In this BULLETIN we discuss:
ACCLIPSE BENCHMARKIT/RED SKY SINGLE SOFTWARE SOLUTION
We are approaching a release of our new joint venture software solution with Acclipse BenchmarkIT. The final stages of fine tuning and testing have taken much longer than we expected and we thank you for your patience. Everyone has been keen to launch the software at the earliest possible date although it is essential that we have all the bugs ironed out prior to release. We are currently testing the integration of Red Sky with BenchmarkIT so that data can be passed seamlessly between the programs for final report generation. This is now in it’s the final stages and all significant development work is now complete. We will notify you as soon as we have a firm release date.
NEW ZEALAND 2004/05 DAIRY BENCHMARKS RELEASED
We have updated our 2004/05 New Zealand (all districts) benchmarks as well as releasing new benchmarks for Waikato & Taranaki. Also just released are our 2004/05 NZ (all districts) 50/50 Sharemilker benchmarks. We would normally expect all of these to be released over the November/December period at the latest however the software development program had affected our ability to produce benchmarks. We will shortly have some benchmarks for Canterbury, Northland, Manawatu/Wairarapa and Southland.
The updated 2004/05 NZ (all districts) benchmarks are little changed from our earlier release. Grazing costs are lower in the latest benchmarks, and the average “cash” price received for milk is a little higher at $4.35/kgMS. We would suggest that the most relevant milk price comparisons may be with the full declared price ($4.59/kgMS for Fonterra) or a medium term “average” milk price of $4.00/kgMS. We have lifted our suggestion for a medium term “average” milk price from $3.85 to $4.00/kgMS. To keep the synchronised file size down we have dropped the $3.85/kgMS option, although this is still available to be retrieved as a separate file.
All NZ benchmarks are listed at www.redskyagri.com/links/redsky_1_85.php
NEW ZEALAND 2004/05 SHEEP & BEEF BENCHMARKS RELEASED
We have released our 2004/05 New Zealand (all districts) benchmarks. The majority of the NZ Sheep & Beef benchmark data has been provided by Baker & Associates of Masterton. We are continuing to develop the reports for sheep, beef & cropping farmers in particular, as well as developing some new visual “dot” assessments of farm business performance. These “dot” assessment reports include no numbers and highlight a small number of Key Performance Indicators and Key Profit Drivers so that farmers can readily see where the largest opportunities for improvement in their business are.
All NZ benchmarks are listed at www.redskyagri.com/links/redsky_1_85.php
AUSTRALIAN 2004/05 DAIRY BENCHMARKS RELEASED
We have released our 2004/05 Victorian and Tasmanian benchmarks. The Victorian benchmarks are split between Gippsland, Northern Victoria and South-Western Victoria. We would normally expect all of these to be released over the November/December period at the latest however the software development program had affected our ability to produce benchmarks.
The benchmarks include both actual milk prices for the 2004/05 year as well as medium term “average” milk prices of around $7.00/kgMF. Although we have lifted our suggestion for a medium term “average” milk price from $6.60-$6.80/kgMF to around $7.00/kgMF, this is very dependent on size of property and milk supply pattern.
We have been contracted to provide PIRSA (Primary Industries & Resources South Australia) with an analysis of their dairy industry over April-June 2006. This will result in us providing benchmark performance for the South Australian dairying industry. You should have access to this new set of data by June/July.
We will shortly produce crossbred sheep, beef & merino benchmarks for the Southern Tablelands (NSW) thanks to our involvement with Boyce Chartered Accountants. We will also produce crossbred sheep, beef & merino benchmarks for South-Western Victoria, which will include Red Sky data combined with the DPI Farm Monitor Project published benchmarks.
All Australian benchmarks are listed at www.redskyagri.com/links/redsky_1_137.php
CONTINUING DEVLOPMENT OF REPORT METHODOLOGY FOR ANALYSING FARM BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Over time we have continued to shorten our reports so that they were easier for farmers to interpret. The latest development of this has been the removal of all numbers and a visual depiction of a small number of KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) and KPD’s (Key Profit Drivers). The layout of this type of report makes it straightforward for anyone (farmer or rural professional) to identify the areas in a farm business that should provide the most significant improvements in profit is addressed.
We have developed these reports for dairy, sheep & beef businesses. There are also versions for accountants who complete the “Financial Only” version of Red Sky as well as consultants who complete “Financial & Physical”. To view some examples of these reports go to:
HELPFUL TIPS
The Summary report has been primarily designed to be printed as a “Summary Only” whereas most other reports are designed to be printed in full. The “Summary Only” checkbox is at right mid-screen in the print screen, and this shortens the report to provide the key ratios that a farmer would be most interested in reviewing. The much smaller number of ratios integrates well with the new “dot” assessment report.
Please never use Task Manager to crash out of Red Sky during synchronise. Red Sky has been designed to stop the synchronise process if there are any problems (and produce an error message), as well as to timeout after a period if our server does not respond for some reason. However you will always view the words “Not Responding” in Task Manager during normal synchrony as almost all the activity is happening on our server while your computer is effectively idly waiting for a stream of data to be returned from our server.
If you would like further information on any matter relating to Red Sky then please contact us at feedback@redskyagri.com