Building the registry: farms, plots, and infrastructure
The starting point in IASO is a georegistry: a structured, geographic map of every actor and location in the supply chain. For a coffee chain, this typically covers countries, regions, districts, cooperatives, unions, washing stations, collection points, farms, and plots. This is completely configurable depending on the local context.
Plots are mapped as polygons in IASO, giving accurate field boundaries rather than a single GPS point. Farms and processing infrastructure are positioned within the administrative hierarchy. This registry becomes the backbone of the system: forms are linked to it, users are scoped to their relevant geography, and all data collected in the field is automatically tied to the right location.
Where EUDR compliance is required, the plot-level GPS data in IASO can be cross-referenced with satellite imagery to verify deforestation-free origin.
Data collection across the chain
Once the registry is in place, data collection forms are attached to each level of the hierarchy. Forms are designed in Excel following the XLSForm standard and deployed to mobile devices to collect data both online and offline.
A few examples of what organisations typically collect along a coffee supply chain:
- At field level: Collect information on the type of bean that is grown, surface, linked farmer, year of establishment etc. All this information can be collected once as a baseline and afterwards updated as needed from the field.
- At collection points: daily deliveries linked to farmers and fields, with volumes and prices so you always have a clear view of what came in, when, and at what cost
Beyond these core steps, forms can cover payment confirmations, farmer registrations and many more.
QR codes printed on bags or lot labels can be scanned at any stage of the chain through the IASO mobile application, enabling physical tracking of batches as they move from collection point to washing station to dry mill.
Stock management
For washing stations or cooperatives managing physical inventory — inputs, packaging, equipment — IASO includes a stock management module. Incoming shipments are recorded on arrival. Transfers between sites are tracked and stock balances update automatically as forms are submitted.
What the system produces
After a full season of operation, IASO holds a structured record of the entire supply chain: every farmer and plot mapped, every delivery recorded and attributed, every lot traceable to its contributing farms. The data is exportable and can feed into dashboards, buyer reporting, or certification documentation.
