AI-built app for vineyard assessment delivered in 8 weeks

At TWE, vineyard assessments play a crucial role in ensuring grape quality, supporting harvest planning, building grower relationships, and delivering commercial outcomes. The company’s existing vineyard assessment capability relied on old systems that were no longer maintained or supported, including Mobile Data Studio and an Access-based solution. 

Paper-based vineyard assessment, grading, and data capture created significant operational inefficiencies, with duplicated effort and avoidable manual processes slowing teams down. Beyond the impact on productivity, manual transcription introduced data quality risks, increasing the likelihood of errors and inconsistencies. Reliance on paper records also limited traceability, making it difficult to track historical field visits and support informed decision-making. Assessors faced additional operational challenges due to inconsistent connectivity, limited ability to attach photos, and unreliable data synchronisation.

TWE’s Darren Yeo envisioned a different approach – a “digital factory” model where a reusable AI-powered platform could reduce 80+ bespoke tools into a streamlined set of fit-for-purpose applications delivered at speed with governance. The new Vineyard Assessment Application (VAA) became the first step in that journey.

After extensive evaluation, TWE selected the OutSystems low-code platform and PhoenixDX as its delivery partner. Leveraging OutSystems’ AI-driven legacy modernisation accelerator, the team delivered a production-ready field services application in just 8 weeks. The solution was built by a lean team comprising 1 developer and 1 designer from PhoenixDX, alongside key members of TWE’s internal Supply and Digital, Data and Technology (DD&T) team. Around 50% of the application was generated using AI tooling, significantly accelerating delivery while maintaining strong architectural consistency and governance.

The new application enables a robust and efficient vineyard assessment solution by enabling accurate assessment recording with seamless photo and attachment capture, even when operating offline. Built-in user management and access controls ensure data security and role-based visibility, while reliable synchronisation and backend integration keep information consistent and up to date across systems. Comprehensive reporting and analytics transform recorded data into actionable insights, ultimately improving productivity, data quality, and decision-making across the operation.