Pl@nteInfo® -: a web-based system for personalised decision support in crop management

Pl@nteInfo(R) (www.planteinfo.dk) is a decision support system, which uses the World Wide Web to supply farmers and agricultural advisers with just-in-time information and decision support for crop management. A subscription system enables personalised information. Background data are collected from different sources, processed by decision support models, and the results are integrated into personalised web pages with embedded graphics, expert interpretations and links to additional information. This article presents the system with its decision support facilities and subscription system, the architectural design of the system using collaborating web servers and the technical solutions for creating personalised information in real time. Through the example of Pl@nteInfo(R), the article shows that it is possible to build web-based decision support systems, where personalised advice is given in real time, based on user profiles together with distributed data and decision models. The article also analyses the user acceptance of the system. This analysis showed that the farmer and adviser subscribers are very dedicated users. Both the activity patterns and the preferences of subjects in the system are significantly different between these subscriber types, with farmers generally searching specific advice and advisors using the system to keep their knowledge up-to-date. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.