Case Studies / Ohio Soybean Council & Ohio Soybean Association
Agriculture
Government Solutions
Process Management
Web App Development
Switchbox replaced the Ohio Soybean Council's outdated Drupal intranet with a custom Ruby on Rails portal—enabling board members to manage multi-million dollar fund distributions from anywhere, slashing processing time from days to seconds, and delivering in 3 months on budget.
0+
Projects managed in the system
0
Active users
$0M
Dollars managed in 2015
0 months
Time to build
The Challenge
Fund management required remote accessibility
Discussions kicked off when an Ohio Soybean Council board member effectively articulated the central issue: ‘I need to be able to manage the distribution of millions of dollars of checkoff funds from my tractor, in the middle of my field, in the middle of the night, without a WiFi connection. Can you build us a custom project management portal that can do that?’
The Ohio Soybean Council manages significant funding for projects aimed at improving the profitability of Ohio’s soybean farmers. Their initial web portal, built on a custom Drupal platform, was outdated—with limitations in web printing, issues with numerous reports, and general UI/UX problems on newer browsers. The requirement for high-speed internet posed a challenge, especially during the busy planting and harvesting seasons.
Our Approach
Assessing Drupal and designing for the field
Switchbox partnered with the Ohio Soybean Council to assess their existing Drupal intranet system across both functionality and design dimensions. From this evaluation, Switchbox created interactive wireframes for staff review.
The architecture was designed to prioritize ease of data aggregation for remote board member access, with role-specific data views for each user type—enabling quick, informed decisions regardless of connectivity. The platform was scoped to replace paper-based processes and support team-wide collaboration.
What We Built
A Rails portal that simplifies data processing
Following stakeholder approval of the wireframes, Switchbox constructed the web portal using Ruby on Rails, responsive HTML, and PostgreSQL. A key focus was simplifying data aggregation for remote board member access.
Each user role received a tailored data view to facilitate quick, informed decisions. The platform enabled team-wide collaboration, replacing paper-based processes. The project launched successfully, on schedule and within budget, becoming an immediate asset to the organization.
The Results
Bulk processing slashed admin time
The integration of all previous projects into the new system ensured a seamless transition without any operational interruptions during the website migration.
The updated user interface significantly streamlined routine tasks, enabling bulk approvals and denials as well as rapid mass exports of projects—reducing processing time from days of manual effort to mere seconds.
This efficiency allows staff to dedicate less time to administrative duties and focus more on vendor collaboration. Switchbox has continued to provide ongoing website support and has further optimized several manual workflows since launch.
Scaling one experience across a lot of locations?
That is the kind of problem we like. Let's talk about what it could look like for you.
Start a Conversation