2012 Trade Show Schedule, Peer Advisory Consulting, Service Center "Best Practices", New FBS Forms Page Goes "Live", Free February Webinar Schedule, Should I Install My Upgrade CD Now?
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 FarmSMART                                              January 2012 

In this Issue:

2012 Trade Show Schedule

Peer Advisory Consulting

Service Center "Best Practices"  

New FBS Forms Page Goes "Live"

Free February Webinar Schedule

Should I Install My Upgrade CD Now?

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Greetings!   

Mike Paustian
Tour Paustian Enterprises on YouTube

Ever wonder what you might be missing by using softwarethat's neither integrated nor automated?  Find out by touring a sixth-generation Iowa family farm that's making that critical transition through the analytical skills of Mike Paustian, Ph.D. 

Click here or the photo above to watch this video originally presented at the 2011 FBS User Conference.

We're looking forward to crossing paths with you at one or more of our upcoming trade shows

Become part of Howard and Barbara Doster's peer advisory couples

Our Best Practices series describes how and when to useservice centers.

The Q&A column helps you determine when to install your FBS upgrade CD

For more background on accounting and recordkeeping topics please visit our blog site

                                                                                      SDG

2012 Trade Show Schedule    

FBS Booth
The genuine FBS trade show booth. Accept no substitutes.

Trade shows are a great opportunity to catch up with old friends, discuss what's new on the farm and discover what's new with FBS SERVware.  Here's where we'll be "setting up camp" in the next six months: 

Jan. 31-Feb.1    Illinois Pork Expo, Peoria, IL (Booth 540)

February 15-18  National Farm Machinery Show, Louisville, KY (Booth 620A, South Hall)

March     1-3     Commodity Classic, Nashville, TN (Booth 941)

June        6-8    World Pork Expo, Des Moines, IA (Booth 735) 

Click here for venue location and booth number details.        

Peer Advisory Consulting from a Couple Without Peers  

Barbara and Howard Doster

Howard Doster, Ph.D., and his wife, Barabara, M.S.,  have instructed and coached countless students and producers in their careers at Purdue University.  Now "retired," they have turned their efforts to a process they pioneered in 1975.  Here is their invitation: 

We are now targeting our management education service to peer advisory couples in three groups: Farm couples with HS/college kids, other farm couples, plus land owners and their heirs. 

Select another couple you respect professionally, like personally, but don't compete with for land. Do our homework and commit to share your business organization, balance sheets, and budgets, as you monitor each other's physical/financial performances for at least two years. 

We want you to improve your own management performance as you and your peer couple monitor each other's management performance. Take our class, and start the process together. We introduced our first two couples to this process in 1975. They are still monitoring each other's performance, and both men have served as 'key man' on the other's farm in an emergency. 

To learn how you can participate, click here to visit their website.

Service Center "Best Practices"  Tractors

 Editor's noteThis article continues a new series on the "best practices" FBS users have developed to improve effectiveness, efficiency, internal control and compliance from their information system.  

In prior issues we've covered Production and Marketing Centers which encompass the costs, revenues and activities directly associated with the "manufactured" products on a farm (i.e. crops and/or livestock). Most accounting transactions, however, cannot be directly assigned to either a production or marketing center. That's why Services Centers are necessary. 

Service Centers are the smallest management segments in your business. (FBS refers to them as "S" Centers.) They are used 1) when expenses cannot be practically coded directly to a production center or 2) when it's beneficial to track costs, revenues and possibly quantities in a unique category. 

Here are some examples of popular service centers along with suggested prefix codes and explanations. 

0 Unallocated/Offset. This should always be the first center on the list. Used strictly for purchasing inputs going into an FBS inventory module and in the "background" for bank account transactions.
EQ____ Major equipment or vehicles. Track repairs, service items, depreciation and even asset values.

EP____ Employees. Track wages, withholdings and benefits for individual employees. (Not required if these details are maintained in payroll module.)

F___ Fuel and U___ Utilities. Track expenses by location. (Not required if using FBS fuel inventory system.)
L___ Loans. Ties liability balance and interest expense together in the FBS Loan Report.

 S___ Shop/Maintenance. Center code for miscellaneous supplies that can't directly be assigned to equipment or facilities. 

20121 Hedges. Attribute commissions and profit/loss to specific marketing period. ("20121" indicates expenses and P&L are assigned to the first quarter of 2012.) 

NMI Needs More Information. Temporary center in which to "park" transactions that require research to complete. Always closed out at the end of the accounting period, normally by changing this center to the appropriate one. 

The codes provided are only suggestions, but normally you'll want them as long as possible (up to 6 characters) so they are always sorted to the bottom of the center pick list allowing easy selection of more frequently-recorded production and marketing centers. The exception is "Unallocated/Offset" which should always appear first on your center pick list (but never used as a "catch-all!"). 

Service centers are truly valuable for creating management detail. For meaningful cost and business analysis they need to be linked to products and activities. We'll cover this process in upcoming newsletters.

New FBS Forms Page Goes "Live"
FBS Forms Web Page
Click above to order forms for your FBS Software.
In our continued effort to make your FBS experience more interactive and "frictionless," we are pleased to anounce a new "one stop" website for ordering checks, forms and supplies you need every day.  
To access this site, click here, the image above, the link in the Notifications window on your FBS 8.12 or 10.1 home page or go tohttp://www.fbssystemsforms.com.
Free February Webinar Schedule 
Webinar Screen
Crop Reporting, February 6  
LifeCycle Budgeting, February 13  
Accounting Basics, February 20 
Smart Feeder Reports
, February 28 

All webinars run between 10:00 am and 11:00 am CST.  To register, e-mail support@fbssystems.com by 9:00 am CST on the day of the webinar.

Q&A of the Month--Should I Install My Upgrade CD Now? 
Sarah Dixon
Sarah Dixon, FBS Technical Services Manager.

Q.   I received my FBS update CD last year and am now done with my 2011 input. Should I go ahead and install the update now or will it affect my 2011 books? 

A.  Our updates are safe to install when you receive the CD no matter where you are at in your bookkeeping. The update will only affect program files, never data files and will never alter your data.  Most changes to the FBS software are "behind" the scene. This year you
will see a new picture on the home screen (if you don't have your own picture there already), a new "news" center at the bottom of the picture, tabs instead of +/- to expand reports and entry options and the top bar will say Top ManAGement Series 8.12.

Over the past two years if you have maintained your service agreements and have been diligent at updating your FBS software through the Internet you are already running the newest version of FBS so there's no reason to install from the CD. However, keep it handy just in case you get a new computer or have your hard drive cleaned before the next FBS version is shipped to you.
 
          Sincerely,

          FBS Systems

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