Development of the Harrow Greenhouse Manager: a decision-support system for greenhouse cucumber and tomato

The Harrow Greenhouse Manager (HGM) is a suite of decision-support tools for integrated crop management of greenhouse cucumber and tomato. It contains knowledge on pest and disease management as well as general production information. A 12-step development process for the HGM included significant industry involvement, software development methodologies, prototype evaluation, end-user workshops, steering committee direction, system testing and marketing. To increase adoption of the software by the greenhouse industry, a representative sample of end-users was extensively involved during the development process. End-user contributions resulted in terminology standardisation, additional modules for pest identification and calculator programs, user-friendly interface and addition of a database module for data recording and analyses.