DECENTRALIZED INSPECTION AND MATERIAL PORTAL

Indian railways and other industries using railway infrastructure, such as steel plants, ports
and power plants, invest heavily in railway projects. Such projects may be green field or
brown field in nature. However, essentially, they entail huge capital expenditures and have
immense bearing on safety. Further, railway systems are complex in nature, having various
highly intricate systems such as electrical power distribution system and signalling
systems.

Due to technical nature of the underlying components, RDSO have evolved standards for
such components. For example, RDSO/SPN/192/ 2016 defines specifications for electronic
interlocking. Ensuring adherence to these standards during the project execution phase is
therefore immensely important.

Currently, based on the value of the component and directions from the sponsor or user,
the inspection may be carried out by RDSO or other third parties such as RITES. After
inspection, these agencies issue inspection certificates (IC). The site incharge verifies the
ICs and receives the material at site. Site incharge checks the serial number on the part
and matched it with the IC. Further, he ensures that the IC is signed and stamped from the
inspecting agency.

The IC is issued from the inspecting agency, handed over to the OEM; OEM hands it over to
the contractor while dispatching the material; the contractor then sends it to the site
engineer; contrators site engineer produces it to the site incharge for verification.

However, given the complexity of the products and long chain of custody, the site incharge
can only verify the completeness of the paper and a quick visual verification of the
material. It becomes difficult for the site incharge to ascertain the authenticity of the
documents and the corresponding material.

The solution prosposed here, i.e. Decentralized Inspection and Material Portal (lets call it
DIMPAL for now;)) ensures that every step in the process is recodred on an untamperable
blockchain and a clear chain of custody of the material can be established. Further, being
based on a public blockchain, this minimized the infrastructure required and ensures a
highly secured transaction ledger.
 L PORTAL

ch as steel plants, ports

may be green field or
expenditures and have
nature, having various
m and signalling

evolved standards for

ifications for electronic
ect execution phase is

the sponsor or user,

ch as RITES. After
incharge verifies the
number on the part
and stamped from the

M; OEM hands it over to

ends it to the site
or verification. HIGH LEVEL VIEW OF DIMPAL

stody, the site incharge

rification of the
uthenticity of the Index
Stakeholder Ecosystem
Functional Architecture
rial Portal (lets call it
Process Map
on an untamperable
lished. Further, being Summary
ired and ensures a
GH LEVEL VIEW OF DIMPAL
 STAKEHOLDER MAP

USER SPONSOR

PMC EA

Formal IA
Informal
PMC Project Management Consultancy
EA Executing Agency/Contractor
IA Inspecting Agency
 STAKEHOLDER
SPONSOR

USER

PMC

EA

EA
IA

Index
Stakeholder Ecosystem
Functional Architecture
Process Map
Summary
 DESCRIPTION
The sponsor is the agency/department which bears the cost of the project. It may or may not be the user of the
facility. For instance, a steel plant may be the sponsor of a railway siding expansion work, while the end user
may be railways. In case the sponsor is the user, it takes final handover of the system, else, the sponsor
facilitates the handover to end user such as railways.

User is the department or agency which operates and takes the final ownership of the infrastructure. Singoff
from the user is essential for successful handover of the system.
Project Management Consultancy agency assists the sponsor in managing the project. Arrangements with PMC
may range from complex EPC type works, where the PMC is responsible end to end from engineering to
construction, to regular project management assignments. Activites of the PMC range from procurement
planning, bid process management, design and validation of engineering documents, project monitoring and
reporting.

Executing Agency or Contractor is the agency which takes up the actual construction/ installation activities. In
railways, they carry out plethora of activities ranging from civil works, to signalling installations. Contractors
may range from large conglomerates such as L&T to small specialised enterprises.

Inspecting agency is a specialised and independent agency which conducts the quality assuance activites in
railway projects. For instance, in railway works all the components must follow the standards and specifications
defined by RDSO to ensure safety. To ensure the supplied material meets the specification, material inspection
and certification is done before it is supplied to site for installation. RDSO, RITES are some inspecting agencies
specializing in railway projects.

holder Ecosystem
tional Architecture
 PROJECT ORG
Chief Project Engineer/ Manager
Project Engineer/Manager

Department Head
Engineer In Charge
HQ Project Manager
Site Project Manager
Site Engineer

Project Manager
Site Engineer Incharge

Inspecting Officer
 SMART

INITIATE

HTTPS
GET/POST

INSPECTION
CERTIFICATES

RDSO
 FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE

SMART CONTRACT METHODS TESTING

INITIATE INSPECT DISPATCH ISSUE LOAD

FUNCTIONAL
INTEGRATION
UNIT
HTTPS API XML CDC
GET/POST
INTEGRATION

DATABASE
UAT

INSPECTION INSPECTION MATERIAL USERS

CERTIFICATES CALL LETTER REGISTER

STAKEHOLDERS
RDSO PMC SPONSOR EA OEM
 TESTING

LOAD

FUNCTIONAL

UNIT

Index
NTEGRATION Stakeholder Ecosystem
Functional Architecture
UAT Process Map
Summary
1 INSPECTION REQUEST 2 MATERIAL INSPECT
A OEM intimates EA of material rediness for inspection A After receiving ICL, the IA sends ac
the PMC with expected date of ins

B EA requests PMC for issuing Inspection Call Letter B Inspecting officer is assigned for in
(ICL) to IA material at the OEM facility

C PMC issues Inspection Call Letter C After inspection, IA issues an Inspe

(IC)
 PROCESS MAP
MATERIAL INSPECTION 3 MATERIAL RECEPTION
er receiving ICL, the IA sends acknowledgement to A OEM dispatches the material along with IC
e PMC with expected date of inspection

pecting officer is assigned for inspecting the B PMC site incharge verifies the IC and receives the
aterial at the OEM facility material

er inspection, IA issues an Inspection Certificate C PMC site incharge updates the Material Register (MR)
)

Index
Stakeholder Ecosystem
Functional Architecture
Process Map
Summary
ECEPTION 4 MATERIAL ISSUE AND RECONCILIATION
along with IC A EA request issue of material for execution at site

IC and receives the B PMC site incharge issues the material and updates
the MR

e Material Register (MR) C EA site incharge acknowledges the receipt of material

D During bill processing, the PMC site incharge verifies

the material installed at site