Introduction
The Promar Farmer Benchmarking Portal, developed for Promar International Limited as part of the Arla programme, is a digital benchmarking solution for the dairy farming industry. Solutionade delivered a Microsoft Power Platform solution to replace an Excel-based benchmarking process with an online platform for farmer self-service, data management, reporting, and performance comparisons.
| Project Detail | Description |
| Project Name | Promar Farmer Benchmarking Portal (Arla Programme) |
| Customer | Promar International Limited |
| Client Type | End Client (No Intermediary) |
| Industry | Agriculture / Dairy Farming / Consulting & Data Services |
| Region | United Kingdom |
| Project Status | In Progress |
| Solutionade Role | Solution Design, Development, Power Platform Implementation, Portal Development, Administration Application Development, and Ongoing Enhancements |
| Engagement Type | Full Lifecycle |
| Business Driver | Digital Transformation |
Promar’s Challenge
Promar relied on Excel workbooks, formulas, and VBA macros to collect farm data, conduct benchmarking, generate reports, and perform what-if analysis.
The existing approach created a need for a secure, scalable, and GDPR-compliant digital platform that could support farmers and administrators while maintaining the confidentiality of benchmarking data.
The key challenges included:
- Manual, Excel-based processes: Replacing the existing approach to data collection, benchmarking, and reporting.
- Farmer accessibility: Providing a secure online environment for submitting data and accessing reports.
- Data management: Enabling administrators to review, validate, correct, and manage submissions.
- Benchmarking and analytics: Supporting comparisons against anonymised peer datasets and historical performance.
- Data confidentiality: Controlling access to submitted information and aggregated benchmarking results.
Objectives and Goals
The project aimed to digitalise the benchmarking process and establish a centraliзed platform for data collection, administration, and reporting.
The main objectives for Promar were to:
- Replace the Excel-based benchmarking process with an online solution.
- Enable secure farmer registration, profile management, and data submission.
- Provide access to benchmarking reports and historical submissions.
- Centralize administration, data validation, and reporting year management.
- Support performance analysis through Power BI integration and Excel exports.
- Implement role-based access controls for different user groups.
- Support ongoing development and changing reporting requirements.
Solutionade’s Solution
Solutionade designed and implemented a Microsoft Power Platform solution comprising a farmer portal, an administration application, and benchmarking and reporting capabilities.
1. Farmer Portal
Developed using Microsoft Power Pages, the portal provides farmers with a secure self-service environment to manage their information and participate in the benchmarking program.
Key functionalities:
- User registration and authentication.
- Profile management.
- Farm operational and financial data submission.
- Access to benchmarking reports.
- Historical submission review.
- FAQs and support resources.
2. Administration Application
A Model-Driven App was developed to support Promar administrators in managing users, submitted data, reporting periods, and portal content.
Key functionalities:
- Account and contact management.
- Submission review, validation, and correction.
- Reporting year configuration and management.
- Dataset exports to Excel.
- Portal content and FAQ maintenance.
3. Benchmarking and Reporting
The solution provides structured benchmarking capabilities, enabling participants to compare farm performance against anonymised peer datasets.
Key functionalities:
- Benchmarking reports and performance comparisons.
- Historical and year-over-year analysis capabilities.
- Power BI integration for reporting views.
- Centralised data management through Dataverse.
- Controlled access to aggregated benchmarking data.
Solution Architecture
The platform uses Microsoft Power Platform technologies, with Microsoft Dataverse providing the central data layer.
| Component | Technology | Purpose |
| Customer Portal | Microsoft Power Pages | Farmer registration, data submission, and report access |
| Data Platform | Microsoft Dataverse | Centralised storage and management of business data |
| Administration Application | Model-Driven App | User administration, data validation, and reporting configuration |
| Reporting and Analytics | Power BI | Benchmarking and performance reporting |
| Security | Power Pages Roles and Dataverse Security Roles | Role-based access control |
| Data Export | Microsoft Excel | Exporting datasets for further analysis and reporting |
Core Dataverse entities:
- Accounts
- Contacts
- Reporting Years
- Datasets
- Dataset Constants
- FAQs
Key Features
| Category | Features |
| Farmer Self-Service | Registration, authentication, profile management, data submission, historical submission review |
| Reporting and Analytics | Benchmarking reports, performance comparisons, year-over-year analysis, Power BI integration |
| Administration | Account and contact management, dataset management, validation and correction workflows, reporting year configuration |
| Data Management | Centralised Dataverse data, structured datasets, Excel export functionality |
| Security and Access | Role-based security and controlled access to submitted and aggregated benchmarking data |
Business Outcomes
The project established an online platform for benchmarking, replacing the previous Excel-based process and bringing farmer-facing functionality, administration, and reporting into a connected environment.
Key delivered capabilities:
- Digitalised Benchmarking: Replaced the previous Excel-based process with an online platform.
- Farmer Self-Service: Enabled farmers to manage profiles, submit information, and access benchmarking reports.
- Centralised Administration: Provided dedicated tools for managing users, submissions, and reporting periods.
- Structured Reporting: Established benchmarking and performance analysis capabilities supported by Power BI integration and Excel exports.
- Role-Based Security: Implemented access controls for different user groups.
- Privacy-Conscious Data Handling: Supported confidentiality through anonymised peer datasets and controlled access.
Ongoing Enhancements
Following the initial implementation and pilot deployment, Solutionade continued supporting Promar’s platform through change requests and additional development.
Enhancements included:
- Improvements to field descriptions and user guidance.
- Reporting year and benchmarking year enhancements.
- Additional reporting and analytics capabilities.
- Restricted Arla user access to aggregated benchmark data.
Project Status
The Promar / Arla Benchmarking Portal project is currently in progress. Solutionade continues to support the platform through solution design, development, Power Platform implementation, portal and administration application development, and ongoing enhancements.
With Microsoft Power Pages, Dataverse, a Model-Driven App, Power BI, and Excel forming the core technology stack, the initiative remains focused on digitalising the farmer benchmarking process, strengthening self-service and administration, and providing a secure, scalable environment for data collection, analysis, and performance reporting.