A world leader in livestock trade, Hunland commissioned Noventiq to build a custom IT solution for tracking the transported animals. The app Noventiq developed tracks every step of the livestock transport process, displays the status of shipments in real time, and stores all the documentation generated during the journey. Now, the entire trip of shipments is more open and transparent for everyone involved. Explore the app now.

Hunland has been breeding and trading livestock since 1992, and is now a world leader in the livestock business. The company places a high priority on animal welfare, and making sure they’re safe and well while they’re being transported is no exception. Aside from complying with mandatory requirements, Hunland has a track record for implementing forward-looking solutions to guarantee reliability and a high level of animal welfare throughout the entire transportation process.

Problem

Hunland was looking for a custom-made app that would help users to manage all the required documentation, check the animals’ physical condition, and keep an eye on them as they make their journey.

Their vision was for a simple yet versatile system that tracks all the main checkpoints in the transport process, including the pre-planned route, the number and location of rest stops, and safe delivery to their destination. The project was aimed at guaranteeing quality from transport companies, rest stop owners, and exporters alike.

Solution

The Noventiq (formerly Softline) team conducted a series of initial discussions to identify the specific needs of the livestock transport sector. Following these briefings, Noventiq’s experts made a number of recommendations to make sure that the outcome met with Hunland’s requirements. Noventiq then developed a web-based application to track the route and status of shipments. The result? An industry-changing solution that has made transporting livestock both safer and more transparent for everyone involved.

Technology

It took just two months to develop an MVP (minimum viable product) for the app. The development team used Microsoft Azure for scalability, and the Entity Framework to support a code-first approach and flexible data storage. This addition is particularly useful for two reasons. First, it ensures that the technology is fit to scale. Secondly, it enables the database storage solution to be expanded when more features are introduced to the app. The use of both of these powerful tools meant that it was a no-brainer for the company to bring in Microsoft Azure SQL Database service.  

The team also introduced Azure BLOB storage, a scalable and secure object storage solution for cloud-based processes, to store the documents and media files (photos and videos) attached to the route plan and to each stop.

Functionality

Users of the app can choose between different profiles when registering on the system according to their role in the transport process, whether they’re transport operators, farm managers (rest stop owners), official veterinarians, drivers, or guest users. The system itself tracks the entire transport process, so besides making it possible to keep an eye on the shipment status in real time, it also provides the ability to manage each step in the process. The rest stop booking module of the app allows the rest stop owner to confirm that the transport operator really has booked a rest stop, so that the official veterinarian can make sure that the transport process complies with the submitted route plan. In the same way, the owner of a rest stop which has been booked can see when the shipment has departed from the last rest stop before their farm and prepare for the livestock’s arrival. With the help of tracking numbers, guest users can see when the shipment arrives at or leaves the farm.

Each shipment is assigned a unique identification number, which allows users to track its status. The official veterinarian can use this tracking number to check the shipment and see which rest stops have already been completed, whether any stops have been missed, and which stops are still to be made. The solution also includes a map function which shows the exact location of the rest stops. A ‘help’ feature provides instructions on how to take photos and videos in order for the documentation to be compliant, specifying the angle of photos and mandatory information to be included.

The app even includes a handy calculator specifying the maximum number of animals that can be transported under EU legislation, based on the truck’s loading area and the type and average weight of livestock.

Result

The result of this collaborative project is a documentation tool that clearly shows and verifies that livestock has been delivered safely, humanely and in good condition. The compliance documentation can be accessed by the company, and also by other stakeholders, including official veterinarians, farm owners, and animal welfare organisations. Thanks to its broad range of use cases, the app represents a unique solution for the safe and high-quality transportation of livestock. The app has also been built to make sure that it can be extended to cover additional use cases to support individual market players or even the industry as a whole. The game-changing nature of the app is emphasised by the fact that the National Food Chain Safety Office has welcomed the initiative and is already exploring its use in regulatory work.

Péter Hencz, Managing Director of Hunland Trans Kft, comments: “The recommendations made by Noventiq’s team in the early stage of our collaboration exceeded our expectations, and set us on a course for an app that makes the entire livestock transport journey an open and transparent process for all stakeholders. I believe that the broad adoption of this app will significantly enhance safety and transparency, and guarantee quality for the whole industry.”

Zoltán Mészáros, Noventiq’s Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe, explains: “Technology trends and accelerated digitisation are delivering an impact in nearly all industries today. By leveraging the right solutions, companies can gain a significant competitive edge, and even drive their entire industry in a more transparent and secure direction.  We are proud to see our technology and expertise translated into an app that can take livestock transport to the next level.”