1. What is changing and why
Traceability is the backbone of Rainforest Alliance certification. It ensures that every product bearing the Rainforest Alliance seal comes from certified sources, enabling companies and consumers to link products back to certified farms, or to verify certified volumes within the supply chain. This transparency protects the integrity of the seal and claims and strengthens trust in the Rainforest Alliance.
By collecting this data centrally, we gain visibility across the supply chain, making it easier to trace products and maintain the credibility of certified claims.
Building a Better System
Based on feedback from our Multitrace users, we are launching a new traceability platform to improve the management of products, supply chain relationships, stock, and transactions. The platform is better aligned with the needs of our program and aims to support more consistent and efficient traceability reporting from producer to end product.
This isn’t just a system upgrade. It streamlines daily traceability activities, strengthens the underlying infrastructure, and supports future developments and evolving business needs. Access the New Traceability in MyRA
Your journey begins in MyRA, the single, integrated space to manage both certification and traceability tasks efficiently. From MyRA, you will also be able to access the new traceability platform to track products, partners, stock, and transactions—all in one central place.
Here are some of the key enhancements you’ll notice in the new traceability platform:
A New Dashboard
One of the first changes you will notice is the new dashboard. It provides quicker access to key links and important information, making it easier to navigate the system and find what you need.
Improved Overviews
The structure of overviews has also been updated. While the Stock Overview remains separate, activities that were previously grouped under stock management are now divided into clearer categories, including Transactions, Redeem, Remove, Delivery, and Manufacturing. This separation allows for better visibility and easier tracking of specific activities.
Customize your overview: Users now have greater control over how information is displayed. Columns can be hidden or shown, reordered, and downloaded based on the filters applied on screen. These customizations are saved, allowing users to maintain a personalized working view.
Within the Stock Overview, it is now possible to view historical stock movements and access more detailed information by clicking on individual stock entries. This provides greater transparency and traceability over time.
Creating Trading Partners and Products
The process for creating Trading Partners and Products has been integrated into the new user flow. This ensures that all required information is validated before transactions can take place. By confirming partner and product data upfront, the system reduces errors and prevents delays later in the transaction process.
For users transitioning from Multitrace, existing partner and product information will be migrated to the new platform but must be verified before transactions can be made. New certificate holders will need to create their trading partners and products before they can start creating and confirming transactions.
Creating and Confirming Transactions (Redeem, Remove and Reverse) and performing Traceability Activities (Conversions, Mixing, Downgrade)
The transaction process has been streamlined with several practical improvements:
Users can now confirm, reject, or reverse multiple transactions at once.
Redeem and Remove options are available for all stock types, including both single- and multi-ingredient products, and multiple stock entries can be redeemed or removed simultaneously.
Additional fields have been introduced during transaction confirmation. Users can now add internal references, such as container numbers, and select multiple references where needed. This helps clarify what the seller is indicating for each transaction.
The system also allows users to specify who a redeem is intended for and to indicate when they are redeeming on behalf of another user.
Transactions and activities can be saved as drafts and completed later, providing more flexibility in day-to-day operations.
Mixing, conversion, and report manufacturing are now all one function called Manufacturing. This allows users to more efficiently combine those steps.
System Notifications
System notifications are now available for all users. Notifications are enabled by default and delivered to users according to their MyRA roles. However, users have the option to disable notifications if they prefer.
2. Transition Timelines per Crop
The transition to the new Traceability system will occur in phases. After each migration, we will review and refine the process. The chart below outlines the transition schedule by crop.
Crop | Deadline to declare and confirm transactions in Multitrace (old Traceability) * | Freeze Period- No transactions can be performed in Multitrace | Certificate holders have access to new Traceability |
Nuts including Hazelnut, Cashew, Almond and Macadamia, Peanut and Pistachio | August 31st | Between September 1st and September 7th | September 7th |
The deadline to declare and confirm transactions in MultiTrace refers to the date by which all users must both enter new transactions and confirm existing ones in the system.
*Important note: Rainforest Alliance reserves the right to return all transactions and reversals that are not confirmed by the deadline communicated in this table. These transactions will be reverted to the stock of the initiating company.
3. Frequently Asked Questions
How will multi-ingredient products need to be reported during the transition?
As the transition will occur in phases, we will publish a Multi-ingredient Policy that outlines the specific reporting requirements for multi-ingredient products.
A multi-ingredient product is a product that includes more than one ingredient, of which both are Rainforest Alliance Certified crops.
Example: A chocolate bar made with Rainforest Alliance Certified cocoa and hazelnut.
What happens when I purchase certified coffee, tea and cocoa but not all crops are migrated at the same time?
You will continue to use MultiTrace and the new system separately until everything is fully migrated over on to the new system.
When will coffee, cocoa, tea and other crops be migrated to the new system?
Migration of other crops to the new system will take place at a later stage. We will communicate timings for other crops soon.
How much time in advance will companies be informed of the upcoming migration?
Companies will be informed no later than 3 months before the migration date.
Will the Rainforest Alliance provide training and manuals to companies on the use of the new system?
Manuals, e-learning courses and other supporting documents will be made availablet companies can familiarise themselves with all the relevant aspects of using the new system.
Will All My Users Be Migrated?
Yes. All users who had Admin or User roles in our old Traceability platform (Multitrace) will be migrated as Users in MyRA and will have access to the new Traceability platform.
Will all users keep the same login and password?
Yes, login details will remain the same as the new platform will still be accessed via MyRA.
Which Licenses Will Be Migrated?
The following licenses will be migrated to the new platform:
Granted
Cancelled
Not granted
Rejected
Suspended
Expired
Exception
If an organization has a rejected license and no stocks, it will not be included in the migration.
For licenses with the status:
Pending
New request
Draft
Only the most recent license will be migrated.
What traceability information will be migrated?
All stocks- single and multi-ingredient
Exception is a multi-ingredient with cocoa and hazelnut; these will be brought over when the migration of cocoa occurs.
All products- single and multi-ingredient
Including subproduct names used in transactions in Multitrace
All trusted trade partners information
What traceability information will not be migrated?
Transaction history: We will migrate to the new platform stocks, so any pending transactions or volumes in Multitrace will not carry over
Stock management history
Aggregation rules
What traceability related information has been transformed?
Multi-ingredients now require traceability, so we are adding a traceability level to those stocks. It will be brought over as the lowest level from footprint. For example, if it has Segregation and Mass Balance in the footprint, it will come over as Mass Balance)
Previous footprint information of SD and SI will be merged as Premium
With an updated implementation of trade partners, we are also migrating pre-existing trade relationships (sellers-buyers) to the new trade partners section based on transactions in Multitrace
Licenses will be transformed into certificates
What do I need to do to be successfully migrated?
Confirm my transactions on time. See section Transition Timelines per Crop.
What happens if I don't confirm volumes on time?
All transactions and reversals that are not confirmed will be reverted to the stock of the initiating company.
If transactions will not be migrated, will I still have access to view them and how?
Migrated companies will still have read-only access to MultiTrace for that crop and can still download their activities and stocks.
What else is changing for me?
The template you use to report via Excel will change. The templates will be located on your main dashboard when you log in to the traceability system and can be found under “Excel Upload Templates Downloads”.
Please note that you will need to create or verify your trade partner information in the system before you can create a new transaction. If you are using a new type of product, you will also need to create it in the system first. We will share links to the manuals shortly.