Thanks for checking out what's new in Farmbrite for March! There are many new updates across various areas of the software, including crops, livestock, inventory storage, tasks, and the market. We routinely hear request to "make it easier", so for this month we focused on streamlining menus, archiving unused items, and making more connections between records and tasks. You'll also see updates to task collaboration, a new market communication option, and a new pregnancy check report as well.
Warehouse and Inventory Updates
- Inventory items can now be categorized by type. You can pick from many different categories to define the type of item, which then affects where it can be stored, and what actions you might use it in. For example, you might tag an item as medication or veterinary supplies, which would have it more easily used in treatment and breeding records, and perhaps stored in a specific location like a medicine cabinet. Check out our full article on this to see more about the effects of the categories and how they can streamline your storage and actions.
- To go along with the inventory item categories, you can now filter your Warehouse storage locations to select what types of items can be stored in them. This helps you streamline the storage of the items, suggesting the appropriate storage locations when you add inventory from yields or purchases. So when you add feed you'll see your feed storage warehouse, and when you add chemicals or hazardous materials you'll be suggested the appropriate locations for those types of items.
- Both warehouses and inventory items can now be archived. If you have an old storage location that you don't use anymore, or items that might not be used in the current season, you can now mark them as archived to remove them from most menus, reports, and dashboards. Their history is retained and accessible, and they can always be reactivated for future use.
Crop Updates
- That same archive feature has also been added to crop types as well. If you no longer plant a low producing variety, you can archive it to remove it from your available crop list for future plantings. Like the items above, it can always be brought back and used again, and it's planting history and associated records are retained.
- You can now define a length of time between starting seeds and transplanting them to your grow locations. This can help you adjust your crop plan if you need to start your seeds at a different time based on weather or other delays. The transplant age is set duration between the seed start and planting date, so if you adjust the seed start, the planting date is now automatically updated as well.
- The navigation history menu has been expanded to make it easier to access all varieties of a crop type. If you are working with a crop type that has multiple varieties, you can now click the crop type name from the menu to be returned to a filtered fo just the varieties of that crop.
- Retreatment Tasks are now linked to the original treatment record. If the treatment you applied requires a follow-up dose, the reminder task created for it now links back to the original treatment record. This can help you and your farmhands reference the original treatment to easily read comments, notes, and view any attachments.
Livestock Updates
- The same retreatment reminder connection is also available for your Livestock treatments as well. When your animals need a second dose of a medication or vaccine, you'll easily be able to reference back to the original to see additional information from it.
- A new Pregnancy Check History report has been added. This compiles all previous pregnancy checks and their data, including any comments and notes that were added to the check. Previously these were only accessible on individual animal records, so this summary can help you review and reference multiple dams at the same time.
Market Updates
- A new header message is available in your Online Store. This simple banner can help you communicate information with your customers, like upcoming events, current sales or specials, or limitations to your product availability.
- Invoice and Receipt document types can now be renamed. This offers unique flexibility for all types of operations, giving your customers better expectations and communication when submitting tentative draft orders, future allocation requests, or other reservations.
Task Updates
- Repeated tasks can now have media attached to them. This can help you add images and video to repetitive tasks that might need documentation like grooming, equipment services, and deliveries.
- Team Members and Collaborators can now complete tasks they are associated with. If you invite a user to collaborate on a task, or assign the task to a team overall, the members and collaborators can now mark the task as complete. Previously this was the responsibility of the main assignee, but we have expanded this to include anyone associated with the task overall.