One comprehensive software solution. Instead of moving your data between spreadsheets, databases, statistics packages, and other software systems with often numerous files, just work within one integrated system. Save time, money, and effort.
Immediate access to your data. The research data explorer permits direct and simple point-and-click access to your data – no need to bother about file names and directories. Save more time.
Efficient data management. All research data is managed in a relational database with crops or research projects within their own research groups. Many tools for grouping and organizing the data over years, locations, experiments, and so forth help customize the data structure according to your needs.
Security. Password protection permits only restricted access to your research data.
Integrated data analysis. No need to buy or license a statistics package since many usual statistical routines are built right into our system. There is even a spatial statistical analysis which reduces the CV in a field trial with estimable field trends. Trials rejected due to high CVs are costly to any research program.
Randomizations for experimental designs. Many experimental designs are directly integrated into the system, from randomization to analysis, such as split plots, factorials, lattices, alpha (0,1), RCBD, Latin squares, group balanced block, and more.
Conventional data types plus images. In addition to the usual numeric and character data, you can also store and display images of varieties, experiments, disease reactions, rating scales, growth stages of a variety of experiment, and so forth. ‘Visual data’ can be very important in a research program, especially when comparing many genotypes for appearance or remembering what an experiment was like in a previous year.
Timely data analysis. Some research programs have a small window of time for data analysis, especially breeding programs that must promote material to an off-season nursery in a matter of weeks. With time at a premium, you can analyze a trial at, say, 20 locations with 50 traits on average per location – 1000 ANOVAs with just a few keystrokes. More time to study the results means less pressure and better research decisions.
Support for field operations. Seed packaging, planting, and harvesting are important field operations for many experiments and trials. Our system has software tools specially designed to assist this part of a research program. With the visual field plan layout tool, you can easily prepare planting plans for thousands of plots per location.
Customization. Design labels, reports, and field books for your needs. Decide on trait and variable names throughout the system, and more.
Immediate data query and extraction. Quickly view all or some of your data for an entire year, season, location, group of experiments or locations, or just for one single variety or group of varieties or treatments. The data appears as a spreadsheet and could be exported immediately as a file or form the basis for a report. These are some of the many advantages of a relational software system.
Trace the planting history of any genotype. As part of data querying, you can view all the occurrences of a specific genotype in your entire research program, even by every plot number in every year and all locations. This can be time-consuming without a relational software system, and is important for some GMO compliance and reporting requirements.
Tools to monitor research progress. Means for all analyses are automatically stored in the system for single-factor analyses, like variety yield trials, immediately ready for many types of reports. Critical decision tools include multi-year summaries for up to twenty years, complete with rolling averages for varieties that typically are unbalanced over time. A ‘head-to-head’ report will compare one variety to another or several other varieties from all experiments in common over all years and locations or any subset thereof. Key research decisions and budget allocations require some measure of progress over time. Incorrect or less than optimal decisions can prove costly.
Efficient import/export tools. Inevitably for any software system, data must be imported or exported, especially in conjunction with data loggers, palm-pilots, and co-operators in the same organization or external. An efficient set of tools have been developed to assist the user in importing data into a relation system, and quickly exporting data for any number of reasons. The most popular file formats are Excel® and dBASE® files.
Specialized analyses for agronomy and plant breeding. In addition to the usual statistical analyses, our system offers a number of helpful analyses, such as genotype x environment analyses, published by agronomists and breeders but not commonly available. Additional information and insights from more analyses of your data means increased confidence in decision making.
Pedigree data management. For plant breeders, there is a pedigree data management system to make crosses, manage populations and nurseries, view the history of any cross or population, and so forth.
