Farmer management
Farm management, making and implementing of the decisions involved in organizing and operating a farm for maximum production and profit. Farm management draws on agricultural economics for information on prices, markets, agricultural policy, and economic institutions such as leasing and credit.
Introduction
The process of gathering the fresh milk every day from different farmers and handling appropriately the invoicing phase for each farmer every 15-days or any other period, with dynamic purchase prices schemas for each farmer/farmer group and based on daily test analyses performed every day, is a complicated and very important process in a manufacturing company.
It is very important to register exactly and in a real-time the quantities of the input (fresh milk) that is received every day from different farmers and to keep track in every step, in order for the company to be able to measure and analyze the other steps of business process, like manufacturing, delivery, invoicing the purchasers, measure costs and turnover.
To handle smoothly and accurately this process, we have developed a module within Microsoft Dynamics NAV that is compatible with customer requests and flexible to define different invoicing schemas and policies.
Solution
We have developed a module in Navision that will enable the completion of this process. The module is called “Farmers” and it is organized to collect data from three different departments:
1.The fresh milk collectors (Purchase Department)
Twice a day the purchaser agents collect the fresh milk from the farmers (or some farmers bring the fresh milk directly in the factory). The fresh milk is collected using Purchase Orders documents from the purchasing agents or from the acceptance division in the factory.
2.The acceptance/lab data (Lab Division)
The milk is collected, weighted and tested by the acceptance/lab division and the quantity accepted and test results are registered in the system for each document accepted (purchase order or transfer order). The fresh milk is entered in the production location and then the production process continues further with the next steps. If there are differences in quantity between the documents registered by purchasing agents and what is weighted from the specific machinery in the factory, the difference is handled automatically from the system (if the measured quantity is less than the documents registered from the purchasing agent the difference remains in the purchaser agents’ location; if the measured quantity is more than the documents registered from the purchasing agent it is created automatically a fictive purchase order for the purchaser agent). The quantity accepted from the acceptance/lab division is transferred then to the production location.
3.The financial handling (Finance Department)
Every 15 days the finance department creates a Purchase Invoice by retrieving the purchase receipt lines from all the purchase orders accepted within the period, for each farmer. Based on test analysis and price policies for farmers it is decided the final purchase invoice price for each farmer.
Based on the purchase invoices created and on the payment method in each invoice (based on the payment method specified for each farmer in his farmer card) there are created in General Journal:
– Cash receipts to pay the farmers
– Bank receipts in a bank report layout, which it is send to the bank to deliver the payment for the farmers
We have developed a module in Navision that will enable the completion of this process. The module is called “Farmers” and it is organized to collect data from three different departments:
1.The fresh milk collectors (Purchase Department)
Twice a day the purchaser agents collect the fresh milk from the farmers (or some farmers bring the fresh milk directly in the factory). The fresh milk is collected using Purchase Orders documents from the purchasing agents or from the acceptance division in the factory.
2.The acceptance/lab data (Lab Division)
The milk is collected, weighted and tested by the acceptance/lab division and the quantity accepted and test results are registered in the system for each document accepted (purchase order or transfer order). The fresh milk is entered in the production location and then the production process continues further with the next steps. If there are differences in quantity between the documents registered by purchasing agents and what is weighted from the specific machinery in the factory, the difference is handled automatically from the system (if the measured quantity is less than the documents registered from the purchasing agent the difference remains in the purchaser agents’ location; if the measured quantity is more than the documents registered from the purchasing agent it is created automatically a fictive purchase order for the purchaser agent). The quantity accepted from the acceptance/lab division is transferred then to the production location.
3.The financial handling (Finance Department)
Every 15 days the finance department creates a Purchase Invoice by retrieving the purchase receipt lines from all the purchase orders accepted within the period, for each farmer. Based on test analysis and price policies for farmers it is decided the final purchase invoice price for each farmer.
Based on the purchase invoices created and on the payment method in each invoice (based on the payment method specified for each farmer in his farmer card) there are created in General Journal:
– Cash receipts to pay the farmers
– Bank receipts in a bank report layout, which it is send to the bank to deliver the payment for the farmers
MASTER DATA
1. The farmer master data (farmers are registered as vendors and they have a specific checkbox that identifies them from other vendors)
2. The fresh milk collectors master data (they are registered as Salespeople/Purchasers)
3. Farmer Prices: for each vendor it is specified its default purchase starting price
4. Farmer Parameters: the minimum and maximum accepted values for each parameter and whether the parameter should be considered when the purchase invoice price is calculated.
Parameter examples: fat, dry matter, water, density, pH etc.
5.Farmer Fats Parameters The parameters to define the effect on the purchase price for each parameter (for example fat). For instance, for the selected parameter (fat), for every range it is specified the price decrement value (from the default price of the vendor).
DOCUMENTS
1. Farmer Analysis document
This document allows the users to register a farmer analysis for a Purchase or a Transfer Order document by selecting the specific document for which the test is analyzed by the lab and by registering the three major parameters needed from the lab: Fat, Dry matter and Water.
After the test is registered it is confirmed by the lab division and can be printed in a predefined format.
You can check the list of tests registered and filter by date, document no, the test confirmed vs those not confirmed etc.
2. Purchase Orders
The fresh milk collectors (purchaser agents) register every day the milk they collect from different farmers by entering a Purchase Order in the system. The purchase order document is register in the name of the specific purchaser code and the quantity is collected in their specific location, hence as long as the documents is registered and confirmed by a purchaser agent than:
– The purchase document is registered in the purchaser’s personal account
– The milk stock is accumulated in the purchaser’s personal location
3. Purchase Invoice
Every 15-days (so twice a month) the financial department prepares the purchase invoices for each farmer, based on the purchaser agent (responsible for each farmer) or for a specific farmer code. The process is developed in the Purchase Invoice module with a button “Create Farmer Invoice”:
The form opened requires from the user to enter the period for which the Purchase Invoice is created, the Invoice Posting Date that the invoice should have and the Purchaser Code or Farmer Code (or it can be let empty if all the farmers should be considered for the invoicing process).
During this step there are collected the Purchase Receipt Lines posted for the period and are considered the test registered in the system for each document. Based on company policy for farmer default price and the effect of the test parameters in the price, it is calculated the final price for each farmer and the quantity invoiced is valued based on that calculated final price.
4.Transfer Orders
When the purchaser agents bring the fresh milk into the acceptance/lab division the fresh milk is weighted using a specific machinery and then a Transfer Order document is registered in the system by the acceptance/lab division and the weighted fresh milk is transferred from the purchaser location to the production location.
REPORTS
1.Farmer tests/analysis reports
The report requires a starting and ending date and it collects and compares the data tested for a specific period compared to the documents collected by the purchasers. The purpose of this report is to measure the rate of the tests accumulated compared to the fresh milk purchasing documents
2.Farmer Invoice Statistics
The detailed price calculation data for each farmer and the financial specifics. The purpose of this report is to show the specifics for each Purchase Invoice before it is posted in the system or to print it for each farmer after the 15-day Purchase Invoice is issued for each farmer:
3.Farmer Invoice Statistics by Day
The purpose of this report is to show a list for the invoices issued within 15-day, the farmers invoiced and all the related financial data. This report is used to be approved and to report to the Purchaser Manager and the rest of the board.
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