When Dakota State University cyber operations major Austin Kaiser was home one weekend in Faulkton, South Dakota, he overheard his parents and their friends, Troy and Stacy Hadrick, discussing a concern with their ranch-to-table business.

Hadrick Ranch, a fifth-generation ranching operation led by Troy and Stacy, has several restaurant partners in South Dakota that feature Hadrick Ranch beef.

As business has grown, however, a problem arose with inventory management. Specifically, keeping track of what was available for their partners to feature in restaurants. Kaiser quickly mentioned an interest in helping solve the problem and requested to visit the ranch.

At the time, they were manually tracking inventory, which led to inefficient handling of customer orders and invoices. Kaiser then developed technical solutions for their needs.

He spent about seven months completing the project, developing an app that tracks inventory, weights, and freezer locations, tracks transaction and customer order records, and has automatic PDF invoice generation.

He accomplished this all while balancing four senior-level undergraduate courses, one master’s course, and teaching responsibilities as an adjunct instructor.

Kaiser hopes to expand the system to help other farmers or small businesses manage inventory and operations.

He is currently in his senior year of a cyber operations degree, while also in the process of earning his master’s degree in artificial intelligence, and working as an adjunct instructor.