Forestry is an industry that sees manual labor get replaced by tech solutions at a rapid pace, since they make it quicker and easier to measure and register amounts of trees. Mjølner has developed an administrative system for HedeDanmark’s LogStackPro solution, which elevates the task of registering to a level that lives up both to the expectations of forest owners and the toughest requirements of any authority in the world.
Technology gives an overview
Forest owners the world over can now benefit from Hededanmark’s new software on tablets to make measurements of lumber stacks. The product is called LogStackPro and consists of a tablet with integrated cameras combined with a software solution that can use pictures of the stacks to calculate the amount of lumber in it.
The challenge has initially been to register this data in such a way that it afterwards is stored in a location that all relevant parties can access and extract value from.
Mjølner has helped HedeDanmark with both making a mobile app for registering the individual stacks and also developing a web based administration locationthat lets you see which stacks are registered in a forest, and give you an overview of which stacks are already measured, and which aren’t. In addition you can assign stacks to different sawmills.
Mjølner delivered a complete team consisting of experts in UX, design and front and back end development and has been able to leverage their experience in ensuring dynamism and progress for the project.
LogStackPro creates value on the forest floor
HD LogSystems, which is a part of HedeDanmark, has for many years worked on a tablet solution, and during an update of the old model, HD LogSystems exploited the chance to upgrade the solution.
The demands of modern forestry are comprehensive – both the requirements of practical reality, as well as those made by authorities.
In so far as relates to the physical reality, it’s normal that you don’t have internet access while handling lumber. This is the case for much of the Canadian forests for example, but the challenge might as well be in a Danish, Polish or German forest. This is why it’s crucail that the app for registering and the tablet for measuring both work offline.
The process works such that an employee conducts the actual registering or measuring via a mobile app or a tablet if in a forest. When the device gets internet access, it uploads information and pictures to the administration location and after a measurement it automatically generates the needed reports.
In addition, the system makes sure that the different types of information are accessible by the right people with the correct user rights.
“We saw a professional approach to project management when we started our cooperation with Mjølner on the final development of our product, LogStackPro. The project had full transparency all the way through, and the iterative process that Mjølner took us through, made it all secure and approachable. In general, we are very satisfied with our cooperation with Mjølner on our digital product, LogStackPro.”
Rune P. C. Christensen, Business Manager, HedeDanmark
Tough demands require specific expertise
One of HedeDanmark’s primary markets in foresty is Germany, and for that reason the solutions made for the sector need to live up to the requirements of German authorities. And exactly those requirements gave the software developers something of a challenge.
The difficulty was that different customers have different needs and desires for what the software should be able to do. But to be used in Germany, it needs to be certified, and to fulfill that demand. the software can’t be updates. Once developed, it has been “cast in WiFi”, it can’t be changed without another certification process, which costs time and money.
This meant that Mjølner needed to develop a communication protocol with templates that can accommodate a long list of input parameters, and that’s difficult to combine with user expectations of both what extent and quality of data they can get out the other end.
Exactly the communication protocol was the most difficult nut to crack for the project – and it finally happened with the combined effort of HedeDanmark’s staff, an external 3rd party who had very detailed knowledge of the field and Mjølner’s clever team.
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