# Infosys Whitepaper 
Title: Infosys Oracle Package | Independent Validation and Testing Services 
Author: Infosys Limited 
Format: PDF 1.7 

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 WHITE PAPER ASSURING SUCCESS IN BLOCKCHAIN  IMPLEMENTATIONS BY ENGINEERING  QUALITY IN VALIDATION Arvind Sundarraman, Business Development  Executive, Infosys Validation Solutions 

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 Introduction to blockchain and smart contracts  A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed database that holds a record of transactions linked to it in blocks which are added in a liner  and chronological order. It provides a secure, transparent, and immutable source of record by its design that has technology and infinite  possibilities to change and revolutionize the way transactions are managed in a digital world.<|endoftext|>Figure 1: Transaction linkage within blocks in a blockchain  Figure 2: Peer-to- peer architecture of blockchain using smart contracts in public and private network The implementation of this technology is generally carried out in a decentralized peer-to-peer architecture with a shared ledger that is made  available to the authorized participants in the private and public network. This ensures that the transactions are captured within the blocks  of information which are continually updated and securely linked to chain, thereby ensuring visibility of the changes as well as providing a  foolproof way of handling transactions mitigating the possibility of double spending or tampering.  Smart contracts are protocols or rule sets embedded within the blockchain which are largely self-executing and enforce a contract condition.  They ensure that the terms specified within the contract are executed on their own when the transactions fulfil the specified condition within  the contract rules and made visible to everyone on the network without any intervention, thereby guaranteeing autonomy, safety, and trust.  Smart contracts also ensure that the transactions are carried out instantaneously on the preconditions set within the contract being met.<|endoftext|>Smart contracts are an integral part of the blockchain and go hand in hand in ensuring the success of the distributed nature of the ledger  that is the core of blockchain.<|endoftext|>External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain_(database)  Figure 3: Graph highlighting the rise in the adoption of blockchain in terms of transaction per day Blockchain and the digital  ecosystem In today’s world, digital transactions  are growing exponentially and the  phenomenon is predicted to sustain and  even outperform its climb in the next  decade. Digital transactions are gaining  popularity globally due to ease of use,  improved security, and faster mechanism  of managing transactions.<|endoftext|>  Blockchain technology provides a secure  way of handling transactions online and  hence is of enormous relevance. The  most widely known implementation of  blockchain technology is in the financial  sector and Bitcoin as a crypto currency  payment system was the pioneering  system developed on this technology.<|endoftext|>The value of blockchain technology  though it is not limited to digital wallets  and payments systems, its application in a  wider context has gained more relevance  in the recent times. Transactions through  blockchain have also had an impressive  surge similar to the growth in digital  transactions. The graph below highlights  the rise in usage of blockchain in terms  of transactions. This also reflects the  increase in adoption and usage of this  technology across domains for various uses  that initially was perceived to be mainly  in the financial sector of payments and  transactions.<|endoftext|>External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 A number of possible use cases across  various domains where blockchain  technology can be applied are detailed  below and this shows the potential that  blockchain holds across various industries  and segments.<|endoftext|>Financial services •  Post-trade settlement, person-to-person  (P2P) payments, trade finance, know  your customer (KYC), global remittance,  syndicated loans, asset leasing, gifting,  and mortgage services Insurance •  Automated claims processing, fraud  detection, P2P insurance, travel  insurance, Reinsurance, and KYC Healthcare •  Patient records and automated claim  processing through smart contracts Manufacturing – Supply chain •  Tracking product origin, inventory  management, smart contracts for multi- party agreements, and digitization of  contracts / documents Retail •  Retail supply chain, reward points  tracking, blockchain based market  place, and inventory management •  Energy and utility •  Energy trading and P2P power grid Media and entertainment •  Anti-piracy / copy rights management,  royalty management, and crowd  funding of new content •  Transportation •  Rider passenger coordination, review  authentication, and Bitcoin payment  Communication •  Billing systems and call detail record  (CDR) •  Roaming and network sharing access  control •  Provisioning and identity management  •  Mobile wallets and money Challenges in testing  blockchain implementations Validating and verifying that an  implementation of blockchain offers a  number of challenges due to the inherent  structure of technology as well as the  distributed nature of the system.<|endoftext|>•  Technology stack    A primary factor that influences the  required level of validation is dependent  on whether the implementation is  on a public platform like Etherum  or Openchain or on a self-setup or  customized platform that is purpose  built for the needs of the organization.  The latter needs more setup and effort  in testing.     Open source and popular platforms  like Etherum have recommendations  and guidance on the level of tests and  have more mature methods where  an in-house implementation needs a  detailed test strategy frame based on  the functionality that is customized or  developed.<|endoftext|>•  Test environment    The availability and utilization of a test  platform that provides a replica of the  implementation is also a need and if it is  not available, considerable time needs  to be spent on setting up or spawning  from the real implementation.<|endoftext|>   Blockchain implementations like  BitCoin (testnet) and Etherum (modern)  provide test instances that are distinct  and separate from the original while  providing means to test advanced  transaction functionalities in a like for  like mode.<|endoftext|>•  Testing for integration     An implementation of blockchain within  a stack of a company is expected to  have interfaces with other applications.  Understanding the means of interface  and ensuring the consistency with the  existing means is key to assure that  there are no disconnects on launch.  A detailed view of the touch points  and the application programming  interfaces (APIs) that act as points  of communication need to be made  available to the testing team in advance  so that the appropriate interfaces can  be exercised and tested during the  validation phases.<|endoftext|>•  Performance testing    Major problems that could affect an  implementation is in estimating and  managing the level of transactions  that are anticipated on the production  systems. One of the key issues with the  Bitcoin implementation has been with  delays in processing transactions due  to a surge in the usage. This has led to  business withdrawing from accepting  this form of crypto currency as well as  partners leaving the consortium.<|endoftext|>   The need within the chain for  verification of the transactions by  miners can complicate the time taken  to process and confirm a transaction  and hence during validation, a clearly  chalked out strategy to handle this  needs be outlined and applied.<|endoftext|>•  Security     Though the blockchain technology has  inherent security features that has made  the protocol popular and trusted, this  also places a lot of importance on the  intended areas where this is applied  that are generally high-risk business  domains with a potential for huge  implications if security is compromised External Document © 2018 Infosys Limited 

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 Figure 4: Illustration of the management system built on blockchain technology Validation in real-world  situation The construct of validating a real world  implementation and ensuring that the  testing verifies the intended use case  is of paramount importance as this is  more complex and requires specific focus  in understanding the needs as well as  drafting the coverage that is required  within the test cycle.<|endoftext|>For a more detailed view of how the testing  space spans on the ground, let us consider  an example of an application of this  technology with an assumed integration  of the feature for a telecom operator who  implements this application to manage  user access and permissions and handover  in  roaming within the operations support  systems (OSS) business support systems  (BSS) stack of the operator. It is assumed  that the communication service provider  (CSP) and the partner CSPs providing  service to the customer during the roaming  have an agreement for implementing a  common blockchain based platform as a  solution to manage the transaction in each  other’s network as well as communicating  with the CDR of the subscribers. The  implementation should ensure that the  authentication of the user, authorization  of the service, and billing systems are  managed between the CSPs while the user  moves from the home mobile network to  the visited mobile network of the partner  CSP.<|endoftext|>A depiction below shows the illustration of  the