Natural Resources Institute Finland Selected Codento to Improve the Processing of National Inventory Data
What was the challenge?
The Natural Resources Institute is a research and expert organization that builds well-being and a sustainable future from renewable resources. The Natural Resources Institute employs more than a thousand experts who produce new solutions for the sustainable development of the Finnish bioeconomy and the promotion of new industries.
The surveyors of the Natural Resources Institute collect national inventory data from the terrain every year. A total of 20 different terrain groups work in the forests during the summer season, with a final number of measuring points of about 14,000. The Natural Resources Institute has a need to manage, maintain and ensure the quality of this collected data.
There is a need to supplement this data collected in the terrain from other data sources and sometimes also to make corrections. The customer’s goal was to leave a mark on the changes, and these changes and the maintenance of the related information would not be in the hands of just one person, but decentralized to a larger team.
Inventory data collected from forests constitute official forest resource data, i.e. the responsibility and requirement for timeliness and good care of the data is high.
Our solution
Codento provided the Institute for Natural Resources with software that makes it easier and more efficient to ensure, process and maintain the quality of the national forest inventory data.
The feasibility of the customer need was validated using Codento’s value discovery phase. The Natural Resources Institute had a picture of what technologies and implementation methods would be used in the project. Discussions with Codento’s architect opened up new perspectives on how things could be done in the best possible way.
After a successful first phase, Codento’s team worked on software development under the direction of the Natural Resources Institute.
The cooperation was implemented flexibly with the Scrum model and the role of the project was clear from the beginning. For the Product Owner of the Natural Resources Institute, Codento provided a Product Owner’s Guide that supported and clarified mutual expectations and tasks. The requirements came from the end users of the software, with the Product Owner acting as a hub between the Natural Resources Institute and the Codento team.
The project was implemented in two phases. In the first part, due to a tight schedule, weekly sprints were used in the second part, the sprints lasted two weeks.
Why Codento?
Codento was selected as the service provider through a tender. In the selection, the Natural Resources Institute emphasized not only the price-quality ratio, but also the supplier’s expertise in the desired technologies and methods.
What were the results?
The data editor ensures the quality of the data and makes working easier.
The traditional challenges of software projects, such as schedule pressures and the perception and understanding of end-user desires and needs, were addressed together with Codento consultants.
Codento’s service enables flexible use of the team in a way that suits each moment, as well as efficient budget management.
In customer’s own words (testimonial)
“The weekly sprints were demanding in terms of schedule, as the meetings and retros took their time from development work. The intensive work of the team and the seamless cooperation between the Natural Resources Institute and Codento ensured that both phases of the project were completed on schedule. Codento’s expertise and desire to understand what the end user is doing and the processes have made this project particularly memorable. The people of Codento came up with and actively helped solve difficult issues. It felt like they really wanted to understand our world, not just offer ready-made solutions off the shelf of a pharmacy, ”
Reijo Mykkänen
Researcher
Natural Resources Institute.
