AgromAX Agricultural System Module Description

Transcription

1 AgromAX Agricultural System Module Description

2 Contents 2 Introduction Background and aim of developing the agricultural system module Functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics AX AgromAX module Plant production processes Plant utilization Double-crops Field data Work operations Queries related to plant production Geographic information subsystem GPS coordinates Parcel split Projection images. Visual layers for the management of cost, farm and topographical data Land registration data Land data Owners Land lease contracts Land usage Area-based aids Natural damages Farm management logbook Nutrient balance Crop spraying logbook Returns Assets of production Machinery Renting Cost places Machine repairs... 12

3 4.4.5 Performances Work sheets Analyses Wage management Auxiliary operation cost distribution Labour force Number of employees Wage management Inventory management Inventory handling Use of materials Harvesting Taking into inventory External inventory Warehouses Commerce Purchases Sales Own utilisation, processing Planning, Analysis Technological and cost planning Plan-fact comparison Value of cultivations Warnings Agri-environmental Measures (AKG) Work operations Voucher management Inventory vouchers Delivery note Invoices Specific hardware connections GPS Bridge scale... 18

4 Dryer Fuel station Specific software connections Hungarian Land Parcel Identification System (MEPAR) Land registry office Authorisation management Roles and Permissions Animal husbandry and veterinary processes Diagnoses Treatments Medication Reproductive biology Pesticide pre-harvest interval (PHI) Dry period Animal master data Flock logbook Judgement Sperm data Uniform Farm Animal Identification and Registration System (ENAR) Production data Milk production Milking test Lactation calculation Daily milk data Milk-house treatment Livestock data Animal yield Birth Death Forced slaughter Regrouping Sales Age groups... 20

5 Weighing Culling Fodder management Manure management Animal breeding processes Introduction In our days agricultural business enterprises are becoming more bound to manage information related to plant production and animal husbandry by means of computers. IT plant utilization gains more and more ground in the everyday processes of business enterprises. The aim of the ERP system prototype module developed by HUMANsoft Kft. is to promote the IT support of agricultural business enterprises, to provide easy and efficient process management, and to support the quick, easy and efficient query of datasets related to farm management activities. During the design of the system module, based on the surveys conducted for agricultural business enterprises involved in the development, we determined target areas for which developments were implemented within the frame of the project. During the implementation of status surveys we received an overall picture about the fields of activity, and main processes of the business enterprises participating in the design of the system module, which served as foundation for system design. The solutions developed in the agricultural system module are presented in this document. Presently, agricultural business enterprises operate island-type systems, thus repeated data entries result in redundancy. As a result of the status surveys we could receive complex view on all the areas which will be used during further development of the system module. The design of the functions and the prototype is documented and developed in compliance with the needs of business enterprises involved in the survey, and the requirements of the agricultural industry. The study of relevant areas was based on the memorandums and other documentations prepared during the status surveys. The requirements of business enterprises participating in the surveys and contributing to the need assessment documents constituted the basis of implementation. The developed system module prototype can fulfil the needs of agricultural business enterprises in the field of integrated administration and information management. 3 Background and aim of developing the agricultural system module Business processes are still not supported widely and comprehensively by IT systems in the agricultural sector. The existing IT infrastructure is characterised by individual systems separated from one another, and in many cases they are neither connected to each other. Interoperability between isolated systems is difficult, data in the different systems are inconsistent and a great part of them is redundant. Connecting separate systems to one another always requires individual development that need to be done on both sides However, the individual components do not cover the entirety of the processes this way either. Due to the above described problems and insufficiencies, in our opinion a solution supporting the activities included in the complete operation process of the business enterprises dealing with farm management in a comprehensive way and in the form of a single solution would be a gap filling novelty in the agricultural sector. This means a novelty at national and international level too as there is no such solution in Hungary and abroad either. The AgromAX module developed by HUMANsoft Kft. within the framework of the Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP system supports agricultural producers to meet the requirements of cross compliance regulations, and also facilitates the implementation of control measures of the national food safety authority and the paying agency. Agricultural business enterprises may manage their operations in a more transparent way by the use of the module thus providing better means of checking the use of EU subsidies. The system module enforces more disciplined administration by integrated warnings and rules, and enables professional organisations to support producers through the system. The Microsoft Dynamics AX integrated system bundled with the agriculture

6 specific AgromAX module provides support to farm management and other business processes as well. Services related to agricultural activities is provided by the special agricultural module of the ERP system, whereas the general business, economic processes are managed by the basic modules of the ERP system, such as the General Ledger Module, Inventory Management Module, Vendor and Customer Module, and Human Resource Module. Databases of the deployed agricultural professional module are shared with the modules serving the economic and business processes (accounting, finance, commerce, top management) thus communication and information flow between the employees of the different areas is ensured, communication barriers deriving from different thinking and attitudes may be eliminated. By producing the necessary data in due time and proper format, the agricultural ERP solution facilitates inspections and the preparation for them, functions as major information source for the submitted applications, complies with standardization and quality assurance requirements requested by the food chains, and supports state-of-the-art electronic information exchange. 4 Functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics AX AgromAX module 4.1 Plant production processes Based on the surveys, the management of plant production processes has to be implemented in a uniform, transparent, and easy-to-handle module. The operation required related to plant production covers the details of field data, plant utilization, double-crop and the work operations built on these. Work operations have to be entered, and the reports and queries built on these have to be implemented according to field data, plant utilizations, and double-crop managed as master data. Within the frame of the project, the functions required in the survey for plant production are designed. Development and the design of the system module also extends to the establishment of connections with modern devices used in plant production Plant utilization Data related to grown plants must be managed as plant utilizations. Plant utilizations are also grouped by government agencies, and they are provided with utilisation codes. Each farm participating in the survey intends to manage their plant utilization from agricultural professional aspect and financial aspect as well, so it is a requirement that when growth data are managed, a plant utilization could be added to each parcel, and there should be an option to manage the plant utilization as a financial dimension as well as its costs and yields have to be collected. Plant utilization can be divided into species, the management of this is also required. The concept of plant utilization is implemented as new master data. Plant utilization may be divided into species and varieties. In the field master you can record the plant utilization and species cultivated in the field by farming years. In plant utilizations, you can set the species that are grown from the given plant utilization. You can record the code, name and the utilisation code of one plant utilization in the system. Regarding the species, you can record the code, name and financial dimension of the species. Financial dimensions are standard options in the ERP system, which you can assign to plant utilization or species thus the query of financial data related to the information recorded during the plant production work may happen independent of the system module, in the financial module of the system Double-crops In practice, double-cropping happens when some plant utilization is sown at the end of a farming year after the main sowing plant (e.g. maize) before starting the next farming year, and it is not harvested but turned into soil as it was sown either for green manure or for some other mulch purpose (e.g. mustard). Double-crops have to be included in the farm management logbook as well thus the system has to provide the option of recording and reporting the double-crop. In the AgromAX module, the main plant utilization and the double-crop that is adjustable by farming years are indicated in the parcel. The double-crop plant is sown following the harvesting of the main sowing plant. Typically, it is not harvested therefore it does not need to be taken into inventory, however, it will be

7 included in the nutrient balance. Double-crop appears in the farm management logbook as well Field data The areas needed for plant production are divided into agricultural parcels by the companies. Only one kind of plant utilization can be grown in one parcel. Data related to the parcels are internally managed by the companies however the land is also split up at higher levels which is determined by the paying agency. Such higher level areas are the so called physical blocks and the uniform eligibility areas (KETs). Official reports need to comply with these concepts, and the parcels have to be classified according to these official structures. The parcel is the unit for which the produced plant utilization is recorded in a given year, and it serves as the starting place for work operations as well. On the one hand, parcel means an internally managed area, on the other hand it has to be included in the farm management logbook as well. The management of force majeure events, natural damages and soil sampling data related to parcels is another requirement that will be discussed in detail later. The management of parcels is implemented in a new master file. Identification data, classification data (KET, Block) and production data for the parcels are also managed in the parcel master. Furthermore, field reference also appears during work operations as work operations and parcels may be clearly assigned to one another. In the system, farm management logbook is also based on the master data and the relevant transactions of the parcel Work operations Agricultural producers register different work tasks performed in the field with the help of work sheets. The work sheet includes the person performing the work, the used equipment and material. During the survey we experienced that a uniform interface is needed where these data may be entered manually, however, there also has to be an option to process data deriving from GPS devices used by an increasing number of agricultural companies. The requirement of monitoring work operations is a basic requirement as the farm management logbook, the record of attendance, the settlement of costs are all based on this. A further requirement for the work operations is that when the crop is collected (harvested), there has to be an option to record crop yield weight through the work operation, which also supports quick taking into inventory by using deduction rules. During implementation we followed the below principles: A work task performed in a given field is considered a work operation. A work operation includes the following: what work task was performed in which parcel, what inventory was used during this time, what technological and human resources were needed. The recording of work operations constitutes the basis of the farm management logbook, the record of attendance, the cost loading for the parcels, and the cost loading for auxiliary operations. Starting from work operations, there is an option to manage crop yield weighing, the system makes proposals for the quantities taken into inventory by taking the deduction rules into consideration Queries related to plant production The requirements of plant production fall into the following categories: Parcel related queries Work operation-related queries Crop yield weighing related queries It was a general requirement that queries should incorporate greater datasets and users could query data by setting their own filtering conditions. This allows free query at a higher level which has been available so far only with difficulty. We collected some main questions that we handle as queries to be implemented within the frames of the project. The result of queries that can be retrieved from the parcel data are included in the reports: What area data do the parcels have, including the full size, the area of not cultivated land due to force majeure, and the area of the block and KET layers? These queries support the farmers when submitting the area-based claims. What are the plant utilizations in the individual parcels in the given farming year? What title deeds belong to a parcel, or in parcel is the certain title deed included?

8 What natural damages were recorded for the individual fields? What soil sampling was taken for a certain parcel? The queries related to the work operation may be the following, a part of these are essential for the filling out of the farm management logbook: What work operations happened in the individual parcels in the given farming year? What ongoing work operations are there? Work operations can be seen filtered for plant utilization? What inventory releases happened for each work operation? In which work operation did inventory release happen for a certain article? What mechanical resources were used in each work operation? In which work operation was a specific equipment used? How much was the mechanical output and gas oil consumption for a work operation? What service-type mechanical work operations were performed and to whom? What human resources were used during a work operation? In what work operation did a certain worker participate? What human costs did a certain work operation have? The following has to be stated from the crop yield weighing data: How much weight was recorded per work operations? How much weight was recorded per a parcel? How much weight was recorded per a plant utilization? What was the gross and net yield per article in a given farming year? Several queries and reports in relation with plant production are designed within the frames of the project thus meeting the above requirements. Implementation includes the query for work operations, parcel data and weighing data. 4.2 Geographic information subsystem GPS coordinates Several agricultural enterprises operate GPS fleet tracking system, which is suitable for determining and storing the current positions on the one hand, while on the other hand it may be used for monitoring work operations as well. Presently, companies filter the data extractable therefrom, check their validity, and couple them with the paper-based work sheets. Now technology is suitable for generating a work operation-type dataset based on the work operations and GPS coordinates recorded in the device however, reliability, as well as user and operator behaviour for handling an automatism is not fully provided. Within the frames of the project, the management of the GPS-based technology during the recording and evaluation of the work sheets will not be implemented, however, the structures of all data schemas in the project will be suitable for receiving data from GPS systems in a subsequent phase of development Parcel split Parcel data are not constant in time, they may be updated yearly. The forms of modification are parcel split and parcel amalgamation. During parcel amalgamation several parcels are united, and a new parcel is created. The generated parcel inherits relevant data of the parent parcels, however, it will be used separated from them, with new identifier. During parcel split the initial parcel is divided into several new parcels. The new parcels inherit relevant data of the parent parcel, however, they are in the system with new identifiers. Tracing back of parcel change events is necessary because companies are subject to notification obligation regarding the inclusion of parcel operations in the farm management logbook. Both parcel amalgamation and parcel split are supported features within the frame of the project. With the help of new functions, both directions become recordable, the system stores the changes, so these events

9 may be indicated in the farm management logbook. Parcel change events that are often very complex may be observed on a graphical user interface as well, thus the process may become more transparent Projection images. Visual layers for the management of cost, farm and topographical data Agricultural business enterprises dealing with plant production manage cultivation costs (inventory expenditures, machinery expenditures, human expenditures) and crop yield by parcels. Related to the parcel, they record the sensitivity, soil samplings, and the plant utilization, species grown in each farming year. The geographical coordinate s data of the parcels are available to the business enterprises. A requirement emerged that it would be practical to prepare a query that shows the business enterprise s agricultural parcels with the boundary lines connecting the polygon coordinates on a map surface. The farmer needs this information among others when claiming the area-based payment. With the help of the developed functionality, the basic metadata of the individual parcel appear on the map, whereas detailed master and transaction data may be shown for the selected parcel, thus promoting the efficient query of the data related to the parcels. By using parcels as financial dimensions, managers of the business enterprises may obtain information from the system that is important to them without having to use the agricultural module. The costs, yields generated for the parcels may be queried quickly and efficiently from the finance or inventory management module. 4.3 Land registration data Land data Agricultural companies as economic entities can only use agricultural land within the frame of lease contracts. The subject of the lease is a piece of land, whose details are described in the title deed. It is an emerging requirement that managing title deeds should be supported by the system, and that the system should be able to process the electronic file received from the Land Registry and record it in the title deed master. Within the frame of the project title deeds become recordable. Data of general ledgers available from the land registries in electronic format can be processed in the system module Owners Agricultural companies conclude lease contracts with the owners included in the title deeds. Because owners cannot necessarily be classified in the customer or vendor category, separate administration has to be maintained. When the title deed or the lease contract is recorded, one should select from this master dataset. Main owner data (name, birth date, address, identity card number, etc.) should be recordable in the master. Owner management is implemented in the project in the form of a separate master data. One can select this in the title deeds and lease contracts Land office registration It was an emerging requirement that the management of title deeds, should be supported by the system, and it was also a requirement that the system should be able to process the information received from the Land Registry Office in an electronic format, and record it in the title deed master. Within the frame of the project, title deeds become recordable, and the data of land book (i.e. title deed part I) received in electronic format can be processed Land lease contracts It was a functional requirement that companies manage data related to rland lease contracts in the system. The contract records contain the following data: owner, starting and closing sate of the contract, hectare and gold crown values by land usages, and financial data related to the contract (rents by land usages and by years, healthcare contribution, personal income tax, payment deadline, etc.). Land lease contracts are in close connection with the partner master and title deeds as in a contract you shall be able to refer to these data. Related to contracts, it is a further requirement that detailed reporting option should be available to user, that provides the means of easy search of expired contracts or contracts that become expired in a given time

10 interval. Furthermore, it would be useful if the contract was produced and printed from the system thus it would not be needed to separately produce a contract in the system and on paper basis as well. The integrated system should support the settlement to owners with a payment list. The registration of the land lease contract is solved in the project. Required contract data become recordable, furthermore the system allows the production of the printable and signable contract based on the recorded data and a template document. Storing the financial data of the contract is also solved, and several reports help users query the data related to the contracts and payments Land usage Leased areas are classified into different land usages in the title deeds. Area and gold crown values are determined by land usages, and rent is also given by land usage in the lease contracts. As a result it is an emerging requirement that there should be master data for land usages, which may be extended as per request. Both title deeds and contracts must include land usage information. In the integrated system land usage data are recorded in a background field whose content is expandable. When title deeds and lease contracts are used, data for land usages may be given, and filtering for land usages is also implemented in all related queries and reports Area-based aids In the case of agricultural companies, for the area-based payment the connection between the used parcel and the plant utilization has to be made in the form of a report. The designed prototype provides a solution for rendering reports required by the area-based payment. Here the plant utilizations recorded at the individual parcels and the area data may be queried for the farming year Natural damages Force majeure Force majeure (frost damage, inland water, etc.) is another item included in the farm management logbook, however, it is also important when claiming for damage compensation or certain special payments. Data related to natural damages must be recorded by parcels, and the relevant pages of the farm management logbook has to be populated according to this information. The prototype supports force majeure events, and in addition these events are also included in the farm management logbook Farm management logbook Farm management logbook is a standardized document related to the fulfilment of administrative obligations of persons performing farming activities in cultivated areas, which has to be continuously maintained throughout the year, and the persons performing farming activity shall submit a part of this to the Agricultural and Rural Payment Agency (MVH). Reports generated from the farm management logbook contains the official summary of the farming year, and includes data about how administrative obligations had been kept for both animal husbandry and plant production. It is a requirement that users should be able to generate a farm management logbook summary report at the end of the farming year based on continued input of data during the year. Data should not be recorded repeatedly, and the individual branches should be able to manage their own areas in the farm management logbook. If there is any insufficiency in the annual report dataset, subsequent transactions should enable additional data input and repeated reporting. Managing farm management logbook data is integrated into the system thus agricultural business enterprises can fulfil this obligation. Farm management logbook is a complex structure constructed from several data sources where individual branches can work independently, include and prepare relevant data for submission in the final required form based on the mid-year data input. The prototype provides complete solution for the farm management logbook requirements.

11 4.3.9 Nutrient balance The aim of nutrient management calculation is to give a picture to the farmer on the nutrient supply of agricultural parcels, in addition to this it can calculate how much nutrient has to be applied in the case of each plant utilization intended to be grown in order to reach the required yield level. In every case the basis of calculation shall be the soil sampling result, as well as the system of empirical figures that have been historically established and accepted in the professional systems, and which is based on soil data and the corrective effect of technological factors. The nutrient management plan is part of the farm management logbook, therefore it is one of the priority tasks for agricultural companies. The prototype has been developed to support effective management of nutrient balance related data and transactions. Parcel data, article master and soil sampling data are all designed so that the farmer can manage nutrient data in the transactions, and can generate the necessary information in the form of reports Crop spraying logbook The agricultural companies dealing with plant production are obliged by law to maintain a crop spraying logbook that is part of the farm management logbook. The system must provide the means of recording pesticide treatment related events, and query data report as required by the law. The crop spraying logbook is prepared for the controlling agency. Its aim is to allow precise monitoring of the quantity, the active agent in the given pesticides and observation of regulatory compliance during the checks. The crop spraying logbook is strictly checked by the authority, and the farmer shall be subject to the obligation of daily administration. The farmer shall comply with the regulations of the current laws at all times. In the prototype, the data of the crop spraying logbook is entered based on the data of the work operations, which derive from the entered work sheets. The recording of work sheets and work operations was designed so that relevant data will automatically appear in the crop spraying logbook Returns During the status surveys we experienced that integrated systems do not only have to meet the internal needs of the farms but they also have to provide the required reports to the special authorities, or they have to help with their preparation. The most comprehensive report used by all companies is the farm management logbook, which has to be prepared every year. In order to prepare this, agricultural companies often use external advisory companies. This need mainly comes from the farming companies that joined the Agri-environmental measures Programme (AKG), the reason for that is that the companies that participate in the Agrienvironmental Measures Programme shall submit a detailed farm management logbook report yearly. The preparation of the farm management logbook is implemented in the prototype. Based on the data that are generated and recorded on a continuous basis during the year, this function automatically prepares the content of the farm management logbook using a transparent interface so that this can be printed in the form of a report. 4.4 Assets of production Machinery In agricultural companies used machinery is registered as tangible assets. The means of recording machinery work items and costs has to be provided. Machinery costs emerge during daily use recorded in the work sheet as well as during the repair and maintenance works. The integrated system has to be able to manage farm machines as tangible assets on the one hand, and as cost collection financial dimension on the other hand. A further requirement is that there should be an option to refer to the machinery when repair events are recorded, and to define machine links so that plan lines can be recorded for them. In the developed system the machinery appears as tangible assets and as financial dimensions. In the related transaction, following each machinery identification (e.g. registration plate number) the system will automatically collect the related costs. Machine links are also described so that operation, technology and production plans may be based on these. Follow-up of the machinery repair processes in the system

12 may be implemented by means of the repair module. By displaying the machines as financial dimension, it becomes possible to query the costs related to the farm machines quickly, through the general ledger module as well Renting Agricultural companies operating in a holding structure often use one another s resources during the different work operations. A typical example of this is when an enterprise of a company group uses the equipment of another company (in another company group) for a plant production work operation. In such cases companies lend the equipment as tangible asset to one another. It is a requirement that not only the owner but the user of the equipment should be recorded as well. Within the frame of the project a function is implemented to provide that the operating company can set the equipment as tangible asset Cost places Agricultural companies provide the possible separation of their costs by cost place and cost bearer by the accounting of invoice classes 6 and 7. This option has to be provided in the integrated system to be designed as well. Each cost place and cost bearer should be fed from value sets that can be extended by the accountants. If accounting happens for several companies, it is practical to provide identical value sets for cost places and cost bearers. Cost place and cost bearer management is implemented in the integrated system by financial dimensions. The following possible financial dimensions emerged during the surveys: cost place, cost bearer, equipment, person, plant utilization. Cost place values may be given by the users, in the requested number. The system also allows subsequent extension of these, in addition to this the prototype enables users to use common financial dimensions in the case of several companies. By using financial dimensions, the accounting and financial effects of agricultural processes can be queried in other modules of the system as well. Due to the integrity of the system, based on the information recorded during the agricultural production processes, the necessary inventory movements, general ledger movements are also accounted inside the system in an on-line method Machine repairs Each examined company has a large collection of farm equipment. In several cases, machines belong to different companies in the company group, however, repair happens at one central location. Repair processes need to be followed-up so that administration tasks should not be made overcomplicated by the ownership data of farm equipment, i.e. the administrative employee of the machine repair shop should have a global overview on all the equipment and their related repair process. During repairs, there should be an option to manage emerging requirements (e.g.: regular oil change) and occasional failures periodically. The prototype implements the interface design for the management of machine repairs. Multi-company operation allows the farm equipment of the companies to be separated from one another thus they can be managed financially separated, however, the repair process provides moving between the farm equipment data of the different companies without making daily administrative processes too complex. The prototype allows the triggering of typical repair tasks, and assignment of these to the individual machines with a km/operation hour interval Performances Machine performance needs to be recorded for work operations. It has to be known what work task (thus what cost category) the given machine performance belongs to. In addition to machine performance, the consumed gas oil should be among the recordable data as well. There has to be an option to indicate the resulted cost data. Realistically, cost may directly appear on the plant utilization as well, however in some companies it was an emerging requirement that such data should first appear in an auxiliary operation cost place with all other machine costs. Consequently there should be an option to distribute auxiliary operation costs for the plant utilizations based on the performance or gas oil consumptions. Within the frames of the project an interface being suitable for recording work operations has been designed, where machine resources can be managed as well. Here machine performance, used gas oil, and machine

13 operator are also stored. The cost summary information resulted from these figures become reportable. Cost may be directly recorded for the plant utilization, however, the system allows accounting for the auxiliary operation as well. Auxiliary operation costs may be distributed for plant utilization based on machine performance or used gas oil Work sheets Agricultural companies use paper-based work sheets for the administration of agricultural work operations. The work task, the place of work, the used mechanical and human resources are recorded in one work sheet. The work sheet may be the basis of the performance on hourly rate-based settlement of the employees, and the auxiliary operation cost distribution. The spreading of GPS technology allows automatic generation of work sheets based on the position and work process data arriving from the device. The examined agricultural companies presently do not find it realistic that work sheets may be automatically generated with full reliability, however, processing of data arriving from GPS sources must be considered as an open option in the future by all means. Within the frame of the project, the functionality to manage work operations for the administration of mechanical and human resources is solved. The mechanical resources recorded during work operations may be the basis of auxiliary operation cost distribution. Within the frames of the project, the implementation of GPS-based technology will not be designed, however, the data structure of the system designed during the project is suitable for receiving information from GPS systems during a subsequent development Analyses There has to be an option to prepare statements of the mechanical cost and the mechanical resources used during the work operations. The statements have to be prepared on machinery as tangible asset on one hand, and as cost collection place on the other hand. The machine performance statements prepared based on the work sheets constitute the basis of auxiliary operation cost distribution. The prototype provides the required reporting option. The system can manage machines both as tangible assets, and resources participating in production. The method of auxiliary operation cost distribution was designed as well Wage management Employees operating farm equipment are recorded in the work sheets. The settlement for the daily work of the employee happens based on the completed work task and work performance. This data can be used as initial input of wage accounting. Presently wage accounting needs repeated data recording. It was a requirement that the route of data to wage accounting, and the method of their recording should become simpler. Within the frame of the project the principle of single data recording is greatly emphasized, which ensures that data emerging in a certain place of the farm will get into the system as soon as possible then the automatisms of the integrated system will provide their flow in the system. This way it is provided that the data needed for wage accounting are generated following single data recording Auxiliary operation cost distribution Most farmers collect mechanical costs related to the agricultural works emerging in so called auxiliary operations. The main point of using auxiliary operations is that the cost emerging in connection with the machines should be proportionally distributed among the crops produced by the machines thus providing that the cost of the given machine should evenly influence the prime cost of the produced crops. Without the use of auxiliary operations, the repair of relatively high value would produce disproportionately great cost for the growing of a certain plant, whereas in the case of other plants the use of the same equipment would mean disproportionately low cost therefore the use of auxiliary operations is needed to balance these disproportions in the cost prices. In the prototype, the cost prices and the related auxiliary operation cost places may be recorded for the relevant equipment. The automatisms of the system generate auxiliary operation logbooks when the agricultural work sheets are closed, and based on them, these contain the equipment costs at so called standard cost, calculated for the pre-set projection basis. A difference distribution function is also

14 developed in the prototype, with the help of which at the end of the year the companies can easily and quickly distribute the difference between the individual equipment costs carried forward at standard cost and the actually emerging costs related to the machines. 4.5 Labour force Number of employees In the administration related to the employees of the agricultural company both the daily number of employees and the number of hours have to be managed. As they perform activities of seasonal nature, the number of employees may even vary at daily level. Presently, employers use paper-based work sheets and excel tables for the administration of the number of employees. Currently wage accounting receives data from these paper based work sheets, and they are managed by means of repeated data recording. Thus the same data has to be recorded three times, by three different colleagues. It was a requirement that providing data for employee administration and wage accounting should become simpler thus reducing the loading of staff members and the sources of faults as well. In the prototype of the integrated system a work sheet management sub-module is designed in which the registration of fixed wage, hourly wage and performance pay employees at daily level is also solved. Here is an option to directly record data, however data input from work operation side is also provided. The record of attendance may be directly printed from the system, furthermore, the number of employees data required for wage accounting may be generated in an electronic form to the wage accounting program as well Performances Recording performances is necessary at human resource level as well. It has to be known what work task (thus what cost category) the given human labor performance belongs to. In the case of performance pay employees the performances mean the basis of wage accounting. In the prototype there is an option to record the human resources used for work operation on a uniform interface in the work sheets. A work task belongs to the work operation, which is the basis of waging Work sheets The paper-based voucher for recording daily agricultural tasks is the work sheet. The data managed in the work sheet are the mechanical and human resources as well as the used inventories. Regarding the human resources it has to be known what work task was completed, with what features affecting waging (e.g. allowances). The management of work sheets emerged as a basic requirement in each examined agricultural company. Within the frame of the project a function will be designed that is suitable for the management of work operations, which will allow managing human resources and providing its wage management aspects Wage management In order to promote the processing of the accounted wages a data exchange interface was also designed with the help of which GL posting may be imported into the system from the wage accounting software. 4.6 Inventory management Inventory handling In each examined agricultural company inventory administration was an emerging requirement, regarding both quantity and value. From the aspect of inventory management, basically two categories may be distinguished, one is purchased products while the other one is own grown products. There has to be an option to manage these categories according to separate accounting rules. Companies need to account purchased products by means of FIFO method and manage own grown products by using standard cost. There was a further requirement for inventory management so that certain articles may be managed at bundle or individual serial

15 number level. This requirement emerged due to food safety aspects (e.g.: it should be an option for fodder mixing to search origin) and afterlife follow-up aspects (e.g.: equipment part warranty follow-up). The vouchers linked to customers and vendors, as well as transactions occurring independently of these (such as the fodder manufacturing and fodder use processes, as well as the processes of taking into inventory) serve the movement of inventories. There is a requirement to manage weighing and the system should also support inventory management tasks Use of materials There is an emerging inventory management task at each examined company related to the use of purchased or own grown inventories. Fodder distribution at stock-farms or fuel consumption in plant production processes is considered realistic uses. During the use of materials it is a requirement that the system should manage the release of articles from the inventory at the appropriate cost, depending on the articles. The appropriate cost shall be the standard cost in the case of own grown inventories, and in the case of purchased products it shall be the FIFO. The prototype to be designed within the frame of the project provides a complete solution to the requirements of material use Harvesting At agricultural companies harvesting is a work operation having its own mechanical and human resources on the one hand, while it is a source of inventory management on the other hand as crop is gathered, weighed and taken into inventory. The integrated system has to support the weighing process which is integrated from the aspect of stock management, as well as the steps of taking into inventory. There is an option to perform weighing related to the work operation and to support the steps of taking into inventory with the help of the functions designed in the prototype Taking into inventory Agricultural companies included in the survey gather crop from the field during harvest that is a plant production process. In the agricultural companies included in the survey as part of the plant production process crop is gathered from the field during harvesting. After gathering, the crop is put into dryer. At the end of the drying process it reaches the net weight in which quantity it may be taken into inventory. Already at the time of weighing the gross weight, calculated netting may be carried out and taking into inventory should be carried out at this net weight. Based on the actual net weight after drying, repeated weighing may even happen, based on which the inventory is corrected to the real weight. It is a requirement for the integrated system that it should support the process of netting. Within the frame of the project weighing functionality is implemented, which also helps the taking into inventory of the crop by means of an integrated netting function External inventory During the status surveys several companies set the requirement of external inventory management in the system. It was a requirement that inventories under external ownership should be visible in the inventory administration the same way, however, they should not distort the general ledger in value. It is a realistic process that inventories under external ownership are acquired from the farmers (owners). The integrated solution provides quantitative external inventory management though without value, and acquisition from external inventory as well Warehouses In all agricultural companies inventory management is implemented in storage facilities that are separated from one another. The reason for separation may be physical, i.e. the warehouses are actually separated from one another however logical separation may also occur. The developed prototype allows defining the required number of warehouses independent of whether it is a

16 physical or logical one. 4.7 Commerce Purchases The integration of purchase transactions emerged as a general requirement. So far the purchase process has been uniformly documented only at receipt. It is a requirement that the purchase functionality should be supplemented with the administration of orders, and ongoing purchases should become visible. Another problem is that the preparation of purchase orders, and the parallel accounting of receipt and incoming invoices need redundant data recording, which results in extra work to the employees. Orders may be placed to suppliers via fax or . Regarding purchases, there is a requirement to record weighing. The prototype provides the management of purchases at ordering level, and there is an option to follow their status. Taking into inventory and accounting of the incoming invoice may happen based on the purchase orders. The recorded purchase order may be printed or it may be directly sent from the system via fax or to the vendor. During weighing there is an option to refer to the purchase order, which provides that the purchasing employee is informed from the system about the weighing for the given order Sales Related to sales, companies included in the survey had a requirement of managing ad-hoc orders recorded by customers and year-level framework agreements. The main point of a framework order is that an agreement is concluded with the customer once a year, for a quantity and unit price valid for one year. Individual deliveries happen and invoices are filled out based on this agreement. The relationship between the delivered or invoiced quantity and the framework has to be displayed. Another requirement is that ad-hoc customer s demands should appear in the system in the form of orders. Delivery and invoicing should be arranged based on the orders. The delivered and the invoiced quantity are not identical in every case as there could be partial deliveries, in addition delivery losses must be managed as well. There has to be an option to perform weighing with reference to customer s orders. The prototype of the integrated system provides the management of customer s orders, in the form of both adhoc and framework agreements. In the case of framework order, it provides the statement of framework, delivery and invoice quantities. The prototype provides connection between the electronic bridge-scale, thus during weighing it becomes possible to refer to the purchase order Own utilisation, processing Realistic example of own utilization and processing events is fodder mixing. In agricultural companies own grown and purchased basic materials get into the finished product during fodder mixing. The system has to support the management of these events including the indication of real cost price. The prototype that has been implemented within the frames of the project supports the use of bill of material (BOM) type in inventory management module. This way incoming raw materials that had been produced by the farm may be accounted in the inventory. This material type is to be used for fodder mixing. 4.8 Planning, Analysis Technological and cost planning The agricultural companies included in the survey perform planning tasks at several levels. Firstly, different branches prepare their own plans, in kind and in value. Among plans, plant production activities represent an individual category that means the system needs to support building multi-level plans. The smallest unit is the operation plan upon which the technological plan is built up, which is followed by the financial plan. It is important that these plans are built onto one another thus a change at any level (e.g.: an equipment/equipment group cost) should have an effect up to the financial plan. A planning functionality was designed within the frame of the project, which supports the planning process at