Farm Futures Business Summit, FBS user survey results, Trade show calendar, FBS development news, Linking VFDs to FBS
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 FarmSMART                                                  January 2017 

In this Issue:

Farm Futures Business Summit

FBS User Survey

Trade Show Calendar

FBS Development News

February Free Webinars

Q&A:  Linking VFDs in FBS 

Five Ways FBS Prepares and Protects

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Click here to learn about the Pork Profit Center Dashboard
 
   
 
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FBS's Mike Boggs dives into the data pool with Cropzilla, Deere and Pioneer at the 
2017 Farm Futures Business Summit.

 Dear Friend,

Thanks to you subscribers who attended the Farm Futures Business Summit in Bettendorf, Iowa earlier this month.  We were impressed with your financial savvy and goals as much as we were with the world-class speakers like Boehlje, Klinefelter, Kohl and Wittman.  We also appreciated the opportunity for FBS director of professional services Mike Boggs to team with FBS power user Mike Paustian in the panel discussion "Should you dive into the farm data pool?" moderated by Farm Industry News editor Willie Vogt.  Boggs emphasized that the only practical way most operations can achieve their ultimate goal of management (cost) accounting is through integrated technology augmented by accounting support.

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 Mike Paustian and Mike Boggs of the "Mike & Mike Show" at the Farm Futures Summit.  

Speaking of goals, we're reporting this month on why farmers choose FBS software based on a recent survey.

Also in this month's FarmSmart:

  • Why do you use FBS.
  • Trade show calendar.
  • FBS Development News.
  • February free webinars.
  • Link to recorded webinars.
  • Link VFDs in FBS.
  • How FBS prepares and protects.                                                                                                                                                                                                 SDG

 

 


Why Do You Use FBS?

This month we conducted an online SurveyMonkey poll of our users entitled, "How I Use FBS Software."  In this issue we'll address the first question we asked, "Why do you use FBS Software?"  We broke the answers into four groups based on support plans.

Basic Support
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Priority Support
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VIP Support
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Corporate Support
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 Summary:

  • The #1 reason for Basic and Priority users choose FBS is that it's "designed for agriculture."  It's the second most important reason for VIP users.
  • "Cost accounting" is the #1 reason for VIP users and tied for second place with Basic and Priority users.
  • Not surprisingly, "Integration" is the next most important objective for Priority and VIP users.
  • "Interfaces with outside sources" (field monitors, scales, feed mills, packers, etc.) is particularly critical for Priority users.
  • All support groups identified "handles multiple businesses" as a significant reason for using FBS.
  • Corporate users balanced these other goals with "flexibility" and "support."

Keep in mind that this question encapsulates our users' intentions behind selecting FBS software.  Next month we're going to transition from "why do you use FBS?" to "how do you (actually) use FBS?"

Thanks to all those who participated in this survey.  We take your "votes" and comments seriously.


Trade Show Calendar

Please join us for one or more of these national trade shows:

Date Show Location Booth#
February 15-17 NFMS17.jpg Louisville, KY 1009
West Wing
March 2-4 Commodity Classic2016.jpg San Antonio, TX 2811
June 7-9 World Pork Expo.jpg Des Moines, IA V134

 

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Martin Traviolia, Ph.D.
Director of Development

FBS Development News

In the 4th quarter of 2016 we made significant progress in addressing Windows Server stability issues.  As we noted at the User Conference, we have been seeing strange behavior with mapped drives, particularly on Windows Server 2012.

As a first step, in October we released Version 11.01 with the JET 4.0 database upgrade. This version of JET is part of Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10; which should reduce issues with database file corruption.

Next we spent many weeks of effort modifying Version 11.01 to support Windows UAC (User Account Control).  Microsoft introduced UAC with Windows Vista. They supported applications for earlier versions of Windows by having invisible, per-user versions of some directories.  With our support for UAC, we have eliminated scenarios where two FBS users on a Windows Server could look in the same folder and not see the same files.

Last, but not least, we were able to duplicate a significant Windows Server networking issue in-house and fix it.  Starting with Windows Server 2008 Microsoft has been updating its SMB (Server Message Block) protocol to improve its performance.  One change Microsoft made was to keep a copy of shared files on the client PC.  When the client PC's copy and the Windows Server's shared folder get out of sync, very strange things can happen.  The latest FBS installation/upgrade disks, distributed at the end of year, have the option to disable this feature. This forces the client PC to always retrieve the files from the shared folder.

With all of these changes in FBS, the first two weeks of January were spent addressing defects that got by us and were found by customers.  We apologize for the delays this introduced in some customer's activities.  We expect the increased system stability to pay off in the long run.

We are looking forward to the rest of the first quarter. We are excited to get started on speeding up reports.  We think substantial speed ups are possible. Some customers have already reported speed ups from the JET 4.0 database upgrade, but we hope to do much better.


February Free Webinars
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February  6:  VFD linking.
February 13:  Payroll options in FBS.
February 20:  Review of Cost/Profit Centers.
February 27:  Review of Ledger Accounts.
All webinars run between 1:00 pm and 2:00 pm CST.   

To register, e-mail support@fbssystems.com by 12:00 pm CDT on the day of the webinar.
 
NEW:  Catch up on the webinars you've missed by watching them on the Webinar page of our website.

 
Q&A of the Month:  Linking VFDs in FBS
Sarah_Dixon
Sarah Dixon, FBS Sales and Support Coordinator

Q.  I saw in the newsletter that there's a new function to link Veterinary Feed Directives to active feeding groups, but I don't see that feature when I go to active groups.  Why don't I have that feature? 

A.  When the December newsletter went out that update had not been released yet.  Now it's available to use if you have 1) Group Tracking, 2) Scanner Interface and 3) are running the most current update to FBS Version 11.01.   (Agcompass users are still running Version 8.16 as of the day I am writing this (1/30/2017) but should soon be updated to version 11.01).  

There's only one more thing you need to do to activate this tool and that's to create a folder called VFD under your data directory.  Then you're ready to go!  Here's a quick video showing you how it works.   You can also join me on February 6th at 1:00 pm for a quick webinar on linking VFD's.

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Linked VFDs in the Smart Feeder Group Setup screen.

 


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