What they say about us
RESULT
1+ million
Cows living in better conditions
Project goal
Launch and improve cloud-based software for animal well-being management with strong UX/UI focus
Technologies
React | React Native | Django | Kafka Streams | Timescale
Highlights
Near real time data processing | IoT integration
RESULTS
1+ millon
Cows living in better conditions
Project goal
Launch and improve dairy software for animal well-being management with strong UX/UI focus
Highlights
Near real time data processing | IoT integration
Technologies
React | React Native | Django | Kafka Streams | Timescale
VES-Artex provides technology for efficient dairy farming
VES-Artex provides technology for efficient dairy farming
Its mission is to create animal-centered environments by designing and engineering systems that include fans, cooling devices, lighting, and more. VES-Artex prioritizes animal well-being, leading to better production results for dairy owners.
- Systems implemented in 30+ countries
- More than 350 facilities worldwide
- Over 1 million cows impacted
A software that helps dairy managers “put the cow first”
Dairy software that helps managers “put the cow first”
VES-Artex uses three main systems to create optimal animal-centered environments and perfect barn conditions:
Strategic ventilation and soakers that regulates air flow and reduces heat stress, diseases and pests Cooling system to keep animals comfortable in any climate Extended day lighting all year long
Besides installing sensors and physical devices, VES-Artex provides dairies with software to control and monitor all systems. When their executive team decided to create a digital product totally focused on their industry’s needs, they reached out to us.
We designed and launched their star platform, DairyBOS, in six months. Since then, we continue to collaborate in order to improve this unique application in the dairy segment and build new digital products.
Farmers in total control of the barn with a single application
Farmers in total control of the barn with a single application
DairyBOS users are always aware of the barn conditions, and maintain intelligent control of air, light and temperature from a single interface, saving on time and resources. The dairy software was designed to appeal to everyone on the farm, from the owner who needs visibility of all buildings to the workers performing daily tasks.
DairyBOS offers users with information in different levels, from a macro view of the farm up to data from specific pens inside the buildings, including details such as the quantity of animals, breed, and more. In this project, the team is always incorporating new data sources and increasing the widgets options users can create to have a more complete view of their business.
How it works
Implementation
The VES-Artex implementation team works together with dairy staff to set goals and connect the IoT devices to DairyBOS.
Connect
It’s possible to connect one or more buildings and easily access different farms and facilities.
Monitor
After the setup, users are able to monitor temperature, humidity and others, as well as check market information and weather conditions.
Make adjustments
They can make adjustments and set alerts to notify employees if something is not working properly.
Reports
Users can generate reports and compare metrics over time, as well as assign roles and responsibilities.
Do you want to transform your business and your users’ lives?
Mobile-first software powered by data
DairyBOS is a responsive dairy app that can be accessed from any device. It can also be integrated to other systems other than VES-Artex equipment. This tool directly impacts barns’ productivity levels, while overall expenses and maintenance costs decrease. Happy clients have already reported gains in milk production and animal health.
To be able to show users a different set of metrics on the barns’ conditions and animal well-being, DairyBOS integrates with third-party providers such as:
Vyla, another development partner of Octobot, for milk production numbers and animal feeding information. Bovisync, for calculating the number of animals in the facilities.
Allflex, to obtain information about the air conditions inside the barn, such as air flow and volume.
Cynomys, to add additional sensors within a building and track more metrics.
A full team dedicated to researching, discussing, and building the best tool
A full team dedicated to researching, discussing, and building the best tool
Our DairyBOS team is composed of software engineers, designers, and QA testers totally dedicated to identifying improvement opportunities. For the app's first development phase, our devs explored the best options for gathering and processing high volume streams of data and presenting it in an efficient way.
We opted for time series databases and stream processing solutions so DairyBOS could compute data as it is received from devices at the barn. It was also important to establish a solid infrastructure to manage these complex services and the database.
To gain further insight, the team immersed themselves in the special segment of VES-Artex, a mix between industrial equipment and dairy management. Qualitative research combined with fluid communication with VES experts, technicians and veterinarians was key.
Along with the constant system growth, including new features and the overall project magnitude, the necessity of having a QA area dedicated exclusively to testing arose. The team realized it was important to integrate QA-focused professionals in order to define and standardize quality processes.
With our new QA department we implemented an exhaustive release checklist, which ensures the app is working as expected both before and after the release. Also, we started to apply exploratory testing to find issues that were not contemplated in the requirements and thus be able to validate and add them to the scope. As well, it was helpful so we could suggest and propose improvements in terms of functionality. The main, more visible benefit from creating the QA area was the number of issues reported that could be fixed before a deploy or release to production.
This is how we
engaged
Discovery
We kicked off with a Discovery phase to analyze VES-Artex expectations and needs while comparing it to similar solutions in the dairy industry and other smart apps.
Research
We conducted business and product research to gain a deeper understanding of users, from VES-Artex employees to farmers and the barn staff.
Wireframes
We prioritized functionalities with an MVP and started sketching wireframes.
Implementation
After a round of testing and some iterations, we moved forward with the Design System creation to fuel the iterative design and development phase.
Latest improvements: better data sources and enhanced usability
Latest improvements: better data sources and enhanced usability
Since DairyBos launch in November 2020, we’ve been working on enhancements to complement VES-Artex’s services offered to dairies, such as the aforementioned integrations with third-party platforms, implementing a 2D view of barns to easily identify the devices’ location, and reaching a total of 10 available languages.
We’ve conducted Design Reviews to get a better understanding of the product and identify opportunities to improve usability and make users’ experiences even smoother. We’ve improved the app following Usability Heuristic principles, focusing on user control and freedom, and consistency and standards. We’ve also involved other known usability guidelines, principles of usability-related fields such as cognitive psychology and human-computer interaction.
On the development side, we’ve implemented integrations with Riptide and Phason in order to lift the DairyBOS data consumption process and also automate the initial setup of new buildings. In addition, we’re developing a mobile product called DairyBOS Local, a lighter version of the platform that will be used by the dairy workers on their daily routine. This new product doesn’t depend on internet access to work, making it easier for farmers to check out metrics and adjust VES-Artex systems whenever needed.
Among the features we implemented into the system there are new functionalities in the reports section for easier searching and marking reports as favorites. Also, we implemented a search option for identifying each cow status. With the animal ID and/or name, the app now shows information about the cow such as date of birth, breed, milk production metrics, and reproduction info. We also added a flow for identifying and replacing supervisors, which are physical devices used in the barns to connect with the different VES systems and generate metrics. More recently, users of the paid app can also enjoy features like energy and water saving modes that allow them to reduce waste while keeping an optimal environment for the cows.
If you’d like to know more about our experience building dairy apps, take a look at this blog post and download our free ebook “Your Dairy App Checklist”.
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