Software

Two products, both written out of our own fieldwork

Neither of these started as a product. Both started as the thing we needed on an engagement and could not buy — one for research teams drowning in spreadsheet reconciliation, one for distributors whose orders and deliveries lived in two different worlds.

A note on the names

MESRI is the organisation — Mekong Environmental and Social Research and Innovation. MESRI Data Hub is one of its products. They are often shortened the same way, so on this site the organisation is always MESRI and the product is always MESRI Data Hub or Data Hub, never just “MESRI”.

01 — The products

What each one does

MESRI Data HubField data → donor report In development

The evidence chain in one workspace. Pick a sector template, build the survey, deploy it to KoboToolbox with a QR code, sync the submissions back, validate them, chart them, and publish the report.

  • Who it is for — NGO programme teams, research teams, HR departments, anyone producing donor reports
  • Feeds on — KoboToolbox, ODK Collect, Google Forms, CSV and Excel, and paper forms keyed in by hand
  • Ends with — a validated dataset and a published report, in English or Khmer
Product site Live demo Pricing
Route PlanCall plan → delivered order Live

The distribution loop in one place. Reps follow a call plan and check in at each shop; every visit can raise a purchase order; orders group by area into delivery truck routes automatically.

  • Who it is for — Cambodian distributors and any team running reps against a route
  • Two lanes — Call Plan for sales visits, Delivery for the trucks, joined by the order
  • Ends with — a dispatched delivery route and a live picture of what happened today
Product site Live demo Pricing
02 — Which one

They rarely compete for the same job

If you are not sure which applies, the question is simple: are you trying to find something out, or trying to get something delivered?

  MESRI Data Hub Route Plan
The job Find something out and report it credibly Get the visit made and the order delivered
Primary user Programme, research and M&E staff Sales reps, dispatchers, distribution managers
Unit of work A survey round A day's route
Input Survey submissions, CSV, paper forms Shops, reps, a call plan
Output Validated dataset and a published report Purchase orders grouped into truck routes
Integrates with KoboToolbox, ODK Collect, Google Forms, Excel Runs standalone
Languages English & ភាសាខ្មែរ English & ភាសាខ្មែរ

Both product sites carry a full interactive demo that computes its results live — neither is a video or a “request a demo” form.

03 — In common

What both products assume about the field

They look nothing alike and solve different problems, but they were written by the same people under the same constraints.

The connection will drop

Field tools that need good wifi are office tools. Both products are built for the connectivity that actually exists on a provincial road, not the one in the demo.

Khmer is not a translation layer

Both ship bilingual English and Khmer, in the interface and in the output — not an afterthought bolted on for a launch.

The phone is the primary device

The person doing the work has a phone in one hand and something else in the other. Desktop is the review surface, not the working one.

Nobody re-keys anything

Every manual re-entry is a chance to introduce an error nobody will find. Both products exist to remove one of those steps.

Not sure which

Describe the process that keeps breaking

Tell us where the work currently falls apart and we will point you at the right product — or tell you that neither fits and what would.

Ask us Research & advisory