Reeve Overview

Reeve is a pioneering initiative by Cardano Foundation, designed to revolutionize financial data management by leveraging the transparency and immutability of the blockchain.

Specifically, Reeve aims at:

• Enhance financial transparency by recording financial data on the blockchain, providing a verifiable and auditable trail of transactions, fostering accountability and trust
• Streamline verification and auditing processes by creating a single, reliable source of financial information, potentially reducing the complexity and cost of traditional auditing
• Facilitate data sharing with stakeholders, without compromising data integrity and compliance

Reeve empowers organisations to embrace a new era of transparent and efficient financial management, leveraging the power of Cardano blockchain to build more transparency and accountability.

Architecture Overview

Reeve follows a modular, microservices-oriented architecture that enables organisations to scale and adapt the platform to their specific needs. The system is designed with separation of concerns in mind, where each component handles a distinct aspect of the financial data lifecycle—from ingestion and processing to validation, analysis, and blockchain publication.

The architecture promotes flexibility through loose coupling between modules, allowing organisations to deploy and manage different components independently. This distributed approach ensures that the system can handle high-volume transaction processing while maintaining data integrity and compliance requirements.

Components

Reeve Platform

The Reeve Platform is the foundational software stack that powers all backend processes related to financial data management. It’s engineered as a collection of independent yet interconnected modules that can operate in a distributed environment, providing organisations with the flexibility to scale horizontally and adapt to their operational requirements.

Platform Modules

The platform consists of the following core modules:

• Accounting Core: This module serves as the central hub for all accounting functionalities and business logic. It validates transactions against configured accounting rules, ensures data integrity, and maintains compliance with accounting standards. The Accounting Core processes financial transactions, applies transformations, and coordinates with other modules to ensure that all data conforms to organizational policies and regulatory requirements.

• Reporting: This module generates comprehensive financial reports and analytical insights based on processed data from the Accounting Core. It aggregates financial information, applies reporting transformations, and produces various report formats that help organisations gain visibility into their financial operations. The Reporting module supports custom report definitions and allows stakeholders to make informed financial decisions.

• Blockchain Publisher: This module is responsible for securely publishing validated financial data to the Cardano blockchain. It ensures that all transactions are recorded immutably and transparently, creating a permanent and verifiable audit trail. The Blockchain Publisher handles serialization, cryptographic signing, and submission of financial records to the blockchain, maintaining the integrity of on-chain records.

• ERP Adapter: This module acts as an integration bridge between Reeve and existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. It handles data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) from various ERP sources, allowing financial data from legacy systems to flow seamlessly into the Reeve platform. The ERP Adapter supports multiple ERP systems and formats, normalizing disparate data sources into a consistent structure for processing.

• Organisation: This module manages organisational metadata and structural configuration. It defines entities, departments, cost centers, and roles within the organisation, establishing the foundational data model upon which all financial transactions are attributed and reported. The Organisation module ensures that financial data flows through the correct organisational context and maintains the hierarchical relationships necessary for accurate reporting.

Data Flow Model

The Reeve Platform implements a pipeline-based data flow model:

1. Ingestion: Data enters the system through the ERP Adapter from external sources or through direct API calls
2. Validation: The Accounting Core validates transactions against business rules and compliance requirements
3. Processing: Transactions are processed, transformed, and enriched with organisational context
4. Analysis & Reporting: The Reporting module aggregates and analyzes data to generate financial insights
5. Publication: Validated and approved transactions are published to the blockchain via the Blockchain Publisher

Reeve Application

The Reeve Application is a production-ready implementation of the Reeve Platform architecture. It provides a complete, deployable solution that encapsulates all platform modules, pre-configured services, and operational infrastructure required to run a functional Reeve system.

Application Structure

The Reeve Application package includes:

• Pre-configured Modules: All platform modules come with sensible defaults and example configurations that can be customized for specific use cases
• Configuration Framework: A flexible configuration system allows organisations to define business rules, accounting policies, organisational structures, and ERP mappings without code modifications
• Operational Infrastructure: Docker containerization, deployment scripts, and infrastructure-as-code templates enable rapid deployment across various environments (development, staging, production)
• Identity & Access Management: An integrated Keycloak instance provides centralized authentication, authorization, and user management, allowing organisations to control access to the application and enforce security policies

Customers configure the application through:

• Organisational Setup: Define the structure of entities, departments, and reporting hierarchies
• Accounting Rules Configuration: Establish business rules that govern transaction validation, categorization, and reporting
• ERP System Integration: Map data from existing ERP systems to Reeve’s data model, including field mappings and transformation rules
• Access Control: Configure role-based access control (RBAC) through Keycloak to ensure users can only access relevant financial data

Key Features

• Security by Default: Integrated with Keycloak for secure authentication, single sign-on (SSO), and fine-grained access control
• Auditability: Comprehensive audit logs track all data modifications and system actions for compliance and forensics
• Extensibility: The modular design allows for custom module development and integration with third-party systems
• Scalability: Designed to handle high-volume transaction processing while maintaining performance and reliability

Data Model & Standards

Reeve operates on a standardized financial data model that ensures consistency across all modules and organisations. The model defines the structure of transactions, accounts, cost centers, and reporting dimensions, enabling interoperability and facilitating data exchange across the ecosystem.

Transactions flow through the system carrying full context—organisational attribution, account classifications, amounts, dates, and business rule validations—ensuring that financial information remains coherent and auditable throughout its lifecycle.