Credentials
This guide covers the process of creating your first credential
The main unit of value for the Verifiable Data Platform is the ability to issue and exchange Verifiable Credentials. A Verifiable Credential is a tamper-proof signed digital document. You can issue Verifiable Credentials for such actions as a Commerical Invoice, Mill Test Report, or Intent to Import.
You can issue Verifiable Credentials and send them to other businesses as part of a workflow. Or you may receive Verifiable Credentials from other party such as a CTPAT Certficate that you store and present on behalf of your organization.
From the Dashboard
This guide will walk you through the process of issuing your first credential. From the dashboard is a card that says, "Issue New Credentials". Click on the button labeled Issue New Credentials.
Select a Credential
You will be taken to a list of credentials in the platform. The most common example for most business verticals will likely be a Commercial Invoice. This can be found by going to the bottom, and clicking the next page in the pagination.
The Commercial Invoice Credential should be at the top of the second page.
Click on the List item to enter the issue process.
Filling Out the Template
When filling out a template to issue a Verifiable Credential, there are three main UI sections to pay attention to. First there is the form which is where you enter the values for your business use-case to issue the Verifiable Credential.
Next there is the completion progress bar which shows you how many of the required fields for that form have been filled in. And then there is a list of contents which provides a quick way to jump to any section of the form.
To quickly get started and familiarized with the platform, we have provided a "Fill with example data" toggle to make issuing Verifiable Credentials for testing purposes quick and easy to get started with.
Fill with Example Data
We can click on "Fill with example data". You will notice that it should complete the number of required fields for that form type. You can then click on Next: Preview → button to continue to the preview step.
Preview before issuing
The preview step will show you a read-only version of the form to scroll through to confirm the contents of the document before signing. If you have any corrections you can click on the ← PREVIOUS button in the top left in order to return to the previous state.
If you are okay with the contents you can click on the Next: Sign → button in order to proceed to the signing step.
Signing the Credential
From here you will be shown the options for signing the credential. Which include defining the "Valid From" and "Expires" values if needed. "Valid From" will define when the claims are valid of, which can be back dated, or post dated if needed depending on the situations.
Likewise the "Expires" option defines when the claims in the Verifiable Credential expire. This can also be back dated or post dated depending on the situation.
The default behavior is the "Valid From" is defines as of signing the credential, and the claims are not set to expire.
The last option is to allow for the Verifiable Credential to be revokable or not. This is used in situations such as licenses where the issue can revoke the claims contained inside the Verifiable Credential at some point after the credential has been issued.
The default behavior is to not enable revocation for a Verifiable Credential.
For the purposes of this guide, we not define any of the optional attributes for issuing a credential. We will need to check the checkbox which reads, "I agree that this signature will be the digital representation of my signature for the purposes of doing business electronically.", before clicking on the ISSUE CREDENTIAL button.
Credential Signed
The application will then digitally sign your credential. And you are on your journey to become a Verifiable Credential Master! Continue to read our guide for how to manage your credentials as well as how to send Verifiable Credentials as presentations.
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