About ConsenSource

The ConsenSource application empowers brands and retailers, factories, certifying bodies and standards bodies to increase transparency and efficiency around the certification process.

For many brands and retailers, a common pain point in the sourcing process is the discovery and verification of the certification claims for a given factory. If a brand or retailer wishes to only do business with factories that have a given certification, where can they find a filtered list of only the factories that are certified? Furthermore, how can they trust that the certification is valid?

In practice, each brand and retailer ends up independently verifying these claims with the certifying body that performed the original audit. This process is time-consuming, expensive, and error prone.

How ConsenSource Can Help

ConsenSource solves this problem of trust and authenticity within the certification process using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The application serves as a common platform to verify and display the certifications and audit data between brands and retailers, factories, certifying bodies, and standards bodies.

DLT allows all partners to share ownership of this data. Each partner is tasked with the duty of owning their data and keeping this information up to date, shifting the onus of data accuracy to the relevant party. Each participant in the network plays a unique role.

Standards bodies create standards and accredit certifying bodies.
Certifying bodies are then able to audit and certify factories against the standards they are accredited for.
Factories are able to request these certifications and in-person audits, so that certifying bodies are able to issue certificates based on in-person, off-chain audit results.
Brands and Retailers are able to view and trust the resulting data from these interactions as well as general contact and location information on each of these entities.

Trusted

The data that is input to ConsenSource is immutable, and distributed amongst all parties, creating verifiable trust that all inputs are authentic

Transparent

Certification records and audit history are broadcasted and agreed upon by all members of ConsenSource

Permissioned

The ConsenSource governing body controls permissioning of all actors in the network, limiting access to only approved and relevant organizations

Who Should Use ConsenSource?

Brands and Retailers	Reduction of overhead associated with tracking and maintaining vendor certification status and factory profile details Avoidance of negative brand reputation impact by helping achieve and measure towards sustainability goals Additional visibility to new vendors with applicable certifications and history
Factories	Easy to request certifications resulting in reduction of time locating validated certifying bodies and auditors Potential for open competition drives audit costs down, or keeps audit costs in check
Certifying Bodies	Potential for increased business due to visibility to any factory interested in certification Provides a low cost platform for sharing certification status
Standards Bodies	Ability to promote their standards to a wide range of industries, factories, and those requiring standards to further their mission