AGDATA

AGDATA
Aerial view of green Australian farmland with rolling hills and round hay bales
Phoenix by AGDATA · Farm management software · Australia

AGDATA

A complete revamp of a category-defining farm platform — online, mobile and rebuilt for the paddock.
01 — Project brief
Project
Phoenix Online (AGDATA)
Type
Product revamp · web + mobile
Contributor
Ishanka Munasinghe
My role
UX · UI · Design system

Farm software, reborn for the field.

Phoenix by AGDATA is the software a large slice of Australian agriculture runs on — a modular suite covering the whole rural production system, from financials, budgets and payroll through to livestock, cropping and mapping. It has been trusted by producers since the 1990s.

The brief was a complete revamp of that long-established product: bring it online, modernise the experience, and add new and improved features — without losing the depth that made farmers choose it over generic accounting tools. I worked across the suite on the UX, UI and a unifying design language for Phoenix Online and the Phoenix Live mobile app.

Phoenix dashboard
Phoenix Online · production & financial insight in one view
02 — Challenges
THE TENSIONS

Revamping software a whole industry depends on means changing the engine while it's running.

01

What does a 30-year product become online?

02

How do you cover the whole farm — soil to BAS?

03

How do you work where there's no signal?

Imagine your whole operation — every paddock, mob and dollar — in one system, online or out in the back paddock.

02 · 01

The state of farm software.

Most producers are pushed toward generic accounting tools — Xero, QuickBooks, spreadsheets — that speak the language of an accountant, not a farmer. They don't know what a mob, a paddock or a pack-run is, and they break down when the work moves outside.

Phoenix's advantage is the opposite: it was built for agriculture and covers the entire production system. The revamp's job was to carry that depth into a modern, online experience that still works where the internet doesn't.

Ops Centre map with layer controls
02 · 02

What if the whole farm lived in one place?

Integratedfinancials → summary
Historyuser location tracking
Visualinsight at a glance
Livestockhistory and live tracking
HERITAGE → REBIRTH

A product with three decades behind it.

1990s

Desktop Phoenix

The ag-specific farm accounting & production suite producers adopt and stay with for decades.

2000s

The whole system

Financials, livestock, cropping and mapping grow into one integrated rural platform.

2020s

Phoenix Live

The field companion — capture livestock, cropping, mapping and documents offline, anywhere.

Now

Phoenix Online

The complete revamp: one modern web experience, rebuilt and extended. ← this work.

02 · 03

Farm software landscape.

Generic accounting tools sit in the office and stop at the books. Point solutions handle one job — a mapping app, a livestock app — but don't talk to each other.

Phoenix targets the hard middle: agriculture-specific and whole-of-farm, reaching from the financial office all the way out to the paddock.

Generic Ag-specific Whole-of-farm Single job Xero · QuickBooks Spreadsheets Single-job ag apps Phoenix
02 · 04

For producers who want…

+Whole-of-farm

One place for finances and production — not five disconnected tools.

+Less double-entry

Bank feeds and integrated data so the same number isn't typed twice.

+Work anywhere

Capture in the paddock with no signal; sync when it returns.

+Compliance, simplified

BAS, fuel tax credits and livestock records that hold up at audit.

+Their language

Mobs, paddocks, pack-runs — terms a farmer uses, not an accountant.

+Shared access

Let the accountant and bank manager in, without handing over the keys.

🚜
TARGET USER · COMPOSITE

The mixed-enterprise producer

Runs cropping plus cattle and sheep across properties in regional Australia, often a family operation with patchy connectivity. Wants up-to-date financials they can share with an accountant, livestock numbers on their phone, and one system that finally speaks farming — replacing the spreadsheet sprawl and the generic accounting tool that never quite fit.

A complete farm-management platform — rebuilt for online, and built for the paddock.

Two surfaces, one Phoenix: the office and the field.
SURFACE 01

Phoenix Online

The full suite on the web — financials, production, mapping and insight — redesigned around clarity and a consistent component language across every module.

SURFACE 02

Phoenix Live

The mobile field app — record livestock, cropping, mapping, weather and documents on the go, designed to work fully offline and sync when there's signal.

04 — One integrated suite

Everything the farm needs, orbiting one platform.

Phoenix's whole premise is integration — modules that share data instead of fighting it. Select a module to see how it was rebuilt.

Phoenix
05 — The screens

The revamp, in detail.

Real surfaces from across Phoenix Online and Phoenix Live. Click any to view full size.

06 — Reflection

Where the revamp goes next.

Honest next steps for a platform this broad:

Test with real producers

Field sessions on-farm — in utes, sheds and paddocks — to validate the offline flows where they actually happen.

Harden offline sync

The hardest, most valuable problem: dependable capture and conflict-free sync across patchy rural connectivity.

Finish the module set

Carry the same component system through Financials, Budgets, Payroll, Livestock and Cropping for full parity.

Accessibility & density

Audit contrast, target size and keyboard paths across the data-heavy screens that power day-to-day work.

From the books
to the back paddock.

End of case study
Ishanka Munasinghe

Phoenix Online — a full revamp of AGDATA's long-established farm management software, spanning UX, UI and a unifying design language across the Phoenix Online web platform and Phoenix Live mobile app.

UX · UI · Design System
Client project · AGDATA
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Phoenix Online was designed for AGDATA. Phoenix, Phoenix Live, AGDATA and all related names and trademarks belong to their owner; this case study documents my design contribution. Company facts referenced from agdata.com.au.

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