AGIIS Phase II Modernization – Great Ideas Becoming Reality

AGIIS Update

AGIIS Phase 2 Modernization – Great Ideas Becoming Reality

By Josh Wall, AgGateway’s AGIIS Product Manager

We’re pleased to report on a great deal of positive progress on AgGateway’s Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS) Modernization Project! It is truly exciting to see what can be accomplished when companies bring an idea to the table, collaborate and unite behind a single mission – the AgGateway mission: “To promote and enable the industry's transition to digital agriculture, and expand the use of information to maximize efficiency and productivity”. Ideas become reality!

Last month AGIIS released the first two enhancements that were generated as phase II of the project. These enhancements include a Product Search, Inactivation/Deletion Enhancement that enables product owners to more efficiently manage and maintain products within AGIIS. The second enhancement released is the option to download Entity Extracts in a spreadsheet format. This enhancement provides AGIIS subscribers flexibility in extracting and reviewing entity information that reside in their subset. For more detail regarding these enhancements; please review the AGIIS Enhancements page on the AgGateway website.

AgGateway made the decision last year to move forward with a plan to modernize AGIIS, which was outlined in two phases. The first phase began June 1, 2018, and was finalized December 1, 2018. Phase 1 incorporated the latest technology and upgraded the underlying framework to extend the features and functionality of the AGIIS platform for the future. Phase 2 focused on user enhancements that would leverage the functionality of the new platform. Brainstorming for Phase 2 kicked-off at the Mid-Year Meeting last June and extended throughout the fall. The brainstorming process generated a list of 12 high-level enhancements that were reviewed by the AgGateway membership at the Annual Conference last November. During this session members provided input on which enhancements would be most valuable to their organization and provided recommendations on the priority of each enhancement.

The AGIIS Directory Oversight Committee reviewed the input from members in December and prioritized each enhancement for development. The prioritization process considered the subscriber need of each enhancement as well as the feasibility of implementation. The final prioritization list is published on the AgGateway Wiki.

The Directory Oversight Committee also commissioned working groups for the three “High Priority” enhancements, and in March, formed a working group for a “Medium Priority” enhancement. The working groups will define the specific requirements and functionality needed to implement the requested enhancement and then provide recommendations back to the Directory Oversight Committee. Each working group is comprised of AGIIS subscribers that have a vested interest in seeing the enhancement request being added to AGIIS.

At this point, the Product Related and Spreadsheet Return Format Working Groups have met and recommended enhancements to the Directory Oversight Committee. Each enhancement was approved and released to AGIIS on April 19. The Web Interface Working Group has met once and is in the process of creating enhancement recommendations for the Directory Oversight Committee. The REST API Working Group is in the formation stage and will have their first meeting in May.

As you can see there has been a lot of progress being made! Our thanks to all who have participated or are participating in the working groups and Directory Oversight Committee, and all those who have contributed ideas. If you are interested in participating in a working group or have an idea you would like see become reality, contact Member Services at Member.Services@AgGateway.org or (866) 251-8618.