If your operation is still using some combination of tools like Excel and QuickBooks or similar for running your grower or live goods operation you need to read this article.  

Tools like excel and QuickBooks provide a lot of flexibility but also introduce weaknesses into your information management if they are what you exclusively use.  

My purpose is not to bash Excel or QuickBooks at all – I use them both in their right context regularly. My purpose is to bring to light some of the reasons that you may benefit from by using dedicated solution for some of your business management needs.  

What is ERP Software 

ERP stands for “Enterprise Resource Planning.”  

An ERP system is a connected set of software programs that handle many aspects of planning, managing, reporting, and running your business. Tasks such as supplier purchase orders and raw material receipts, sales order management, inventory management, production and other key functions are part of what most standard ERP software systems offer.  

Some ERP systems include accounting and payroll modules as well.  

ERP software systems usually have some sort of reporting system to provide both basic pre-built basic reports as well as a method of creating new ones.  

How is Grower ERP Software Different? 

ERP software for growers is tailored to include features that apply to how growers run their operations. This could include things like adding grow time profiles (weeks to make) to production schedules, or for nursery operations things such as dig methods and costings for trees or shrubs.  

Handling customer SKU mapping to grower items and specific pricing and costing levels are also key parts that help grower.  

It may also include setup for specific units such as the way plug trays or liners are sold or specific racking or shelf factors or load factors for shipping finished goods to end customers.  

Why You Should Consider a Grower Software ERP System 

The Advanced Grower Solutions team have spoken with and converted many growers that were using some form of excel or QuickBooks type tools (or other similar homegrown solutions) to try to run their business.  Here are some of the main reasons to not do that.  

1) Edit control 

In Excel, any cell can be edited and saved unless specifically been marked as read only. Thus, you can accidentally overwrite key values that you may be using for costing or production.   Any sheet can be saved as another sheet and changed. Soon you may be playing the ‘who has the right version’ game – especially if multiple employees are involved.  

2) Multi-user  

Sure, you can send out copies of your key production excel spreadsheet easily through email. However, when your users open that they are looking at their own version. Thus, if a couple of folks have suggestions about changes and send them back you must make sure those are all merged back together correctly. This is tedious, time-consuming, and error prone.  

3) Bulk Record Edits 

The excel table and filtering features are powerful and allow you to edit records in bulk. But they can also shoot yourself in the foot.  

I recently worked with a greenhouse grower client who had a ‘ready to sell’ spreadsheet that had been updated and, due to tables and filtering and multi-user edits, it had added over 1,000,000 rows that were blank, putting the final lines of availability at the bottom of the sheet, unseen without applying a filter. This problem caused some confusion among the employees until the issue was identified and the spreadsheet was large.  

Now not all ERPs have bulk record edit capability, some do, and it is a good labor saver and accuracy improvement feature.  

4) Scale 

As your business grows it is more difficult to use manual tools like excel and quick books simply due to the volume transactions and business data and the number of users or employees you have.  

As you hire employees and have more ‘cooks in the kitchen’ keeping accurate versions and the correct information flowing is harder, requiring more coordination of file versions. Additionally, generating certain business to business documents such as purchase orders or sales orders is more manual than with a good grower software ERP system.  

5) Automation 

As your business grows and becomes more complex in the types and numbers of transactions, a good software system can help automate some of those transactions. Transactions such as receiving EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) data from your customers so you can easily see your sales metrics, automatically sending approved purchase orders to vendors and similar transactions can be done (once set up) automatically saving you and your staff time and money. These types of transactions are exceedingly difficult or impossible without the systems support of good grower ERP software. 

6) Integrations 

As growers service more clients and interact with more suppliers, integrating data between your system and theirs is becoming more important as technology progresses. A good software system will have some capability that will allow new integrations to be done so that you can speed up your interactions with suppliers, customers, and partners.  

7) Standard Processes 

As your business grows it is more important to have standard processes and common ways of doing your tasks so that other employees can be easily trained then use the tools to accomplish tasks. Standard processes help improve quality and allow you to begin to scale. A good software ERP system for growers will help provide some of those processes and help enforce them so that your set of transactions are done the same (correct) way and you will have some form of audit trail if things go off in the weeds.  

8) Security 

As your business grows, having login and audit control of many record types is beneficial, prudent, and sometimes can help identify problems with employees. Keeping business data secure is on everyone’s mind. A good grower ERP software system provides login control, security and data protection mechanisms which are part of an overall security plan.  

Bottom Line on Grower Software ERP 

Investing the time and money for the right Grower ERP can help your business overcome some of the obstacles of running a cadre of other tools. Once installed and running a Grower ERP system can save you time, and money and give you meaningful data insights to improve your business.  

Advanced Grower Solutions provides ERP solutions for Growers as well as consults growers who are considering a purchase or change to their system. Either way we are happy to talk with you about the decision and help guide you to what may be best for your business whether it is our branded software or not. Contact us today for more information.