Biodiversity assessment calculator

Researchers had created an Excel workbook to try and make a survey with complex calculations, conditional logic and dynamic reporting. It was hard to manage, unwieldy to use and presented little opportunity for publication to collect data and provide personalised recommendations to users, as well as risks for the exposure of intellectual property contained.

LLMs were used to convert the work into requirements outlining the content and calculations, with control data sets for testing purposes. To ensure the calculations were human-readable for the researcher and easy to maintain, a YAML config was chosen for the calculations engine, ensuring no logic was stored in the UI.

The completed MVP application of the first tool, NZ Biodiversity Factor Residential, enables users to enter proposed design data to assess the biodiversity factor of planned developments and get recommendations for improvements.

It is being trialled with architects and engineers in professional and teaching environments, with rapid iteration happening where needed.