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Fairport Technologies News

June 2003

IN THIS ISSUE

» Welcome
» Roger's Ramblings
» PocketPAM - Palm Issues
» PocketPAM - PocketPC
» Pastures From Space
» PAM Version 4
» SID – Spray Information Diary
» MAX Pro News
» PAM - King in Turf Management
» IAR NEWS – Individual Animal Records in PAM
» Mobile DES News
» Dealer News
» In Closing

Welcome to all our new Fairport clients and those of you reading your first and our biggest ever Fairport News!
In the past few months we have been very busy in the office with all the new features going into PAM and the new products and product versions under development. We hope you enjoy reading about our activities.

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While these months have been relatively quiet in some respects, there have been many new developments. I had cause to travel to Adelaide for a day of meetings and to Sydney for two days of meetings. The purpose and outcome of these meetings is under wraps at this stage but we hope to make some exciting announcements in the September newsletter ... so stay tuned!

While you are receiving this newsletter in the mail my wife and I will be in England checking out our sales prospects there and helping some new PAM users get acquainted with the product. Watch out for some photos in the September newsletter. On the way back we will be spending a few days in Thailand to attend some meetings. We hope to make announcements in September regarding this project as well.
The financial year just passed has been testing in many ways. Great progress is being made in South Africa and New Zealand and here in Australia, despite the drought, there have been good levels of sales and activity in most areas. We appreciate the excellent feedback we receive on a regular basis from many sectors of agriculture and horticulture.

Congratulations to Gavin and Christine Sargeant of Farmtek Australia (our Victorian and South Australian distributors based near Shepparton in Victoria) who recently announced the arrival of a son (William). In the months ahead we will say farewell to Gavin and Christine who are migrating to Canada. They have done a fantastic job for Fairport over the past few years. We hope we can replace them with people of equivalent enthusiasm and talent.

The upside of all this is that Fairport will have a fully skilled, ready made Canadian distributor!

Various projects are underway here at present. John Wan, who joined us on a full time basis this year (he had previously worked one day per week) has built DES and Pasture Watch (see later), and has done the revising and revamping of the PAM help file. He has also been adding new features to MAX Pro and has been building the “SID” program which is to be released soon. Please check out the SID and Max Pro article in this newsletter for more information on his progress.

In the months ahead (please don’t ask us for a date!) we should see the release of a PAM version which will interface with Ag-Data’s Phoenix and a pair of mapping programs for handheld computers (PocketPC and Palm).

As you may be able to tell from my ramblings, there are a number of very exciting things in the pipeline here at Fairport that are not quite ready to be made public. I anticipate that the September newsletter will make for very interesting reading.

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As many of our very patient PocketPAM clients will know, we have been forced to use a new development software version in house to cater for the new Palm OS 5.0 system that Palm are shipping with the new Tungsten T and other handheld computers. As a result of this we have encountered many (understatement!) new and unfortunate problems with our PocketPAM suite of products.

Therefore we must apologise for the problems many people have experienced with the new version. We are aware that we caused many people stress over this, especially during their seeding programs … We are also very grateful to the many people who gave us assistance in putting out the bush fires and getting the program stable and behaving properly.

While many people may have not yet upgraded to PocketPAM 4, many have. We are pleased to advise all people that the issues were all sorted out several weeks ago and you should upgrade to the most recent version (4.1).

Through our thorough testing and with the cooperation of Tim and Tanya Pannell from Nolba WA, we also made the entire system more reliable and robust than ever and are sure that you can all upgrade to 4.1 with confidence.

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In late May we released the Pocket PC version of FieldREX … the Paddock recommendations system that synchronises with PAM MultiClient. Paul Olsen did the entire job between support calls and has done a great job. The system was put to use immediately by Peter O’Laughlin and Steve Dixon and their Agvise group in southern Victoria.

As expected, we have already had some new wish list items with FieldREX and as usual we are happy to listen to your ideas.

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"Pastures from space" is a special research project involving the CSIRO, WA Department of Agriculture and the WA Department of Land Administration. They have developed models that use remote sensed data (satellite images) to determine pasture growth rates and predicted growth rates seven days ahead. The current feed on offer is also modelled. Earlier this year Steve Gheradi and Chris Oldham of the WA Department of Agriculture approached Fairport to develop software to enable farmers to easily obtain this data from an internet site and to display the data in a farmer-friendly and useful way.

The result of this is a program called “Pasture Watch”. Project pioneers have taken delivery of Pasture Watch, have installed it and are already making grazing pressure decisions from the graphs of pasture growth rates. The feedback has been excellent.

One key benefit of this system is that farmers can monitor the feed on offer in their individual paddocks from the comfort of their home. Last year the co-operators were getting regular emails of raw data (which was not much use to them) and specially adapted satellite images. While this was useful information it still left room for improvement. Hence Pasture Watch.

To illustrate the power of this technology, here is a good story from last year … one farmer co-operator was interstate for two weeks and obtained the satellite image of his property via the internet. He noticed on the image that the feed in one of his paddocks had “gotten away” … so he rang his father and asked him to move some cattle into it … Needless to say, his father was mystified as to how his son knew the feed had “gotten away” from 4000 Km away!

It is expected that this technology will eventually be commercially available. An exciting prospect.
To learn more log on to http://www.pgr.csiro.au or http://spatial.agric.wa.gov.au/foo/

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We finally released PAM Version 4 in early May. The feedback has been as good as we could have hoped for. Many people have upgraded to PAM QA 4 but due to the farm workloads at this time of the year most people haven’t had a chance to try out the new features. Already we have had people discovering new ways to use the features they have found in PAM 4 and a list of requests for added features.

Fairport Club Members should obtain the latest upgrade as several new things have been added including a revised, revamped and updated online help file.

Other new features:

• Agrimaster budget data export has been re-added to export data from the new look, new style PAM budgeting system

• Other Costs and Income – For many years people have asked for some way of entering cost items like “General Overheads”, cost of borrowing and the like into PAM for more accurate financial type reporting. Well ...it’s done. You can now also add your own list of non-production related income items. Look out for these under “Paddock Season View/ Tools / Season Costs. You can add as many income or cost items as you like and can enter the amounts in on a Farm basis (amounts will be apportioned to all paddocks on a pro-rata basis) or on a paddock by paddock basis.

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SID is yet another program under development here at Fairport. Designed to be used in vineyard and orchard situations to capture vital QA data, SID is still under wraps for now. More information on SID will be made public soon and we will tell you all about it in the September newsletter.

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MAX Pro (some of you might remember this Fairport product under code name “Maximise”) is our MAX program’s big brother. While it has all the functionality of MAX it does a whole lot more and is targeted at a much wider market. MAX Pro can be purchased as a standalone system or one that interfaces with the MYOB accounting program. When interfaced to MYOB, MAX Pro and MYOB share an inventory of parts and consumables, a client list and invoicing capabilities. As a standalone system MAX Pro does those things on its own. Several contracting operators have started using MAX Pro and the feedback has been great.

MAX Pro is a sophisticated but easy to use program for the serious operators. It is ideal for large farming enterprises, machinery operators, municipal councils, tour coach operators, trucking operators and the like … If you know someone like that why not tell them to give us call at Fairport for a demonstration. The MAX Pro “wish list” is growing but the following items were added recently:

• New “Outsourced Services” section for recording all services done on assets by other companies.
• Filtering of assets items in the service section.
• Keeping more information on the running cost of assets.
• Fuel rebate allocation on running costs.
• New enhanced user interface (look and feel).
• More user customizable settings.
• Enhanced Service reports

To find out more about MAX Pro, Click HERE

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Thanks to the hard work of Booth Technology and Sports Turf Technology in Western Australia, PAM has become something of a standard in the Turf Farming industry in Australia.

Large turf farms across Australia use PAM to monitor their production. Turf managers (that is parks boards, golf course managers and the like) are also in on the act. The large Burswood Park area in Perth City is managed by PAM as are the parks and sports reserves of a number of municipal councils.

If you know people in the turf farming or turf management industry, we would be pleased if you guided them to the Fairport website or to our distributors, for more information.

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Darren McGlenchy, one of our quiet achievers here at Fairport, has been busy adding some very nice features to the Individual Animal Records section of PAM since our last newsletter.
New features include:
• Quick Find – Start typing a Tag or animal Nickname and watch PAM locate your animals.
• User configurable family tree output. We had a request to hide and show certain items on the family tree … Well now you can choose whatever you like.
• Now any mob (even mobs created before upgrading to IAR) can have individually identified animals in them
• Trait Browser – This amazing screen enables you to rank animals by whatever trait or combination of traits you like. You can : -
o create your own indexes using the formula builder,
o save your user defined formulae for later,
o generate a Daily Live Weight Gain column using the powerful formula builder,
o filter a list of animals by percentage (eg. Show me the top 10%, bottom 5%) for a selected trait.
o print lists of animals and any selected traits
o sort your animal listing by any trait or combination of traits
o and more …

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Many people have taken advantage of this free (to Fairport Club Members) program that enables you to enter data into mobile computers like Zynx (KEE Technology) computers, Farmlap (Farmscan) computers and even laptops.

Using the PocketPAM technology, DES imports data from PAM and enables you to add records in the field. Data is transferred back to PAM from time to time using data cards or “thumb drives”.

DES is fully touch-screen compatible. This means all buttons and pick lists are big enough to operate with your thumb! Chemical and fertiliser rates are entered using a large popup calculator. All very simple and easy.

Like PocketPAM, the plan records entered in PAM can be transferred to DES where you can convert them to actuals when completed.
Using DES in this way, a farm manager can transfer all his PAM plans to his spray rig and tractor operators on a data card. The operators simply look up the plans for the paddocks they are working in … obtain spray or fertilisers and rates from screen and convert the records to actuals … after entering data like batch numbers, spraying conditions etc.

Thanks to the early adopters for the excellent feedback and for the great ideas to make DES even more user friendly.

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Booth Technology’s Report
By Chris Long

Colin and Chris have been attending some of the major field days. Wagin Woolorama, as ever, was a huge success and this year, the Margaret River Wine Industry Field Day was another big success. Interest in the PAM Viticulture Specific Version through the region is increasing with PAM's powerful data collection abilities, the numerous reports etc … but the feature that has been turning heads has been the PocketPAM remote data collection ability. This has been the driving force behind the uptake of PAM in the Viticulture Industry.

Still to come this year are the big Machinery Field Days
- Dowerin Field Days (26th 27th and 28th August)
- Newdegate Machinery Field Day (3rd and 4th September)
- Mingenew Expo (18th and 19th September)

Booth Technology will be attending these and will be more than happy to answer all your questions and perform demos of the new features to organise upgrades and if required, schedule a day of training.

Coming soon to the major centres of Western Australia are some PAM, PAM Mapping and FarmStar workshops.
The workshops will be for more advanced users, those who are comfortable with using the software, so we will be able to concentrate on:
- Speed tips for data entry
- Using Actual and Plan Data using Budgets and how to incorporate PocketPAM
- How to get the best out of your Mapping Features
- FarmStar basics and integration between Yield monitors and VRT Applicators.
Training is an integral part of the PAM software. Without training we find most users are not making the most of all the features of the software. Training helps speed up the data entry process, streamlines reporting and gives you a better feel for the software.
Dates and venues for these Courses and Workshops are yet to be confirmed. But we propose these dates will be July and August.

We have also been quite busy doing individual training on farm with many PAM users. We are finding this is getting many users more proficient and now happily using the software. If you want some on farm training contact us 08 93834443 or via our website sales@boothtech.com.au and we can fit you in to one of our training schedules.

0414 408 458 - Mobile (Chris)
(08) 9383 4443 - Work
(08) 9383 4425 - Fax

SERVE-AG &
PAM UltraCrop

Training Workshops
To assist PAM UltraCrop users get the most from management system, Serve-Ag, in conjunction with Farmbis, have recently run a number of PAM UltraCrop training days for growers throughout Tasmania. The half and full day training sessions are run at local institutions with computer availability allowing hands-on experience in database management & mapping functionalities. Due to the success of the PAM UltraCrop training days, future workshops will be held in Devonport & Launceston on a regular basis. If you are interested in attending our next group of PAM UltraCrop workshops, please register with Tim Woolley on 0364 270 800.
PocketPAM
With the further development of Palm computer technologies, many PAM UltraCrop users are adopting PocketPAM as an easy way of keeping on-top of entering farming records into PAM. By recording information into PocketPAM ‘on the fly’, then synchronising with your PAM UltraCrop system back in the office at the end of the day, valuable data is captured and entered into PAM UltraCrop with a minimum of fuss. Contact Tim, for the latest news on Palm computers & PocketPAM.
Check out the new Serve-Ag / PAM UltraCrop web site:
www.serve-ag.com.au then just click on PAM UltraCrop

Farmtek Australia News

Well this month we have some major news. On the 27th of May at 10:15 pm Christine gave birth to our first child, a boy William Anthony Sargeant. Both Christine & William are great, as is Dad, although a little more sleep would not go astray.

The other major news is Christine & I have decided to move to Canada later this year. We will be very sad to leave not only the country, but the business we have built over the past 5 years. This was not an easy decision, however we have a great opportunity in Canada, not to mention Christine will have the support of her family with the new baby.

Farmtek Australia will be acquired by Fairport Technologies, so existing customers need not panic. You will be in excellent hands!!!. The final details of the company changeover will be confirmed to all Farmtek customers in late July, in the meantime it is business as usual.
Christine & I would like to say a huge thankyou to all those who supported us growing the business. We truly appreciate it.

Agbis News

The last three months have been extremely hectic for the Agbis Team.
Matt Meehan displayed the Fairport range of products at Beef 2003, Rockhampton. Many visitors to the Agbis site were keen to see how they can use PAM’s mapping system for Property Development Planning as well as keep track of their herd. Shortly, Greg Baker and Matt will be travelling to Central Queensland to follow up with those beef producers who showed interest in PAM QA Plus.
There was plenty of interest in PAM Version 4 at this year’s Australian Cotton Trade Show held at Moree. The ability to enter plans and produce planning reports, such as Spray Orders, were received with great enthusiasm. Jacqui Tinkler and Matt were extremely busy demonstrating the powerful features of PAM QA Plus to over 40 cotton growers in two days. In addition, MAX (the often forgotten Machinery Database) was a hit with cotton growers who have a great deal of capital tied up in machines and need to keep accurate records.
We had to postpone the Group Training for Southern NSW due to the fact that many farmers were busy in their tractors. We are planning to hold Group Training throughout Queensland and New South Wales during the second half of this year. We will keep you posted.
In the next few months, Agbis will be displaying Fairport Software at AgQuip, AgShow and Henty. If you are attending, please drop in and say hello.

AgBis Pty Ltd
PO Box 1184, ARMIDALE NSW 2350
Phone: (02) 6772 9200
Fax: (02) 6772 9212
Mob: 0407 729 936
matt.meehan@agbis.com
www.agbis.com

Maelroan Computers Esperance
Western Australia

With the push to have farms quality assured I encourage clients to set up their records to comply, whether you are quality assured or not.
Remember we are on the road training – across the south of WA.
If you need us to call and train please phone: 0428 910 122, fax: 08 9076 7042 or email: maelroan@bigpond.com
Liz is now an official Consultant SQF Practitioner which means she can set up your individual plans and do your corrective actions as a result of audits. This can be done either individually or in groups.

We wish you a productive season. … Liz Alford

The Fairport Team wishes you all an excellent new financial year ahead.

If you haven’t looked lately, why not check out the Fairport website. Paul is consistently improving the contents of the site especially in the area of product information and support. Most of your questions can be answered there.

We thank all of you for your continued support and patronage.

Until September…

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