DECEMBER 2010
Email: mail@fairport.com.au
T: 08 93675814
F: 08 93675823
IN THIS ISSUE
Welcome
Roger’s Ramblings
Staff Matters
What’s New?
Backing Up - Precision data
Dealer News
In Closing
Welcome
Season’s Greetings from us all here at Fairport. What a crazy year 2010 has been! Here in Western Australia we’re seeing extreme drought conditions while in the Eastern half an amazingly good growing year now followed up with floods, just as harvest is supposed be under way. A Winston Churchill saying that I was reminded of earlier this year hit the spot for me … "If you're going through hell, keep going".
Let’s hope 2011 is a good one!
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The past three months have been as intense as ever here at Fairport HQ. Probably the biggest news from our perspective is the completion of the translations of PAM to both Spanish and Portuguese. In this game every job seems to end up being much bigger than you first think. This job was certainly no exception.
The translators spent over 600 hours on their part of this project and we have needed to do almost as many hours here in our office as well, pulling it all together. Inquiries from South America are already coming through, so we’re hoping our new man in Argentina will be busy making plenty of sales in 2011 and beyond.
Our Pocket PAM 2 project is progressing quite well. This is not being done on a full-time basis, but as time permits. Some of the new Pocket PAM modules are already in use on a trial basis here in Australia and in the USA. One of the "flavours" of this new suite of software is one which is designed to run on the new styles of tablet computers.
The Pocket PAM 2 version of our gpsScout software, in conjunction with gpMapper "Live" is being trialled in Florida in citrus orchards where the growers need to be able to navigate back to trees affected by the Citrus Greening Disease (Huanglongbing) to monitor the symptoms. As these orchard blocks can be 100 acres or more, rediscovering these diseased trees can be a challenge with GPS technology (and of course some good mapping software!)
Fairport continues to support Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars by contributing annually towards the cost of a young farmer attending the Rural Leadeship course at the Ducht College in Devon, UK. Our most recent sponsoree was Andrew Bouffler, "Valera", Lockhart, NSW. In Andrew's own words …
"The course focused on identifying the skills and attributes required for effective leadership and why going forward strong leadership will be vital for Agriculture’s future and success. The course content was a mixture of interesting, challenging and motivational lectures blended with both inside and outside hands on activities.
Personally it was an incredible opportunity to step out of the day to day issues of owner/managing a mixed farm through what has virtually become a decade of drought in Southern NSW and obtain a global big picture perspective on agriculture. The story was very positive".
We wish Andrew the best of luck in his future endeavours and look forward to hearing from our next sponsoree.
Henry, our Business Development Manager continued moving around the USA over the past months focusing mainly on the horticulture sector. Now that we have PAM in Spanish, opportunities will open up even further.
Mikhail, our mapping and precision farming developer will be returning from Russia to Australia as soon as he gets his passport and visa organised (early in 2011).
While in Russia, Mikhail displayed PAM and the Precision Data Processor software at a three day Farm Field Day in Siberia during the last week of October. There was great interest. Many farmers have tractors equipped for precision farming, but have not seen it in action. For example, John Deere has sold 110 tractors in that area with Greenstar II on board devices. A farmer who grows 11,000 Ha of crop will be trialling our software during the next growing season.
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"Precision Data Processor"
For a number of reasons we have decided to rationalise the naming of our precision farming data processing and analysing software options. Our developer (Mikhail) has been referring to the module as the "Precision Data Processor" for some time, so we have decided to make it formal!
The precision farming module that can be added to your PAM software is now officially called the Precision Data Processor" or "PDP (for short)
The name "FarmStar" is now to be used only for one purpose. The old FarmStar Lite is now called "FarmStar Precision Data Processor"
Those of you using this software will also be familiar with the name "Smart Machines". This name refers to the special data importing interfaces (or data importing "engines") that talk to the multitude of on board devices.
The current PDP version available on the Fairport web site is 2.7.3. A lot of improvements have been done within the PDP in the recent months and over the summer more and more releases will be made available with more and more features.
Due to client demand, we will be incorporating the PDP module into the PAM Enterprise system early in 2011.
PAM QA+ -has had plenty of features added to PAM or issues fixed since our last newsletter.
To keep abreast of all features and fixes in PAM, you can view this evolving list always on the fairport web site.
The list can be ‘got at’ from the Support Page/Additions & Fixes page.
Backing Up Your Precision Farming Data
As you would be aware, our software has data backup and restore facilities built in. However, for those of you using the Precision Data Processor, backing up your various precision farming datasets is something you must take care of yourselves (at present).
Our software creates a folder called Precision Data, directly underneath your PAM folder (or FarmStar folder if you are using the FarmStar software).
The "Precision data" folder holds all the data and images created by the Precision Data Processor software. To back up all this data manually to a USB ("Thumb") drive, here are the steps:
Option 1 Backup the data to a thumb drive or external drive (uncompressed)
Using My Computer (or Windows Explorer), navigate your way to the PAM folder (usually in the C: Drive), open the PAM folder, then locate the Precision Data folder.
Now, click on the folder name with your Right mouse button and choose the option "Send To..." then choose the "Thumb" drive from the sub-menu (it’s usually listed at the bottom).
Option 2 Backup the data to a thumb drive (compressed which is recommended if you have a lot of data)
Using My Computer (or Windows Explorer), navigate your way to the PAM folder in the C: Drive, open the PAM folder, then locate the Precision Data folder.
Now, click on the folder name with your Right mouse button and choose the option "Send To..." then choose "Compressed (zipped) folder" from the sub-menu.
The file that will be created will be saved to the PAM folder with the name: "Precision Data.zip".
To copy that file to your "Thumb" drive, open the PAM folder and locate the file that has been created (Precision Data.zip). Right click on it and choose "Send To..." then choose the "Thumb" drive from the sub-menu.
If you need to transfer the precision data from one computer to another, it is important to copy the files to same folder on the destination computer.
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Dear Clients ... As the holiday season approaches, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued partnership.
May your holiday season and the new year be filled with much joy, happiness and success.
We look forward to working with you in the coming year and hope our business relationship continues for many years to come.
We will remain open through the Christmas break for PAM/Phoenix and hardware support.
Please email or phone bookings for PAM/Phoenix Training for the New Year.
Happy holidays!
Please contact Don on 93988707 or don@boothtech.com.au to register interest.
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The end of another year already.
I understand a lot of you nearly have webbed feet around QLD & NSW, but I am so glad the topic of conversation has changed from drought and hope that the available water brings in some great crops.
TRAINING
Training will be high on the agenda throughout NSW & QLD early in 2011. The training program will be running under FarmReady subsidisation. If you would like to find out more about the group sessions, please contact AG IT on (07) 3802 1458 or drop us an email (paul@agit.com.au)
NEW PRODUCTS
Fairport have quite a few new & improved products coming to the fore in 2011 and we are very keen to see what they have & how they can improve on some already great data management systems.
SEASONS GREETINGS
We would like to thank all AG IT Clients yet again for their support over 2011, and look forward to working with you again in the new year. There are some exciting new changes being made in the new year so keep your ears to the ground.....
AG IT will be taking some time off from 25th Dec 10th Jan, although emails will be checked.
Paul Olsen
Ag IT
Ph/Fax: (07) 3802 1458
Mobile: 0419 727 086
Sales & Support: 1800 658 998
email: paul@agit.com.au
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Everyone at Capitis Accounting Solutions would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Harvest has finally got under way in the grain belt, after a very frustrating couple of weeks of daily thunderstorms and tropical weather, with major rainfall events resulting in flash flooding and downgraded crops in a number of areas. On top of that, we are now dealing with locusts, which seem to be getting worse on a daily basis. If you have been affected by any of this, we hope that the damage has been minimal, and that you can still finish with a reasonable result, even though a lot of the potential may now have been lost. We really empathise with you, and we hope that you can get the rest of the harvest off incident free.
We are excited to now offer a range of on-line courses for PAM users, tailored to individual parts of PAM (i.e cropping, livestock, mapping etc). These courses will be available from early 2011, and gives everyone the opportunity to gain a few more skills and knowledge on the use and functions of PAM software. Unfortunately, the FarmReady Scheme has been fully subscribed for the 2010/2011 year and no rebates will be available on courses, but we have priced them very competitively, and still think they represent value for money. For a full list of upcoming courses, please visit our website by clicking the following link;
Capitis Business Software Training Courses
We will also be out and about over the next few months at a lot of the Field Days coming up, and we would love to see you there and catch up in person. At this stage, we will be at the following Field Days;
Seymour Alternative Farm Expo |
Feb 18-20 |
Wimmera Machinery Field Days |
Mar 1-3 |
Lucindale Field Days |
Mar 18-19 |
FarmWorld Warragul |
Mar 24-27 |
We hope to see you there and hope all goes well for the rest of the harvest!!
Paul Drendel & the team at Capitis Accounting Solutions.
35 McLachlan Street
Horsham VIC 3400
p 5381 1655
f 5382 6238
m 0427 373656
e paul.drendel@capitis.com.au
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The Fairport office will be closing over the Christmas New Year period. We will be away from the end of Thursday 23rd of December and we will be all back at work on January the 4th. However, urgent emails to support@fairport.com.au will be monitored.
Meanwhile: Until March 2011 ... Cheers! from the Fairport Team & have a happy and safe festive season!!
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