TimeSmart software has been around in one form or another for over 10 years, with Time and Attendance and Full Job Costing being our cornerstone features.
In 2015, AgriSmart was tailored to address certain pain points around staff management in the New Zealand Dairy Industry. This was to specifically deal with Time and Attendance, Minimum Wage requirements, Leave measurements based on specific roster requirements (peculiar to the Dairy Industry), Payroll, and Health & Safety. As a result, AgriSmart maintains a leading market presence in the NZ Dairy Industry.
For some time, AgriSmart has been developing new technology for Horticulture which is nearing completion.
The AgriSmart Horticulture module will be a Full Staff Management application built for NZ Horticulture. Our development focus is reliant on considerable inputs from a handful of NZ horticulture businesses.
AgriSmart offers a solution to replace manual Time and Attendance and all the manual measures thereafter, by offering an automated Data Chain as below:
Manual Data Chain
The old world of manual paper-based time entry necessitates time data be touched several times throughout its lifecycle. It may be added to Jobs to be billed, paid breaks, and the measurement of minimum wage. Thus, formulas need to be manually applied at multiple points, which is time consuming in itself.
Manual timesheets individually represent time and production figures – units picked, cut, pruned, plucked, thinned, and harvested. The relative cost of that production are numbers manually derived from those initial timesheets.
Automated Data Chain
With AgriSmart, all production numbers are collated from the time entered. From here, this data flows through to the hourly rates of pay for piece rates, wages, or both, for all employees, for any length of time. This is all automated from the initial online time and production data from the field – simple!
Old System Process vs. AgriSmart Process
| OLD SYSTEM PROCESS | AGRISMART PROCESS |
|---|---|
| Paper entries for time and units from the field | Time, units, and job are entered into the device and units are apportioned independently or collectively |
| Paper gets to the office somehow | The office checks the accuracy online |
| The paper data is entered into multiple spreadsheets to work out rates, pay paid breaks, minimum wage, deductions, and payments | All measures are automated with time and units to Jobs (where applicable) |
| Time and units are entered against the Job if billing forward | The data is assimilated into various reports |
| Summaries are either exported or manually entered into Payroll | The Payroll module processes the pay in 5 steps |
| Payslips are printed | Payslips are viewed in AgriSmart |
AgriSmart Time and Attendance Flow
Horticulture module also offers the following:
- Crop Costing
- Fully Integrated Payroll
- Health & Safety
- Storage of Staff Documents
- Employee Skill Sets & Training
Adapting to Unpredictability
While peak seasons may be somewhat predictable, all three industries must also contend with unexpected challenges. Farmers face sudden weather changes, accountants deal with last-minute regulatory updates, and startups navigate rapidly shifting market conditions. I’m striving to refine my ability to adapt quickly and maintain composure under pressure – I believe that is a hallmark of successful leaders in these fields.
If you are looking for a solution that will reduce human error, deal with time only once, and ensure you have a clear management overview that works for your horticulture business (be it large or small), then contact us to discuss this. We look forward to hearing from you.