Building a web-based information system for variety selection in field crops - objectives and results

The selection of variety is an important decision in crop production, but i nformation about varieties to base the information upon is volatile and com es from several sources. This paper describes a Danish information system t o improve the basis for these decisions. The web-based system is targeted t owards two primary user groups, farmers and advisers. The requirements for information and the technical skills are generally different for these grou ps, and the system has been designed to reflect this. The user interface ha s been developed without complicated query specifications to the database. Rather, users receive relevant, up-to-date overview information processed f rom large amounts of data, and, depending on skills, they can use hyperlink s to drill into more detailed information. The information is extracted and processed from a central database with web access. Rules for comparability of data have been implemented to ensure that only varieties with comparabl e data can be displayed together in the user interface. The focus of the pa per is the relations between the intentions of the system and the technical solutions. A logging of the use of the system is analysed to evaluate whet her the intentions have been met by the solutions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.