traceability of measurement requires the establishment of an unbroken chain of comparisons to stated references each with a stated uncertainty."
A clock providing is traceable to a time standard such as
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time or UTC is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is within about one second of mean solar time (such as UT1) at 0° longitude (at the IERS Reference Meridian as the currently used ...
or
International Atomic Time
International Atomic Time (abbreviated TAI, from its French name ) is a high-precision atomic coordinate time standard based on the notional passage of proper time on Earth's geoid. TAI is a weighted average of the time kept by over 450 atomic ...
. The
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
is a source of traceable time.
Supply chain
Within a product's
supply chain
In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
, traceability may be both a regulatory and an ethical or environmental issue. Traceability is increasingly becoming a core criterion for sustainability efforts related to supply chains wherein knowing the producer, workers and other links stands as a necessary factor that underlies credible claims of social, economic, or environmental impacts. Environmentally friendly retailers may choose to make information regarding their supply chain freely available to customers, illustrating the fact that the products they sell are manufactured in factories with safe working conditions, by workers that earn a fair wage, using methods that do not damage the environment.
Materials
In regard to
materials
Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...
, traceability refers to the capability to associate a finished part with destructive test results performed on material from the same ingot with the same heat treatment, or to associate a finished part with results of a test performed on a sample from the same melt identified by the unique lot number of the material. Destructive tests typically include chemical composition and mechanical strength tests. A
heat number {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot)
A heat number is an identification coupon number that is stamped on a material plate after it is removed from the ladle and rolled at a steel mill.
Industry quality standards require materi ...
is usually marked on the part or raw material which identifies the ingot it came from, and a lot number may identify the group of parts that experienced the same heat treatment (i.e., were in the same oven at the same time). Material traceability is important to the aerospace, nuclear, and process industry because they frequently make use of high strength materials that look identical to commercial low strength versions. In these industries, a part made of the wrong material is called "counterfeit", even if the substitution was accidental.
This same practice extends throughout industries using military hardware, including the
fastener
A fastener (US English) or fastening (UK English) is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. In general, fasteners are used to create non-permanent joints; that is, joints that can be removed or disman ...
industry.
Logistics
In
logistics
Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...
, traceability refers to the capability for tracing goods along the distribution chain on a
batch
Batch may refer to:
Food and drink
* Batch (alcohol), an alcoholic fruit beverage
* Batch loaf, a type of bread popular in Ireland
* A dialect term for a bread roll used in North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Coventry, as well as on the Wirra ...
number or series number basis. Traceability is an important aspect for example in the automotive industry, where it makes recalls possible, or in the food industry where it contributes to
food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
.
The international standards organization
EPCglobal
The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is designed as a universal identifier (using a idiosyncratic numerical code for each different commodity) that provides a unique identity for every physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. The EPC stru ...
under
GS1 has ratified the
EPCglobal Network
The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is designed as a universal identifier (using a idiosyncratic numerical code for each different commodity) that provides a unique identity for every physical object anywhere in the world, for all time. The EPC stru ...
standards (especially the EPC Information Services
EPCIS standard) which codify the syntax and semantics for supply chain events and the secure method for selectively sharing supply chain events with trading partners. These standards for traceability have been used in successful deployments in many industries and there are now a wide range of products that are certified as being compatible with these standards.
Food processing
In
food processing
Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...
(
meat processing
The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...
, fresh produce processing), the term traceability refers to the recording through means of barcodes or RFID tags & other tracking media, all movement of product and steps within the production process. One of the key reasons this is such a critical point is in instances where an issue of contamination arises, and a recall is required. Where traceability has been closely adhered to, it is possible to identify, by precise date/time & exact location which goods must be recalled, and which are safe, potentially saving millions of dollars in the recall process. Traceability within the food processing industry is also utilised to identify key high production & quality areas of a business, versus those of low return, and where points in the production process may be improved.
In ''food processing software'', traceability systems imply the use of a unique piece of data (e.g., order date/time or a serialized sequence number, generally through the use of a
barcode
A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...
/
RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
) which can be traced through the entire production flow, linking all sections of the business, including suppliers & future sales through the supply chain. Messages and files at any point in the system can then be audited for correctness and completeness, using the traceability software to find the particular transaction and/or product within the supply chain.
In
food systems
The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growi ...
, ISO 22005, as part of the
ISO 22000
ISO 22000 is a Food safety management system which is outcome focused, providing requirements for any organization in the food industry with objective to help to improve overall performance in food safety. These standards are intended to ensure ...
family of
standards Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
, has been developed to define the principles for food traceability and specifies the basic requirements for the design and implementation of a feed and food traceability system. It can be applied by an organization operating at any step in the feed and food chain.
The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
's General Food Law came into force in 2002, making traceability compulsory for food and feed operators and requiring those businesses to implement traceability systems. The EU introduced its Trade Control and Expert System, or
TRACES
Traces may refer to:
Literature
* ''Traces'' (book), a 1998 short-story collection by Stephen Baxter
* ''Traces'' series, a series of novels by Malcolm Rose
Music Albums
* ''Traces'' (Classics IV album) or the title song (see below), 1969
* ''Tra ...
, in April 2004. The system provides a central database to track movement of animals within the EU and from third countries.
Australia has its
National Livestock Identification System
The National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) is a livestock identification and tracking system used in Australia. It is administered by Integrity Systems Company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Meat and Livestock Australia.
The sys ...
to keep track of livestock from birth to slaughterhouse.
India has started taking initiatives for setting up traceability systems at Government and Corporate levels. Grapenet, an initiative by Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce, Government of India is an example in this direction. GrapeNet is an internet based traceability software system for monitoring fresh grapes exported from India to the European Union. GrapeNet is a first of its kind initiative in India that has put in place an end-to-end system for monitoring pesticide residue, achieve product standardization and facilitate tracing back from pallets to the farm of the Indian grower, through the various stages of sampling, testing, certification and packing. Grapenet won the National Award (Gold), in the winners announced for the best e-Governance initiatives undertaken in India in 2007.
The Directorate Generate Foreign Trade (DGFT), Government of India, through its notification
dated 04.02.2009 relating to Amendment in Foreign Trade Policy (RE2008)has mandated that Export to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
is permitted subject to registration with APEDA, thereby making Grapenet mandatory for all exports of fresh grapes from India to Europe.
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
has also designed a system called ''Traceability & Electronic Information System of the Beef Industry''.
Forest products
Within the context of supporting legal and sustainable forest
supply chain
In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...
s, traceability has emerged in the last decade as a new tool to verify claims and assure buyers about the source of their materials. Mostly led out of Europe, and targeting countries where
illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...
has been a key problem (
FLEGT
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...
countries), timber tracking is now part of daily business for many enterprises and jurisdictions. Full traceability offers advantages for multiple partners along the supply chain beyond certification systems, including:
* Mechanism to comply with local and international policies and regulations.
* Reducing the risk of illegal or non-compliant material entering the supply chains.
* Providing coordination between authorities and relevant bodies.
* Allowing automatic reconciliation of batches and volumes available.
* Offering a method of stock control and monitoring.
* Triggering real-time alerts of non-compliance.
* Reducing likelihood of recording errors.
* Improving effectiveness and efficiency.
* Increasing transparency.
* Promoting company integrity.
A number of timber tracking companies are in operation to service global demand.
Enhanced traceability ensures that the supply chain data is 100% accurate from the forest to the point of export. Nowadays, there are techniques to predict geographical provenance of wood and contribute to the fight against illegal logging.
Systems and software development
In systems and
software development
Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...
, the term traceability (or
requirements traceability Requirements traceability is a sub-discipline of requirements management within software development and systems engineering. Traceability as a general term is defined by the IEEE Systems and Software Engineering Vocabulary as (1) the degree to whic ...
) refers to the ability to link product requirements back to stakeholders' rationales and forward to corresponding design artifacts, code, and
test case
In software engineering, a test case is a specification of the inputs, execution conditions, testing procedure, and expected results that define a single test to be executed to achieve a particular software testing objective, such as to exercise ...
s. Traceability supports numerous
software engineering
Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development.
A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...
activities such as
change impact analysis
Change impact analysis (IA) or impact analysis is the analysis of changes within a deployed product or application and their potential consequences.
Change impact analysis is defined by Bohnner and Arnold as "identifying the potential consequenc ...
, compliance verification or traceback of code,
regression test
Regression testing (rarely, ''non-regression testing'') is re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs as expected after a change. If not, that would be called a '' regr ...
selection, and requirements validation. It is usually accomplished in the form of a matrix created for the
verification and validation
Verification and validation (also abbreviated as V&V) are independent procedures that are used together for checking that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose. These are ...
of the project. Unfortunately, the practice of constructing and maintaining a
requirements trace matrix (RTM) can be very arduous and over time the traces tend to erode into an inaccurate state unless date/time stamped. Alternate automated approaches for generating traces using
information retrieval
Information retrieval (IR) in computing and information science is the process of obtaining information system resources that are relevant to an information need from a collection of those resources. Searches can be based on full-text or other co ...
methods have been developed.
In transaction processing software, traceability implies use of a unique piece of data (e.g., order date/time or a serialized sequence number) which can be traced through the entire software flow of all relevant application programs. Messages and files at any point in the system can then be audited for correctness and completeness, using the traceability key to find the particular transaction. This is also sometimes referred to as the transaction footprint.
Health care
Patient safety during healthcare service plays an important role in preventing delayed recovery or even mortality, by increasing and improving the quality of life of citizens, and is considered an indicator of the quality status of health services Maintaining patient safety is a complex task and involves factors inherent to the environment and human actions. New technologies facilitate the traceability tools of patients and medications. This is particularly relevant for drugs that are considered high risk and cost.
The
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
has recognized the importance of traceability for medical products of human origin (MPHO) and urged member states "to encourage the implementation of globally consistent coding systems to facilitate national and international traceability".
Security and crime-fighting
![SmartWater sign - thieves beware - on a pole](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/SmartWater_sign_-_thieves_beware_-_on_a_pole.jpg)
To prevent theft, and assist in locating stolen objects, goods may be marked indelibly or undetectably so that they may be determined to be stolen, and in some cases identified. For example, it is sometimes arranged that stolen banknotes are marked with indelible dye to show that they are stolen; they can be identified by their unique serial numbers. Announcing that
cash machine
An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fund ...
s were fitted with sprayers of
SmartWater, an invisible gel detectable for years, to mark thieves and their clothing when breaking into or tampering with the machine was found in a 2016 pilot scheme to reduce theft by 90%.
See also
*
Provenance
Provenance (from the French ''provenir'', 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object. The term was originally mostly used in relation to works of art but is now used in similar senses i ...
References
* Majcen N., Taylor P. (Editors), Practical examples on traceability, measurement uncertainty and validation in chemistry, Vol 1; , 2010.
Firma List en Bedrog est. 2006
External links
{{Wiktionary, traceability
National Institute of Standards and TechnologyNIST Policy on Traceability"Traceability" from the Global Legal Information Network Subject Term Index
Video which explains the relationship between Calibration - Traceability - Accreditation with flow measuring devicesHospital Traceability Solutions, Lūg Healthcare Technologytechnology tools in the Health sector to control and improve the efficiency of their critical processes.
Barcodes
Radio-frequency identification
Wireless locating
Software engineering
Systems engineering
Forest certification
Pharmaceuticals policy
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