Summary
• GUIs were developed in the late 1960s.
• Data accuracy and ease of use in semi-literate areas is a key benefit.
• GUI technology is being used in Helveta’s CI World system to enable precise, real-time monitoring of the forest product supply chain.
• Local populations are using GUI hand-helds to map their forests.
• Major companies in consumer countries are demanding accurate timber supply chain control.
• DLH is a CI World user.
In 1969, computer engineers at the Stanford Research Institute were working on the first computer interface systems designed to replace text command lines with graphics. In doing so they launched what has since become known as the graphical user interface (GUI).
Today the GUI is everywhere – even in the forest. For logging companies needing certification for their wood or looking to map forest assets, GUIs make auditing the supply chain and getting certified quicker and more efficient because they are easier to learn to use than command line (CLI) and text-user interfaces (TUI). These other systems require commands to be typed onto a keyboard which have to be learned and remembered. With a GUI, icon-based processing of data eliminates this whole process.
At management level the GUI helps ensure error-free data collection. It can be configured to use pick lists that restrict available options, make certain fields mandatory or made to prompt for more data.
The use of a GUI also enables real-time validation of data, providing a safety net for data integrity that is close to impossible with CLI-based systems.
Forest supply chain audit
Helveta is putting the GUI to good use in auditing the forest supply chain. Its CI World system, joint winner of the TTJ 2006 Environmental Achievement Award, uses hand-held devices with a GUI designed to validate inventory data entered before it is sent into managers using the central system. On-screen icons make them easy to use and managers see what inventory they have in real time as well as being assured that their staff have entered records error free. Hand-helds are also used by local people to map areas they want the foresters to avoid, with graphics representing hunting or sacred regions, for instance.
All the data from the forest is used to generate management information for the supply chain, including inventory maps, reports and audits. The maps, through the CI Earth function, can be delivered as charts or via applications such as Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth, providing insight into forest activity and a start on the path to certification.
CI Control steps in to ensure correct reports and documentation are generated, covering inventory and yield management and sourcing across the supply chain. This includes user-defined delivery orders, pick lists, sales invoices, royalty statements and regulatory reports, and allows remote workflows and quality control to be handled through the CI World system.
Online checks
CI Audit enables the information generated to be interrogated and issues of non-compliance investigated. This provides a tool for clients and third-party auditors to undertake online checks of the forest and the timber produced. It removes dependence on site visits and allows the supply chain to be reviewed and analysed quickly, again aiding certification and the management of forest resources in remote areas.
Both Cameroon and Liberia use elements of CI World, with the latter using the system to manage its entire timber sector. Ranging from standing trees to wood processing plants, the point of export and local wholesale markets, it will be used for stump traceability, advance sustainable development and give Liberia’s Forest Development Authority the tools to collect revenues from the country’s timber industry.
Many companies, including major retailers, in consumer countries are also now asking their suppliers to use the right software to monitor and assess the movement of timber through global supply chains. Consequently international timber trading group DLH, inspection and certification firm Société Générale de Surveillance and the US Forest Service are all now among users of the users of CI World.
