How do companies and individuals who develop produce varieties with Intellectual Property (IP) manage and coordinate them globally?  How do they keep track of evaluations, shipping records, mapping of evaluation trees, and IP progress, especially across national borders?

The Associated International Group of Nurseries, (AIGN®) recognized the need for such a system and has spent more than 20 years developing and improving the program they named Hertha™.  Hertha™ was launched in the mid 90’s as a means for the members of AIGN to communicate, collaborate and share information about cultivars they test and manage.

Now, it is a full-featured application that can assist both large- and small-scale breeders and contract managers oversee their new, valuable varieties.  Hertha™ is never static. It is updated on an ongoing basis to meet ever changing new requirements.  Hertha™ includes many features necessary to properly evaluate and oversee new varieties such as license tracking, shipment tracking, contract management, field test-site mapping, evaluation recording, and watch lists. It also includes an offline field evaluation tool available for use on smart phones and tablets.

The Hertha™ database system has been a valuable tool for the AIGN® membership, and now, the company has made the decision to offer the benefits of this comprehensive program to others in the industry. In doing so, they hope to expand its usability with potentially new ideas.

Features and Benefits of the Hertha™ Database System

• No software to install, the system uses any one of several browsers such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.
• Multi-level security at both the screen form and data level
• Tracks an unlimited number of varieties in any number of species
• Tracks shipping of test material with contract generation
• Tracks Trademark and Patent information and associated documents
• Tracks Licensee/Sub-licensee information along with associated contracts
• Advanced search capabilities for evaluations and varieties
• Flexible reporting capabilities with output in PDF format so reports can be printed or emailed
• Currently supports 14 different species
• Evaluation fields are extensible
• Both UPOV and Standard evaluations are supported
• Evaluations differ by species
• Offline evaluation entry tool
• Ability to track evaluation site maps with GPS coordinates for individual sites or trees
• Ability to input an unlimited number of contracts (i.e. testing agreements, etc.) and print these on demand
• Attach an unlimited number of pictures and technical documents to a variety
• Companies can store private information or share information with others on a variety by variety basis
• An extensive set of storage protocols for post-harvest testing can be used or added as necessary
• Tracks and displays graphical family tree for varieties
• Capable of working in many languages