Information System for Forestry Management
15+ Years in Production
What the System Does
Forest management in Bosnia & Herzegovina follows a rigorous methodology similar to the Swedish approach. It starts in the field: forest engineers walk through compartments measuring tree height, diameter, quality, age, species, and health indicators. This raw data forms the foundation for all forestry planning.
The information system I built handles everything after the field work: data entry, complex calculations mandated by the methodology, report generation, and ultimately the creation of forest management plans that govern how each forest area will be managed for the next 10 years.
Forest engineers collecting field measurements - height, diameter, quality, age, species, and health data
The Problem I Inherited
When I joined Wald-Projekt in Bosnia, the company relied on a desktop application for entering data collected during field surveys. The software was messy, produced inaccurate results, and required constant involvement from external IT engineers and university consultants from Sarajevo.
Every project took 6 months with 4 people working on calculations. It was expensive, error-prone, and frustrating. The company had multiple offices across Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro—all needing access to the same system. The cost of expanding the existing solution seemed prohibitive.
My Proposal
I suggested an alternative: build a web-based system that would be more accurate, easier to maintain, and accessible from all offices without expensive infrastructure investments.
I got approval to work on it—but only as a side project while continuing my regular duties. No dedicated time, no team, just me working evenings and weekends.
The MVP and Full System
In 3 months, I delivered a working MVP. The company was impressed by the accuracy and ease of use. I got the green light to complete the full system.
A few months later, the entire system was finished. We were no longer dependent on any external company. The messy desktop software was retired.
From Field Data to Forest Management Plans
The workflow is straightforward but the calculations are not. Engineers bring field measurements to the office and enter them into the system. The system then performs complex calculations required by the forestry methodology: timber volume, annual growth rates, sustainable harvest levels, stand structure analysis, and more.
These calculations follow strict government regulations and scientific forestry principles. Getting them wrong means incorrect harvest planning, regulatory issues, and potential environmental damage. The system ensures accuracy and consistency across all projects.
Reports and Elaborates
The system generates over 300 different reports required by the methodology and government regulations. These range from detailed compartment inventories to summary statistics, from growth projections to harvest recommendations.
The final output is a comprehensive forest management elaborate—a book-length document that forest organizations and government agencies use to govern their forests for the coming 10 years. This elaborate determines what can be harvested, where, when, and how much.
One of 300+ reports generated by the system for forest management planning
The Impact
Work that previously took 6 months with 4 people now takes a few days with 1 person. The accuracy improved dramatically, and the system became the foundation for professional forestry management across the region.
The project grew beyond Wald-Projekt. We sold it to other forestry companies and to the government, who wanted to view reports on demand. Today it runs in the cloud on Azure using serverless technologies, keeping costs optimized while maintaining reliability.
15+ years later, it's still the primary system used across Bosnia & Herzegovina for forestry management.
Technology Stack
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