SUCCESSFUL FARMING LAUNCHES MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING SERIES WITH FBS SUCCESS STORIES
 |
 |
| Randy
Gangwish uses FBS e.CLIPSE
to track 80 seed production cost centers. |
Veterinarian
Andy Schweitzer and hog production supervisor Steve Roth rely
on integrated production and financial data at Burkey Farms. |
As announced at the
2007 FBS User Conference, (August
2007 efarmsmart newsletter)
Successful Farming Magazine Business Editor Dan Looker has begun a series
of stories of on-farm applications of managerial accounting. The
first two feature three FBS e.CLIPSE
clients.
 |
| Ron Swanson
addresses the FBS User Conference. |
In the introductory story, "Finding
Financial Fuel," past Farm
Financial Standards Council president Ron Swanson describes the
managerial accounting system he's put in place to secure the future of
his Iowa grain farm and demonstrate the potential for others.
The follow-up article, "Patience
Earns Results,", Looker visits two Nebraska farms to report how
they use FBS e.CLIPSE
managerial accounting to manage seed corn production, general crops and
farrow-to-finish hog pork production.
We also encourage you to read Editor Looker's comments, "A
Little Less Euphoria," as he encourages producers to begin tracking
the (increasing) cost side of their business with managerial accounting.
Finally, there's a great opportunity to learn first-hand what managerial accounting can do in your operation through these series of seminars sponsored by Asgrow and featuring management consultant and "The Executive Program for Agriculture Producers" (TEPAP) instructor Dick Wittman.
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Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, January 28, 2008 |
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i wireless Center, Moline, Illinois, January 29, 2008 |
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Purdue Agriculture, West Lafayette, Indiana, January 30, 2008 |
For more information click on "Super
Powering Profits."
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of Page
VERSION 7.9: "STACKED" IN YOUR FAVOR
For many providentially-blessed Corn Belt farmers, 2007 will go down as the "Year of the Yield." Not just record yields, but eye-popping performance. While not everyone received the timely rains required for a record, all who invested in "stacked trait" seed biotechnology benefited to some degree.
What's this have to do with software? Here are some parallels to consider:
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CDs and seed bags may look the same on the outside |
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Costs vary widely, based on proprietary, performance-enhancing traits |
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You get what you (grudgingly) pay for |
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Users "love" their "ag software" suppliers almost as much as they "love" their "life science" suppliers |
There are differences. Biotechnologies generally:
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Are size-neutral and don't require much training or specialization to adopt |
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Are quick and easy to implement and evaluate |
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Require you to make a new purchasing decision each year |
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Are ultimately a strategy for transferring risk from producer to supplier in exchange for independence (similar to a one-year franchise) |
Information technologies, on the other hand:
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Require scale, specialization, training and follow-through to implement successfully |
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Are a long-term, "soft" investment with no immediate payoff ("See Patience Earns Results") |
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Are ultimately a means to gain a strategic advantage over competitors that aren't willing or able to differentiate themselves |
This month we begin releasing our 9th Windows upgrade-Version
7.9-to Corporate and VIP TiMEsavr Service Agreement clients. Priority
subscribers will receive there CDs in November and Basic subscribers in
December. All will benefit from these "stacked traits"
unique to FBS SeRVware:
GENERAL CHANGES
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Microsoft Vista® Compatible |
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Added option to email data save (IF zip file) to 2 different email addresses |
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Enhanced multiuser versions |
Setup
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Added ability preference to copy setup files between companies® Compatible |
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Added preference to allow for thicker border on Vista windows |
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Added preference to "push" Ledger Account and Center changes between companies (Requires Inter-Company Module) |
Detail Reports
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Can re-sort reports in descending order of column data by left-clicking on last row |
TRANSACTION PLUS ACCOUNTING
Setup
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Added Purchase Order Number settings to Accounting General Information screen |
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Added
labor allocation pool (Uses accumulated hours to allocate costs-requires
e.CLIPSE) |
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Can
specify inactive date for type N (Consolidating) Center (Affects
e.CLIPSE
allocations) |
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Ledger Account data conversion removes duplicate accounts |
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Added "Quick Start" option for first time users |
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Can copy single Income Statement or Balance Sheet template between companies |
General Input
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Changed Select Input Macro to only display current entry type (Check, Deposit, A/P, A/R, Journal Entry) |
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Can save Journal type (Cash/Tax, Accrual, Management, Market) with input macro |
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Added routine to speed search for vendor when printing checks |
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Improved error trapping on vendor file during Input/Edit |
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Added preference to set date cleared on journal entries (for bank balance transfers) |
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Added Purchase Order Number column to Accounting Import/Export |
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Can move drugs inventories between Centers using Journal Entries |
Accounts Payable / Receivable Input
 |
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Added warning when A/P or A/R accounts not properly defined under Accounting | General Information setup |
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Added preference to disable A/P and A/R Input screen |
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Added Purchase Order Number to A/P and A/R records |
Document Management
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Added button to Accounting edit screen to display linked invoices |
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Scanner interface now removes link (so won't try to link 2 invoices to the same entry) when saving a scanned invoice |
Accounts Payable / Receivable Reports
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Invoice Layout: Added Due Date |
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Aging Report: Changed drill down when including payments to group by invoice and distinguish invoices from payment |
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Detail Reports: |
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• |
Added column to flag vendors not in vendor setup or correct type |
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• |
Added Purchase Order # |
Check Printing
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Added valid paper bins on Select Check Printer screen |
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Added routine to speed search for vendor when printing checks |
General Reports
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Added preference to include report parameters when sending reports to clipboard |
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Bank Account Summary changed signs for beginning / ending balances for liability bank accounts |
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Loan Report |
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• |
Split term debt into columns due <12 and > 12 months |
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• |
Added
option to zero suppress recap |
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1099 forms: added 2006-Interest Income |
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Center Report: F11 clipboard export now includes center code |
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Contract
History Report: added option to include positions
of contracts with no activity |
Consolidated Cost Analysis
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Can set column types (numeric/ text) in ledger comparison export routine |
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Added source /destination center and CCA report row to drill down |
User-Defined Report
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Press from report to open new tab-based Export screen |
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Select up to 10 sort fields in Recap tab to build pivot tables |
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Purchase Order Number column added to main report |
Ledger Reports
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Ledger Detail: |
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• |
Added ledger account description |
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• |
F11 clipboard export now includes ledger number |
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| • |
Trial Balance added option to include prior year's ending balance date cash exchanged |
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Account Summary added LifeCycle Budget dollar-quantity-unit price variances |
Financial Statements
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| • |
Added switch to control Inventory Register usage on Balance Sheet |
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Added ability to hide Income Statement and Balance Sheet report lines |
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Added ** NO TOTALS** (suppress totals by ledger account class) to IS and BS |
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Changed IS total line to set sign based on first detail line included instead of first detail line with data |
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Added preference to set BS total line descriptions |
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Added eliminations column for consolidated statements* |
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* Requires Inter-Company Module |
Commercial Feed Mill Interface
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Now supports 24 feed mill formats |
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Added Contract number |
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Added ration support for Vertical Software™ |
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Support multiple batches of feed in Land O' Lakes' tickets |
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Can save invoices as journal entries |
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New preference to assign offsetting centers for journal entries |
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Feed Mill Manager new options: |
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• |
Use FMM Date Posted |
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Disable Guaranteed Rations |
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Multiple Bin Locations, Same Ticket |
CROP AUDIT PLUS
Setup / Input / Edit
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Added calculator to seed, chemicals, fertilizer and field setup |
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Expanded FSA Number to 20 characters |
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Added second unit to crop field operations |
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Can select field operation units during data entry |
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| Converts Precision Field Data to FBS Precision Financial Records |
| Imports application and yield data from a wide range of mapping and precision farming technologies, including: |
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Ag Leader |
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GreenStarB |
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CNH |
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AGCO |
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Trimble |
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Farm Works |
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Shapefile |
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SST Summit* |
| *SST option available Q1 2008 |
Reports
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New Crop Task Report |
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• |
Groups operation/application data by center, field, date, acres |
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• |
Displays entry and edit date |
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Crop Inventory / Matrix Reports |
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• |
Uses LOCM market price by project if they exist |
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• |
Includes beginning inventory line in detail section if detail value not zero |
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• |
Will not flag inventory problems if subtraction adjustment was used to zero inventory |
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Crop History added columns for production / marketing projects |
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Crop Projects |
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Added project open/closed dates to drill down |
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Removed assets and liabilities |
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Added error report |
Cost Analysis / e.CLIPSE
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Added option to roll marketing projects back to original production projects |
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Increased period to look back for inactive marketing projects |
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Changed standard cost calculation to recognize consolidating centers inactive date |
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Saves project in landlord entry |
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Checks that field operation type is set |
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Excludes crop/livestock purchase/sale accounts from expenses |
SMART FEEDER
Setup / Input / Edit
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| Setup |
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Added Feeding Lower of Cost/Market to setup |
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Updated Smart Feeder planning for Life Cycle Budget |
| Input |
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General Input displays average weight to 2 decimal places |
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Added ability to edit feeding group January 1 inventory records |
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Feeding Rollover handles fractional head |
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When editing Feed Ingredient or Drugs purchased through Smart Feeder, displays item number in list of last 10 entries |
| Batch Feeding |
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Can update batch ration number when built from current ration |
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Increased feeding limits to 40 ingredients/33 pens |
| Smart Feeder CE |
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New Livestock and Drug Inventory Reports |
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New multi-farm versions |
Farm Feed Mill Interface
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Now supports 11 mill formats |
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Added transfer report |
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Agtronix changes |
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• |
Saves split hopper as first ingredient If ration not found |
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• |
Always maps ration |
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Supports Version 3 |
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Farm Office Pro option to use $ value from mill record |
General Reports
 |
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Changed display in group report drill-downs for moved in to indicate if movement is for weaned pigs |
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Open Group Report can include closed groups |
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Ingredient Summary added purchase units column |
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Death Loss Report switches |
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Exclude closed groups |
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Suppress totals by location |
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Drug Inventory Report will recap by Center (optional) |
User Defined Report
New Lines
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Group Days Open |
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Sub field based on live weight produced |
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4 more lines for head/weight for sales premium |
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First Purchase / Sale Date |
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Minimum/Maximum Days on Feed use average value in Total column |
Cost Analysis
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New preference to value feed using value of feeding record (this will significantly speed up processing but should only be done if all feed and drug usage is buy & dispense) |
Feeding e.CLIPSE
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Keeps inactive N centers in inventory valuation setup |
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Changed standard cost calculation to recognize inactive date on consolidating centers |
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If cost out is not zero, but cost in is, now save zero value wip change entry |
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PigCHAMP Care 3000 interface available Q1 2008 |
AUTOMATED DASHBOARD
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Added switch to select report macro time period |
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Added switch to keep total column |
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Added hot key (F10) to directly edit report macros |
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New statistical functions to create SPC charts |
SMART BREEDER
Input
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Can convert PigCHAMP Care 3000 files |
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Can restrict breeding center to user |
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New preference to select sows for farrowing/weaning by date when processing sows by group |
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Added 30/50/80 day pregnancy check to sow record edit |
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During mating input, AI boar #1 now defaults to AI |
Reports
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New Action Lists |
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New Breeding Technician Report |
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4" x 6" Sow Cards can print as 2 or 3 per page |
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Production Summary (Performance Monitor) lines: |
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Ending female inventory |
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Gilts added |
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New Lactation Distribution |
NEW LIFECYCLE™ BUDGET
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With
LifeCycle Budget you can drill down to an account (such as fuel)
and globally adjust quantities or unit prices, with the results
flowing directly to your projected cash flow, income statement
and balance sheet
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| LifeCycle Budget is an all-new interactive planning and performance monitoring platform designed to tightly integrate with your FBS management information system. |
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No additional setup required-builds directly from your FBS ledger accounts, centers, loans and management definitions |
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Not a spreadsheet, but a flexible, double-entry database to mirror and monitor your business practices every day |
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Rapid crop planning tied to Crop Audit input and crop inventories |
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Rolling feed and livestock projections from Smart Feeder |
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Instantly adjust quantities or prices |
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Loan amortization and machinery replacement schedules |
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Clone and maintain concurrent weather and price scenarios |
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Unit-based monitoring with accounting |
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Forecasts roll through multiple years (i.e. the Life Cycle) |
| • |
Desktop version: $995.00 Hosted version: $299.00/year |
| To activate a FREE evaluation copy of LCB, click on Input | Budgets |LifeCycle from your FBS 7.9 menu. |
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of Page
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SOFTWARE
Q&A – WITH Q'S FROM YOU, OUR CLIENTS!
Send
us your questions/problems–be they short, long, simple or downright
frustratin'!–about SeRVware
and we'll handle them right "on the air" for the benefit of all.
|
Q.
|
For
some reason it seems to be taking longer and longer to run
reports in FBS. We are running on a server. Do
you know of any reasons for this? Is there any
way to speed up the amount of time it takes to load a report? The
computers themselves are not running slower, just FBS. It
seemed to taking longer every week since we switched to a
server. Now I wait about 1 to 2 minutes to run
a detail inventory report or ingredient summary. Can
you give me any suggestions on how to speed this up? |
| A.
|
If configured properly, FBS on a server will run just as fast, if not faster than on a local machine. The Detail Inventory Report should only require a few seconds to run while the Ingredient Summary will be dependent on the number of records (affected by time of year) and the report switch settings.
Let's start with your computer "environment." You say your computers are "not running slower, just FBS." Most likely you're referring to "disk IO" (input/output) performance because FBS is probably your only serious database program (as compared to Excel and Word.) Here are some user-accessible "housekeeping" steps we recommend:
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| •: |
Run disk clean-up on the server. (See System tools) |
| •: |
Using Windows Explorer go to each user's folder and select the "cookies" folder. Delete the cookie files. Also in each user's folder select the Local Settings |Temp | Temporary Internet Files and delete those files. You may have to edit the view options to see the hidden files. (In Windows Explorer choose Tools | Folder Options | View tab. Choose to display hidden files and folders. Also check "Display the Contents of System Folders".) |
| •: |
Check the file fragmentation level of the server drive and run defrag on a regular basis. See System tools.) |
| •: |
Re-Index the FBS files. (From the main program screen select Utilities | Recover Bad Data.) |
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Have your IT consultant check the bandwidth of the local network. There are a number of ways professionals can optimize server performance. We recommend they contact support@fbssystems.com with their findings. Note that a "G" wireless network connection will provide half the bandwidth of a standard 100 MbS Ethernet cable. A "B" wireless connection won't work acceptably. |
To speed up Feeding
Reports (closeouts, feed tickets, etc.) that include feed values,
you can double or triple the speed by setting the "SF Feed Is Buy
& Dispense" line* in Preferences to "Yes." This bypasses the weighted
average feed inventory calculations and should only be selected
if you are not feeding from pre-purchased inventories. (If you are
feeding from inventories you can select "Value Feed Records" from
the Feeding Input screen to gain the same performance boost, but
you must remember to revalue feed records new or edited periods
before running feeding reports.
*The "SF Feed Is Buy & Dispense" preference works just like the "Value on Application" setting and overrides the slower "From Purchases" logic.
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Page
sales@fbssystems.com
800.437.7638
|
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