Ireland's Agriculture Inspectors upload data on their mobiles (DAF mobile)

Delivering Ireland's Agriculture Inspectors a solution to upload data on their mobile phones eliminates the inefficiencies of current processes, while not inconveniencing to any great degree, the officers who currently carry out these essential tasks. Inspectors now have a reliable system based on technology that is totally familiar to them: the mobile phone. Given their familiarity, the inspectors could be trained in the use of the applications quickly and efficiently. The system has proved to be robust, with few connection problems encountered. Inspectors can query the Departments official animal records database at any time of day or night, the only requirement being a mobile phone reception - the GSM SIM cards used by inspectors now have coverage in 90% of the country. Inspectors used these facilities to make queries against the Departments Corporate Bovine database and clear up queries on the spot.

Description of target users and groups

Agriculture Inspectors

Technology solution

The two technologies (WAP and SMS) are ubiquitous. The applications can be amended to retrieve information from, and send data to, back-end databases in many different organisations.

Main results, benefits and impacts

The applications have proved to be extremely popular with the Livestock Inspectors - a group not previously known for embracing technology. The relative simplicity and ease of use of the applications has led to a high uptake. The Mobile applications show that a little data can go a long way. This system has reduced the requirement for inspectors to return to farms to clear up queries arising from the original inspection, and has removed the requirement for inspectors to drive to their Regional office to record these results on the main computer system with resultant timesavings for inspectors. There were no hardware costs for the Department as the 120 inspectors used their existing mobile phones. The cost of developing the application was very small compared to the cost of driving to a Regional office in order to query the CMMS database. Accordingly there are major ongoing savings for the Department on foot of a very small initial outlay. It clearly shows that to deliver an effective business solution, we need to think result rather than system. Big is not necessarily better.

Return on investment

Return on investment: Not applicable / Not available

Track record of sharing

The Department is willing to assist public bodies who feel they could benefit from a more detailed understanding of the applications. We can facilitate questions submitted by email, or talk to interested parties face to face, by phone or using video conferencing technology. We would be happy to demonstrate the facilities and we have a DVD of our inspectors using the technology which we can send if an organisation feels it would be of benefit to them.

Lessons learnt

Simple solutions can deliver superb results. Not every application must be of 'Taj Mahal' proportions. The applications which enable Livestock Inspectors have transformed their working lives with the application of a piece of everyday technology - the mobile phone - and delivered significant savings in time, travel and subsistence expenses to the Department. Scope: National