Version 6D New Features (Released December 2011)

To Order online click here.

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Unparalleled feature cuts data entry time in ½

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Yes! This phenomenal update will save you 50% or more in time every month. It'll save you oodles and oodles of hours for the year.

Vendor preferences are automatic transactions that are recalled only when you want them. Each vendor can store the monthly transactions used most often for that vendor. You can specify a percentage to calculate and split an amount into multiple transactions. For example: the split between farm & personal electricity.

If you pay a fixed amount to a vendor every month you can specify the transaction as Dollars. For example: pay your Cable/Satelite Provider $43.50 each month. You could select Dollars and enter your Description and Item Code, and enter $43.50 for the Dollar Amount. Then when you enter Monthly Transactions the Dollar Amount is automatically input as $43.50.

The other way to Code a transaction like this is to select Percent, enter the Description and Item Code, and enter 100 for the Percentage. Using Percent will require you to enter the Total Dollar Amount when you add this transaction in monthly. Use Percent when the Monthly Amount frequently changes, for example the Cable or Satelite Bill. Frequently when you rent a special Movie, or Sporting Event, this changes the Monthly Bill on these occasions. So by making the percentage 100% it takes the Total Dollar Amount entered, and applies it to the individual transaction.

Vendor Preferences

Auto Bill Pay with Vendor Splits!

 

Ultra Farm Version 6D now includes the ability to input the monthly transactions routinely used for each vendor. The General Vendor Data Entry screen has changed to look like this. This example illustrates the use of percentages.

Multiple transactions can be input for a vendor.

 

 

This is the Checkbook Data Entry screen with a percentage vendor.

 

This will apply 70% of the total bill for the Farm Electric transaction and 30% for the personal transaction.

 

Auto Bill Pay with Vendor Splits!

 

This example illustrates the use of fixed dollar amount vendor preferences.

 

Single or multiple transactions can be input for a vendor. 

 

Vendors normally used for Income can be setup too!

 

Vendors with Preferences can be used in Payable & Receivable Data Entry Screens too!

 

Tip: For cable or Dish TV service, you could enter only one transaction with the monthly dollar amount. When you do your Checkbook Data Entry, just enter the vendor ID, then click Vendor Split and you will be finished inputting the check.

 

This is a huge time saver!

 

	Vendor Data Entry screen with fixed dollar amount for monthly health insurance.

 

 

In this Vendor Data Entry screen a fixed dollar amount is setup for the monthly health insurance premium.  When this vendor ID is entered in your monthly input you will only need to click the Vendor Split button to have this transaction entered for you.

 

WOW!  Press only 2 or 3 keys for the vendor ID and click a button to input monthly transactions. Now that's what I call a real time saver!

 

 

Monthly Checkbook Entry

 

Auto Fill Percentage Transactions based on Vendor!

 

The Monthly Data Entry screen has changed to look like this.  This example illustrates the use of a vendor preference previously setup using percentages.

 

Pick the vendor or enter the Vendor ID.

 

Then input the total amount for this vendor in the yellow box.

 

	Monthly Expense with total dollar amount to be split for farm and personal electricity.

 

The blue box displays $ Dollars to splità the yellow box appears when a percentage vendor is chosen.  In the yellow box enter the total dollar amount that will be split for this vendor.

 

Monthly Checkbook Entry

 

Auto Fill Percentage based on Vendor!

 

Clicking Vendor Split inputs the remaining data.

 

As soon as you click on the "Vendor Split" button the Item Category Description, Item Code, Enterprise, Quantity and # of head is copied from the Vendor preferences into the monthly Checkbook Data Entry Screen.  The amount calculated is based upon the percentages specified on the Vendor Data Entry screen. In this case, 70% for the farm share and 30% for the personal share.

 

Multiple transactions can be copied with just one click of the "Vendor Split" button.

 

If a vendor is picked that should not use any of the pre set transactions DO NOT click the "Vendor Split" button, instead begin to enter data as usual.

 

Monthly Checkbook Entry

 

 

Auto Fill Fixed dollar based on Vendor!

 

 

The Monthly Data Entry screen looks like the sample below.  This example illustrates the use of a vendor previously setup with fixed dollar amounts.

 

Pick the vendor or enter the Vendor ID.

 

Note: The Yellow box does not appear but the blue box under the "Vendor ID" has changed the message to Using $ Values.

 

Monthly Checkbook data entry screen after selecting the Health Insurance Vendor.

 

 

The screen above illustrates a vendor that used a fixed dollar amount. After entering the vendor ID (BX), No other input is required to complete this transaction. 

 

Only a click on the Vendor Split button is needed. (The results follow).

 

Monthly Checkbook Entry

 

Auto Fill Fixed dollar based on Vendor!

 

The transaction is copied from the Vendor preferences and put into the monthly Checkbook Data Entry at the time the button "Vendor Split" is clicked.

 

Result of clicking the Vendor Split button.

 

 

As soon as you click on the "Vendor Split" button the Item Category Description, Item Code, Item Point (H for Health), Quantity and # of head is copied from the Vendor preferences into the monthly Checkbook Data Entry Screen.  The amount is transferred directly from the Vendor Data Entry screen.

 

The transaction shown above can be changed in any way or deleted if you change your mind.  If a vendor is picked that should not use any of the pre set transactions. DO NOT click the Vendor Split button, instead begin to enter data as usual.

 

Investigate the new vendor list button on the Vendor view/list.

 

There are Two new lists.

·        Vendor name prints one line per vendor.

·        Only vendors that have preferences are listed.  Each transaction prints on a separate line with the item/category description and the item code.  Plus the $ amount or percentage is listed too!   

 

More Improvements in this update include:

 

Payroll FICA & Medicare Percentage Two new fields for the employer share were added on the Farm Name Screen.  Now the employee and the employer can have different percentage calculations. This will remedy the temporary 2011 procedure to handle unequal peercentages.

 

The View/List sort order is remembered between sessions.

 

CB Reconciliation: A new option to clear all prior year records with ONE click is in More Options > Trouble Shooting.

 

If you used Multiple Checking Accts the balances would incorrectly keep changing.  Now fixed.

Fiscal year farms now list the reconciliation in date order of your fiscal year instead of the calendar year.

An automatic backup is made every time you select this feature.  To rescue & use this copy contact our office. 

Version 6C Features also in Version 6D (Released November 2010)

Color Screen Support:
Each farm or each year on your computer can be set to a background screen color. For example when you close the year 2011 to 2012, you can go back to 2011 and change the color so you are less likely to accidentally input your data into the wrong year. You can also change the color of the new year 2012. If you do Cashflow Plans from Actual, then definitely change those upcoming years to a different color, this way you won't get changes into the wrong year.

Sorting the View List for Monthly Transactions:
Everyone has their preferred sort the list technique. Some customers liked the sorting used in version 6A, others like the sorting in version 6B. We added a new sort so there are 6 variations to pick from now. Hopefully the variations offered will arrange the transactions in the order you want.

Improvements in earlier version 6B also in version 6D (Released December 2009)

Dynamic Screen Redraw: When screen settings of 1024 x 768 or higher are used, the Ultra Farm  menus would display smaller in the upper left corner of the screen.  The change implemented in version 6A keeps the menus and text large as though the screen resolution is set to 800x600 even though it isn’t.  This change enables touch screen users a larger target area for faster inputting.

E-Mail your Data: When you backup your data compressed (zipped) to a USB memory stick we make a duplicate copy on the stick.  The file name is “yyyy_FBM_FarmName.txt”.  (yyyy = year).  When you want to send your data to your Tax Accountant or Farm Management Instructor, you can send this file as an attachment.  Look for it on the stick in the folder “Backup_UltraFarm”.  Your instructor will need to contact us for the proper procedure to import your data onto his computer.

Monthly View List Sorts:  When sorting by vendor, vendor names that were the same should have sorted by date too!  So now all checks for the same vendor are sorted by date also.  Fixed in Version 6A.

Check Number spinner:  When clicking the up/down arrows to change the check number, then click Add New,  the new check number was incorrect.  (But if the + and – keys were used it was correct.)  Now fixed.

Calendar on more screens:   Added the calendar for the due dates on Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Wages Payable.

Inventory Category Missing:  163 Stocks & Bonds was missing from the Investments category list.  Now included.

Accts. Payable Due Date:  The last due date keyed was not carrying forward to the next session.  Now fixed.

Check Writing: On Payroll check stubs the date printed was always todays’ date. Even when the check date was different, the stub still printed the computer date.  This is now fixed in version 6A.

Improvements in earlier version 5G also in version 6D (Released January 2008)

Windows Vista Compliant:  Fixes the conflict when certain versions of Microsoft Office would cause Ultra Farm to terminate because of a license conflict with MS Office.

Calendar for Report Printing: Entering report period beginning & ending dates is now easier with a popup calendar.

Export / Import Months from/to a different farm: It’s now possible to keep separate tax years and crop years by moving the data from one farm to another. It’s even possible to have another farm that always has the most recent rolling 12 months no matter when your tax year ends.

Globally replace Enterprise numbers: Sometimes you discover that you did something wrong for the whole year.  Frequently this involves Enterprising.  The following circumstances can save you considerable time fixing your mistake.

Balance sheet Beginning of the new year Report: Versions 5F and earlier picked up the January 31 money borrowed balance instead of the beginning of the year balances. (The same balances as the prior year ending money borrowed.)  Now fixed.

Accounts Payable Fix: The date acquired on the record just before “Add New” was clicked sometimes the date acquired would change.

Write Checks: Added the total Amount of the checks marked to print. This appears at the top of the Accounts Payable check marking screen.

Checkbook Reconciliation: When the computed checkbook balance was incorrect, you could enter a new balance, but the computer never saved the new balance. Now the new adjustment is used throughout the year.

Monthly Transactions Dates - Check Numbers - Item Codes:

Monthly transaction Date (Month & day) - Changed the date spinner (arrows or plus-minus keys) so that it is not necessary to key a new month after the spin reached the end of the prior month. Now the spin goes through all days and months of the year.

Monthly Check Numbers - Added number spinner (arrows or plus-minus keys) so if the auto check numbering is not correct because of voided checks, you can just click up a few numbers rather than having to re-key the whole number.

Correcting an Item Code in Monthly - On existing records, it’s sometimes necessary to change an item code.  If you click in the field, it reacts as though you want to change just one number.  Most customers prefer to retype the complete 3 digits for a new code.  Pressing the F2 key darkens the item code cell so you can reenter the 3 digits. 

Removable Drive Letters: Expanded the drive letters to be D-R.  Letter J was missing, but now all letters DR are usable.

Delete Farm after Backup: This question always appeared after a save to a floppy or removable media.  Since the most common reply is NO, this question no longer is asked. For shared computers, it can be turned on by the user.

Includes Improvements in earlier version 5F (Released January 2006)

Backup your data to Removable Media: Many new computers come standard without a floppy disk drive. 

You can Load & Save your data to CD’s, USB Flash Drives, USB Jump Drives, USB Memory Sticks, USB Thumb Drives and Zip drives.  The drive letters D through L are enabled for this purpose.  Many years worth of data can be stored on one USB Drive. You can switch back & forth using different devices if you want.  You can still use floppy disks too! 

What's the best back up media?

With Windows7, Vista or XP, many of the CD or DVD drives are designed to store photos or play movies.  It’s easy for you to attempt to backup your data onto the wrong form of media.  For best results we recommend the USB Flash Drives, USB Jump Drives, USB Memory Sticks, USB Thumb Drives. These drives do not require formatting prior to use.

Close the Year Fixes:

Checkbook Balances: Some customers that had loans setup belonging to a specific checkbook (i.e.:CB#1). When payments were made from a different checkbook  the payments from the non owner checkbook (i.e.: CB#2-5) were ignored.  This resulted in the beginning money borrowed balances for the new year to be incorrect.  Even though the End of the year money borrowed report was correct. The sum of all the checkbook balances was correct, but the individual checkbooks showed up with incorrect balances.  This is now fixed in version 5F.

Cashflow & Item Code Points: Version 5E.3 treated transactions with points incorrectly when automatically creating a cashflow for the new year.  Also two transactions with the exact same information caused one of them to be used & the other ignored.  Now handled correctly.

Checkbook Reconciliation: Some checks that were marked cleared were still being rolled over to the new year & there was no way to get rid of them. Now handled correctly in 5F.

Vendor Input Screens: The zip code pick lists for General, Money Borrowed & Labor have been refined.  Version 5E didn’t always let you fix a mistake. Adding a new item to the list now lets you change it to blank if you previously had a value. 

Trouble Shooting: Added more cleaning up of your data.  If you have too many reports listed in your report printing menu, they will be removed when you go to “7. More Options”, “ 5. Trouble Shooting”, “5. Fix Corrupted Farm”.  Also if you have trouble with Accounts Payable, running “Fix Corrupted Farm” may correct the problem.

Double Click in the Item Favorites List: Currently when you already have an item and an item code in the Item Category/Item cells, then click on a favorite, only the item code changes.  But what if I wanted the category name to change too?  The solution is to Double click.  A double click will replace both the item category name & the item code.

View/List Sort Order: The last sort order within a session is remembered so that each time you click View/List, the list is in the same order as the previous sort.  So if you want the sort on Vendor it always stays on Vendor until it’s resorted.  If you sorted on $ amount then it always stays sorted by $ amount until a new sort is requested.

Licensing Problems: Some customers experienced difficulty licensing version 5E.  It was necessary go back to the older version 5D.2 until we found a solution.  The licensing has been changed so it will not get the “Failure to send license over your network error”.  There are still some anti-spy ware programs that you should not use or they should be modified to leave your Ultra Farm Folder alone.  The following programs may cause you problems. Adaware, WebRoot Spy Sweeper, Norton Speed Disk, & Disk Keeper.

Includes Improvements in earlier version 5E (Released December 2004)

Close the Year Fixes:

Money Borrowed: Loans are setup belonging to a specific checkbook (i.e.:CB#1). When payments were made from a different checkbook  the payments from the non owner checkbook (i.e.: CB#2-5) were ignored.  This resulted in the beginning money borrowed balances for the new year to be incorrect.  Even though the End of the year money borrowed report was correct.

Cash Flow Plan: A cash flow plan made for the new year and then modified was getting unexpectedly changed on close the year.  Only Expense cash flow plans remained intact after a year end close.  This problem only became apparent if you chose Keep Existing Plan when you closed the year.

Item Codes & Enterprise Codes Pick list: The pull down lists for Item/Category Description;  Item code;  and Enterprise Code have been changed to match your favorites.  The reason for this is so the pick list is not so long and filled up with items/enterprises not important to the user.  If you key in a code that’s available but not one of your favorites, a message box is displayed with the option to add it to your favorites.  To clean up their favorites they can go to “Input Information”,  “Personalized Descriptions” from the Main Menu.

Print your Favorite Item Codes & Enterprises: After modifying your Personalized Items or Enterprises, you may want to print them to keep with you for handy reference.  There are many different styles & sequences.  You can print to the screen prior to printing on paper.  A print button was added to the bottom of the screen.

Check Number Stuck: The automatic check number incrementing was completely redesigned in an attempt to eliminate this frustrating Microsoft bug.  If you choose to not use a check number, then the program will not try to make you use a check number again until you key one in.

Checkbook Reconciliation: The default check book is #1. We fixed a bug that if you printed the report, the total printed could be missing the last outstanding check unless it was marked cleared, but the screen was OK.  This is fixed in 5E.

View/List Sort Order: The last sort order within a session is remembered so that each time the user clicks View/List, the list is in the same order as the previous sort.  So if you want the sort on Vendor it always stays on Vendor until it’s resorted  If you sorted on $ amount then it always stays sorted by $ amount until a new sort is requested.

Key the point without the Mouse: In an attempt to make the monthly data entry faster, we purposely did not allow the cursor to stop on the point (sub-account after the item code) instead we expected the user to use the mouse.  We caught hell from those customers that key the point frequently.  They didn’t want to take their hands off the keyboard.

To make the cursor stop on the point Press F7.  F7 activates the stop on  point condition.  When the stop on point is active the point column will be yellow.  Press F7 anytime to turn the stop OFF so the cursor no longer will stop there.  The mouse can be used at any time if you prefer.

Vendor Input Screens: The city, state & zip pick lists for General, Money Borrowed & Labor have been refined.  Version 5D.2 didn’t always add a new item to the list and may not let you change it to blank if you previously had a value.  The city name was treated as two different cities if the first letter was a capital letter (upper case) as opposed to a small letter (lower case).

Add New Reminder: With Ultra Farm for Windows all your records are saved automatically when you quit data entry.

Depending on how you quit, we found that some customers wanted a reminder to click the Add New button. The next time you start a  monthly transactions input session, a reminder message will pop up for the expense screen only.  (It always starts with expense for checkbook 1).

If you finish the detail line (you last keyed the $, enterprise, quantity or head) and clicked Quit, then the next time you launch Ultra Farm to key monthly records, the program brings you to the last place you were when you quit.  If you are not careful, it’s easy to type over the last entry by mistake.  In this case the program will provide a friendly reminder that you need to click Add New before entering new records.

If you finish the detail line (you last keyed the $, enterprise, quantity or head) and clicked Add New, then clicked Quit, the next time you launch Ultra Farm to key monthly records, the program brings you to the last place you were when you quit.  In this case you never keyed anything into this record when you quit so it’s OK to start keying onto this screen.  The program does not offer any reminders in this case.

In Summary: Income, payroll, and both Non cash Tabs (when clicked) will not show a message.  They work the same as version 5D.2  If you click these Tabs and click back to Expense the message will not show.

The message will show when the last transaction you keyed on the previous session was an expense screen that had  an item code & dollar amount displayed when you quit (exited).

From the Data Entry Expense screen if you click View/List, then View/Edit you will not see the message.  But if you click View/List, then Data Entry you will see the message.

The message goes away once you click Add New for the expense screen.

Report Printing Menu: Prevented the user from getting in a “locked up” condition.  This was caused by accidentally adding several reports with no name and getting a “Report Type” of blank which sometimes gave an error message about a validation rule and wouldn’t let you continue.

Inventory Report: Corrected market/cost values for livestock sold to be -0- instead of the original value before sale.

Trial Balance Report: Changed the sort order to be the same order as keyed when the dates are the same.

Money Borrowed Report: The printing sequence of the Money Borrowed Report was date within CB#.  It’s been changed ..Now it’s CB# within date. This now matches the way our old DOS printed.

Report Added: The Cash Flow plan/actual by quarter is available from the list of reports.

Balance Sheet: The profit or loss that prints on the farm P&L is now transferred to the equity section of the balance sheet if no user input is detected.

Fin Pack Export: Added the 2 missing files that were absent on version 5D.2.

Check Writing Fixes:

Blank Item descriptions no longer put check writing in an endless loop.

If a vendor ID in General is the same as one in Money Borrowed and you are writing a check for both of them, a warning message tells the user the amounts will be added together.

Mark checks to print now sorts by  due date within vendor.

Close the year with 5D.2 did not copy the custom check style & next check # into the new year.  This is fixed on version 5E.

Accounts Payable: When using the view/list, the Vendor sort didn’t work.  This is now working correctly.

Order On-Line

Get your complete Ultra Farm version 6D CD that is Windows 7 Compliant and has the new Screen Color Choices, plus all prior updates for only $225.00 and continue getting Free Technical Support when you update. To order your software via credit card on-line we offer Secure Server to guarantee the utmost in confidentiality. If you need help shopping visit our Shopping Tips and then place your order.

For all of you Growers, be sure to take a look at the free "My Field" Crop and Field History Demo. "My Field" Crop Records is designed so you can input as little or as much information as desired.  Each producer can utilize different components in such a way as to satisfy their requirements.

"My Field" monitors your Seed, Fertilizer & Chemical costs per crop, field, and acre. Utilizes FSA or Google Earth Maps. Chemical mix formulations. EPA compliant. Break–even analysis reports by crop or field. Multiple year history and Landlord Reports.