Online community for ornamental horticulture
Crop Scheduling
I am curious as to what everyone is using to accomplish Crop scheduling, Space management, Crop budgeting? I am learning Microsoft Project as it seems the most logical program to accomplish this. Is anyone else using Project?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on -
Steve, Since I began my career in the nursery business long before the advent of the home computer and software to schedule crops I've always kept a home made booklet and now simple text files on my computer with general dates when I start particular crops each year. Annuals are easy since most commercial seed catalogs list "weeks" from seeding to transplant, or "weeks" from seeding to cell pak size but a lot of other crops for me are just done by experience. I grow crops from both seed and cuttings and for most of the 120 or so varieties I grow for Spring each year I start as early as August each Summer rooting varieties to eventually become large gallon sized plants where as annuals I seed in November each year for sale in 6" or larger the following March. If someone was to just grow one type of plant in the same sized container over and over all this would be really easy but can become complicated if many varieties are grown. I grow 3 specialty crops I start from seed that take 3 years for large gallon plants so I am now seeding these for Spring sales of 2013. Another huge variable is the weather (generally lack of sunlight in Winter) and that is where a crop schedule can get way out of bounds. In my experience scheduling a crop on paper can be accurate down to the day in some cases and very far off in others especially when starting from seed where the seeds may take 4-6 months to even germinate. Sorry I am no help on a computer program and hope others chime in to give you a concrete answer.
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com
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Permalink Reply by Steve on -
Hi Michael
We have always kept a record of when we sow stuff on paper too. And I realize that there are many variables to when and IF :) a crop gets finished. I think of Microsoft Project as a Plant Budgeting Aid. Just as you formulate a financial budget for your business (or should) So should you with your crops. This is not to say that the best layed plans do not sometimes get way layed by Mother Nature. However, it is good to start with a plan. And just like finacial budgets, your plant budget needs to be tweeked based on what happened last year and what you think could happen this year. It will never be perfect but it gives you something to shoot for. So far I have been able to enter all my crop scheduling info into Project and calculate how much seed or how many cuttings are required for each crop (adjust for reported germiantion percentages and rooting percentages when the seed arrives, plan better hard good useage forcasts, and crop costs estimations and greenhouse space required to grow the crop. Project tracks Tasks, Resources, Costs, and Charts everything.
Michael Pawelek said:Steve, Since I began my career in the nursery business long before the advent of the home computer and software to schedule crops I've always kept a home made booklet and now simple text files on my computer with general dates when I start particular crops each year. Annuals are easy since most commercial seed catalogs list "weeks" from seeding to transplant, or "weeks" from seeding to cell pak size but a lot of other crops for me are just done by experience. I grow crops from both seed and cuttings and for most of the 120 or so varieties I grow for Spring each year I start as early as August each Summer rooting varieties to eventually become large gallon sized plants where as annuals I seed in November each year for sale in 6" or larger the following March. If someone was to just grow one type of plant in the same sized container over and over all this would be really easy but can become complicated if many varieties are grown. I grow 3 specialty crops I start from seed that take 3 years for large gallon plants so I am now seeding these for Spring sales of 2013. Another huge variable is the weather (generally lack of sunlight in Winter) and that is where a crop schedule can get way out of bounds. In my experience scheduling a crop on paper can be accurate down to the day in some cases and very far off in others especially when starting from seed where the seeds may take 4-6 months to even germinate. Sorry I am no help on a computer program and hope others chime in to give you a concrete answer.
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com
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Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on
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Steve, We are a Mom and Pop/Grower-Retailer operation and I wish I had something more updated/computerized to keep track of crop scheduling but in my case I drop some crops and add others for any given Spring to keep my inventory fresh and interesting so I always have a moving target to contend with for plant variety. My wife and I sit down together right after the bulk of Spring sales are winding down and our memories are fresh to discuss what plants we might have sold out of too soon and what other plants and colors might have sat on the benches too long taking up valuable space that could have been growing something more profitable. We use this "rap session" to decide how we are going to allocate space for next Spring. The big problem is trying to out guess what colors are loosing popularity and what colors may be "hot" for next Spring. All in all my best source for scheduling is a large manilla folder I keep with "last years" seed and cutting orders and sheets to show when I started certain seeds and cuttings on my own. Each sheet has a date written on the top and I keep them in monthly order in the file so I can look up from month to month what I need to order or start next. I keep a duplicate copy in my computer as a back up. I've been known to misplace a file or two! It's a pretty antiquated system to schedule plants but it works for me. Unfortunately I have a "growers mentality" and will do just about anything to be out in the greenhouses with the plants rather than inside doing paper work. Maybe it's generational. Though I am on my 7th. computer and even had an original "Radio Shack Tandy" the first year they came out to do a simple mailing list I tend to shy away from some of the newer technology as it sometimes appears to take up more time than doing a project manually. I tried a Nursery site on Facebook and did some twittering and found it totally useless for my business though it is now the rage. I received hundreds of "customer questions" from all over and found myself spending hours and hours answering plant questions from folks states away that would be better served going to their local nurseries. I also found that the younger folks left mindless comments like, "Whaz up" and "Howz t goin" on the site. I work a 12-14 hour work day like many other growers and find some of this new technology frivolous and not very productive. I've watched my nieces and nephews text their friends for hours on end and at the end very little if any "information" is passed on. I know other nurseries are "hot" to be on Facebook and Twitter but it makes no sense to me. Ok, off my soap box now!!! :) :) :)
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com
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Permalink Reply by Terri Pinder on -
Steve, We have been looking for a digital solution that will hold all the information you describe in one system. Right now we do costing in an Excel spreadsheet and use a file system to hold hard copies of orders by week. We recognize the need to streamline data management in order to elicit information on which to base ongoing decisions. Like Micheal we are a long time in this business, but have learned that if you don't keep a solid grip on your numbers you will end up working even harder at this than is necessary (which is hard enough!). I had looked at Project, but was not sure it would manage crop production scheduling--of course there are no templates for this online. . . I will look at it more closely, and am interested in learning more about your experieince. We grow annuals and other VERY short crops, so what ever we use has to be efficient to use on the data entry side, otherwise we will finish the crop before the data is in!
Any suggestions on where to start with Project?
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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Well I have started by ordering to used books on Amazon.com the first is from Que "Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Project 2003" and the second one is "
Microsoft Office Project 2003 Step by Step" (Microsoft) I ordered these because I own a copy of Project Professional 2003. I started in the Task section first though since I am new to Project I do not know if this is the correct approach yet. I have set up a bunch of custom fields to smooth the data entry side of things If you are interested after I get it a little further along I will send it to you.
Steve Mercer
Preston Greenhouse
Terri Pinder said:Steve, We have been looking for a digital solution that will hold all the information you describe in one system. Right now we do costing in an Excel spreadsheet and use a file system to hold hard copies of orders by week. We recognize the need to streamline data management in order to elicit information on which to base ongoing decisions. Like Micheal we are a long time in this business, but have learned that if you don't keep a solid grip on your numbers you will end up working even harder at this than is necessary (which is hard enough!). I had looked at Project, but was not sure it would manage crop production scheduling--of course there are no templates for this online. . . I will look at it more closely, and am interested in learning more about your experieince. We grow annuals and other VERY short crops, so what ever we use has to be efficient to use on the data entry side, otherwise we will finish the crop before the data is in!
Any suggestions on where to start with Project?
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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Hi Terri,
You will probably have to interface project to you Accounting's Order entery system. Are you using a computer based accounting system for order entry?
Terri Pinder said:Steve, We have been looking for a digital solution that will hold all the information you describe in one system. Right now we do costing in an Excel spreadsheet and use a file system to hold hard copies of orders by week. We recognize the need to streamline data management in order to elicit information on which to base ongoing decisions. Like Micheal we are a long time in this business, but have learned that if you don't keep a solid grip on your numbers you will end up working even harder at this than is necessary (which is hard enough!). I had looked at Project, but was not sure it would manage crop production scheduling--of course there are no templates for this online. . . I will look at it more closely, and am interested in learning more about your experieince. We grow annuals and other VERY short crops, so what ever we use has to be efficient to use on the data entry side, otherwise we will finish the crop before the data is in!
Any suggestions on where to start with Project?
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Permalink Reply by Eric Rohloff on -
Steve, We use Excel for production, scheduling, space management, crop budgeting and supply ordering. I made an excel wookbook that will give us all the info for these task after inputting all of our data. This wookbook is very large(365 MB). The wookbook was built to handle a large number of crops right up front so I didn't have to add any later. I can also input my weekly gas meter readings to get cost per sq/ft gas usage for each area being heated. I have it setup to print sowing and planting reports on a click of the mouse. As with any workbook it is an on going project. I tweak things when needed to add functionality. Paper was fine years ago when we did pretty much the same things every year. It became necessary to go digital when commitment numbers started coming later and later or the numbers would be changed at the last moment. Start with small sheets and tie them together with links and formulas. If your not an Excel super user, try to find a collage student to help you setup your spread sheets. Try Mr Excel as theres a lot of great info there. The best part about Excel is that the interface looks like what you would do on paper making the transition easier. For accounting we use Quick Books. My next project is to tie my workbook to it. I already have an Excel wookbook to print shipping tickets that we get from our broker already formatted. I just wish are broker would go digital. We recieve all of our orders by fax and input the numbers into an Excel count sheet. The data for the shipping tickets is set from the count sheet after all the orders have been entered. Let me know if I can help you with anything.
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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Hi Eric
I have Excel and yes I know how to use it! However, one big advantage that Project has over Excel is that it has a built in scheduling engine. Because it is part of Office it plays nice with other Office applications. Daily tasks can be linked to Outlook for daily to do lists. You can still use Excel for the heavy budgeting info.
s.
Eric Rohloff said:Steve, We use Excel for production, scheduling, space management, crop budgeting and supply ordering. I made an excel wookbook that will give us all the info for these task after inputting all of our data. This wookbook is very large(365 MB). The wookbook was built to handle a large number of crops right up front so I didn't have to add any later. I can also input my weekly gas meter readings to get cost per sq/ft gas usage for each area being heated. I have it setup to print sowing and planting reports on a click of the mouse. As with any workbook it is an on going project. I tweak things when needed to add functionality. Paper was fine years ago when we did pretty much the same things every year. It became necessary to go digital when commitment numbers started coming later and later or the numbers would be changed at the last moment. Start with small sheets and tie them together with links and formulas. If your not an Excel super user, try to find a collage student to help you setup your spread sheets. Try Mr Excel as theres a lot of great info there. The best part about Excel is that the interface looks like what you would do on paper making the transition easier. For accounting we use Quick Books. My next project is to tie my workbook to it. I already have an Excel wookbook to print shipping tickets that we get from our broker already formatted. I just wish are broker would go digital. We recieve all of our orders by fax and input the numbers into an Excel count sheet. The data for the shipping tickets is set from the count sheet after all the orders have been entered. Let me know if I can help you with anything.
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Permalink Reply by Steve on
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Hi Eric,
You mentioned your Broker and the lack of digital integration. This is probably a good subject for a separate discussion all together. The Greenhouse industry is about 20 years behind the rest of the business community (digitally speaking) I do not understand why we as an industry even need brokers anymore. Why not set up an E-commerce web-site and sell direct? The business community as a whole is very much on it's way to adopting this business model. If you don't think so just look at your local newspaper now as opposed to 20 years ago. My how it has shrunk. Our supply chain needs a major overhaul too. Why do we need Suppliers like BFG Supply anymore? We pay to have products shipped to their warehouse and then turn around and pay to have the products shipped to us. In an age where shipping cost keep spiraling upward, why not just order our supplies from the mfgrs (online through their web-sites of course) and have it shipped direct? It would certainly be more cost efficient. The Nursery industry is well on its way to adopting this business model. Though there are still Nursery Brokers out there. Many Nurseries market their products direct. And many have their own e-commerce web-sites. We are beginning to see the adoption of this business model in our industry starting with the seed companies. Now you can just log-on to Harris Seed or HPS's Web-site and order your seed on-line. Buy the way HPS has the very best E-commerce web-site I have ever seen in any industry. It is very well thought out and is very intuitive (for the buyer).
s.
Steve said:Hi Eric
I have Excel and yes I know how to use it! However, one big advantage that Project has over Excel is that it has a built in scheduling engine. Because it is part of Office it plays nice with other Office applications. Daily tasks can be linked to Outlook for daily to do lists. You can still use Excel for the heavy budgeting info.
s.
Eric Rohloff said:Steve, We use Excel for production, scheduling, space management, crop budgeting and supply ordering. I made an excel wookbook that will give us all the info for these task after inputting all of our data. This wookbook is very large(365 MB). The wookbook was built to handle a large number of crops right up front so I didn't have to add any later. I can also input my weekly gas meter readings to get cost per sq/ft gas usage for each area being heated. I have it setup to print sowing and planting reports on a click of the mouse. As with any workbook it is an on going project. I tweak things when needed to add functionality. Paper was fine years ago when we did pretty much the same things every year. It became necessary to go digital when commitment numbers started coming later and later or the numbers would be changed at the last moment. Start with small sheets and tie them together with links and formulas. If your not an Excel super user, try to find a collage student to help you setup your spread sheets. Try Mr Excel as theres a lot of great info there. The best part about Excel is that the interface looks like what you would do on paper making the transition easier. For accounting we use Quick Books. My next project is to tie my workbook to it. I already have an Excel wookbook to print shipping tickets that we get from our broker already formatted. I just wish are broker would go digital. We recieve all of our orders by fax and input the numbers into an Excel count sheet. The data for the shipping tickets is set from the count sheet after all the orders have been entered. Let me know if I can help you with anything.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Rohloff on
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Thanks for the input Steve. As far as scheduling my Excel work book has this all built in. You enter your crops into the dates needed for shipping then enter the weeks to finish. Excel will then auto populate everything from tags, plastic, media, transplanting and more. Sowing is handled the same way. I can also add a modual that gives man hours for sticking cuttings and transplanting.This is what really makes my workbook so big. The formulas are very powerful. I like Project but found that Excel for me offered more custom programing with VB. I add more functions to the workbook as needed and still make it a user friendly interface that anyone can understand and use. My next thing is to take it into it's own stand alone program using Java to make it a small file that I can carry on my phone or PDA.
I agree with you 100% about our industry getting up to speed digitally. There is a large gap with whats affordable to the small grower compared to the large one.
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Permalink Reply by Tara Herrera on -
Hi Steve, Michael, et all!
I just ran across this thread, and I am so glad you guys are talking about it.
First i'll say that this is the area of Hort in which I make my living. I am a grower-nursery manager with a Hort background that ended up in the cost analysis/numbers world of nursery production. Now I am a consultant and I help nurseries come up with customized solutions to these very problems/questions. Please check out my website if you want a little more info - www.herrerahort.com. Enough advertising!
I find Access to be the most comprehensive way to accomplish all of your goals listed above. I used to work in Excel, but I have now switched to Access. I have made a couple of custom databases for nurseries that can incorporate all of the different modules. You just need to spend some time at the front end inputting your key data and then the planning part becomes 'easy'. Excel is great but it is very cumbersome in the 'size' of the files. I believe someone mentioned that below. It is also very linear and not able to incorporate information from different areas easily. Access has a greater capability to work as a centralized clearing house for combining lots of different information - as long as there is one key that is the same. It's usually the Gen spe cult and size of the items you grow. You'll have to give each item in your catalog a unique identifier. That might take some time initially, but it is 100% worth it, especially when you use it for invoicing etc... Then you can incorporate all of your data in one place for planning, costing, space utilization, etc...
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by chad latta on
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I am currently working on a scheduling workbook using excel and am excited to see so many people using spreadsheets. My only concern is that I really dont even know where to start. I am pretty new to the industry and have found its very much a learn as you go position. Would anyone be willing to share a scheduling template? I would love to see how you have it set up and where I could take it from there.
Chad
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