# About Agent and OCE

***Agent*** is free / open source software which as part of the *Open Cooperative Ecosystem*, empowers the creation of an ecosystem made up of relationships and economic events, with the aim of allowing the flow of resources between fractal networks of people and groups.

## Based on a shared vocabulary
*Resources* can be anything that possesses a tangible or intangible value: materials, ideas, work, gifts, coins, alternative coins, etc.

Within networks, *resources* flow from one *agent* to another through *events*.

*Events* linked together create *processes*, which can include multiple people and groups, working together to create and complete projects.

The software keeps track of any type of *event* that happens during the production phase of a project, allowing a capillary accounting, according to the necessity and the governance established by each group.
This allows groups to create - always in accordance with their own governance - ad hoc formulas (value equation), to distribute the value generated by the projects to each participant, automatically.

Process flows that tend to repeat over time can be standardized in *recipes*, which can be published online so other groups can use them to improve their projects or create new ones.

The heart of the software is its vocabulary: *[valueflows](https://valueflo.ws)*, created specifically to manage the back-end logic that links Resources, Events and Agents. The *valueflows* vocabulary is an implementation of REA, which stands for [Resource, Event, Agent](http://www.jeffsutherland.org/oopsla2000/mccarthy/mccarthy.htm), an accounting method which has become an ISO standard for e-commerce.

Any piece of software that uses *valueflows* as a vocabulary can easily interact with any other that shares the same data structures and syntax, thus contributing to forming an ecosystem of applications that talk to each other and allow the user to meet different needs, in less traumatic and complex ways.

## Open Cooperative Ecosystem
[OCE](https://opencoopecosystem.net) (Open Cooperative Ecosystem) is an open and informal network, made up of various people and groups, who implement or want to implement *valueflows* as a vocabulary, to interconnect their software (including *Agent*) among themselves.

## Use cases
Some cases of use of ***Agent*** are the following:

- Manage production processes (supply chain) - from the creation phase to the distribution of the product value, in a cooperative way involving one or more groups
- Manage and track the logistics and accounting of the flow of resources within a network of groups
- Facilitating value creation within a bio-region

## Current implementations
The software currently includes:

- a back-end & administration panel written in Django
- a GraphQL API layer
- an (incomplete) [front-end web app in React](https://github.com/opencooperativeecosystem/fc-dashboard)

## Current status
*Agent* can help create a digital infrastructure that can - together with *FairCoin* and a plethora of other software - facilitate the implementation of cooperative ideas on a global and interconnected basis.

Currently it's incomplete and doesn't work that well, like much of *FairCoop*! But it's a process, like everything!...

Within *FairCoop*, *Agent* is used mainly to manage work within the cooperative.

## Useful links:
- [OCE website](https://opencoopecosysyem.net)
- [OCE code](https://github.com/opencooperativeecosystem)