Argos Software’s Grower-Processor-Packer-Shipper software is designed and built around the specific requirements of the industry. It is particularly well suited to shippers who process/pack/ship their own product or product they have purchased from others. It supports receiving product from the field, packing and/or processing product, storing, sales, shipping, and grower payments.

Inventory Management is crucial in tracking product from the field through your facility to the distributor and ultimately to the consumer. Each lot coming from the field needs to be tracked by lot with the processed/packed product also being tracked by lot. This may or may not be the same as the field lot code. This allows the packaged lot to be tracked in your facility by location, if desired, and assigned to orders and shipped at the lot level. Using handheld computers to receive, pack and ship adds to the ease and accuracy of this requirement. Where the grower is paid based on the sale of his product, this needs to be separately tracked as another dimension of the inventory detail. A full recap is provided of each lot in terms of receipts, shipments, usage and adjustments.

Sales Orders manages the sales process from quotes through orders, confirmations, lot assignment, picking, delivery, invoicing, and related payables. Your business rules are applied as it relates to lot availability and assignment, credit, pricing, discounts, commissions, and payables at each stage of the order process. Orders can be linked to production, if required. Customer and order specific information is quickly available in the entry screens such as sales history, credit information, item/lot availability, substitute items, pricing, open orders for the item being ordered, production status of order, and drop ship status. Payments may be entered against the order at any time and update your cash account. Forms can be printed, faxed or emailed from the entry screen in a format pre-agreed with the customer. Orders requiring that you arrange shipping can be managed through the delivery management option. Various picking and staging options exist, both as printed forms as well as handheld computer processes. Orders may to split for shipment at any time. Consignment and drop ship orders can be handled. Once the order is confirmed as complete, it updates the Receivables, Inventory, Commissions and Grower Payables (Settlements) and Accounting modules.

Commissions and Grower Payables based on sales is handled in the Settlements module. The sales invoice calculates and tracks the payable and transfers this to Settlements once the invoice is final. Advances based on pending sales can also be generated. Additional payments, advances, reimbursements and deductions can be added for the salesperson or grower. The open items can be converted into a settlement based on a date range. This can either be based on the open item regardless of date or based on cash received on the sales order related to the payable.

Purchase Orders may be used to manage the direct purchase of grower product as well as supplies. For grower product, it can be received with or without a purchase order and with prices either being pre-set or determined later based on quality, market conditions and other factors. For supplies, the purchasing process can be managed from requisitions through quotes, purchase orders, and receiving. Requisitions may be used to plan your purchasing for a selected time period and then released as purchase orders to one or multiple vendors, as appropriate. This may be required, for example, for packaging materials. Historical vendor pricing is available and vendors may be ranked by price, performance and other factors. The purchase order can be built from the requisitions, entered directly or generated based on inventory availability and reorder levels. Your business rules can be applied to the process, including approval, purchasing limits, purpose, receiving rules for items, lots and locations, and handling. Both inventory availability and cost are updated with the receipt while the payables and accounting are updated once the invoice has been confirmed and matched against the receipt. Reports and analytical tools exist to help you understand your purchasing, vendor performance and history.

Production Management allows you to plan your production and release it to processing/packing, as appropriate. Or, each lot may simply be put into production. In either case, the production activities can be tracked along with the inventory used and the resulting pack-out tracked by lot. During the production process, the expected pack-out can be tracked as pending inventory availability. Where appropriate, the planned production activities can be built into Work Orders with the results updating the production lot record and the planned follow-on activities. If production is tracked at this level of detail, it provides a detailed resource for analyzing the difference between different varieties, growers, production methods, input types and levels, and so on. The pack out results are used to update the inventory with quantities and locations

These enterprise modules integrate with the accounting modules. Accounts Receivable provides full management of open receivables, sales tax reporting, sales and payments history and analysis, and collections management. Accounts Payable provides full open payables management along with purchase and payments history and analysis. Accounting provides the financial and cost accounting summary and historical details posted from each module, from journal entries and from outside sources. Various reports and drill down screens are available to view this information along with reports specifically formatted as General Ledger, Fund Accounting, and Cost Accounting reports. All of the accounting information is maintained on both an accrual- and cash-basis and is available separately in all relevant reports, along with quantity information. Budgets can be entered at any level and used in the financial and cost accounting reports. All cash account activity posts to the Bank Reconciliation with an ability to flag all deposits and checks as they are reconciled. These can then be used to reconcile the bank statement with accounting records.

All other ABECAS™ Insight modules can be integrated with the processor/packer/shipper system, as needed. The Payroll module handles hourly, piece rate and salaried employees and provides for the charge-out of labor and equipment costs, including overtime and a payroll burden on labor. The Contact Management module ties to the same customer, ship-to, vendor, shipper, and other identity codes used throughout. The sales and marketing component is aimed at improving your customer relationships and turning your prospects into customers. The Freight Management module expands on the Delivery Management embedded in the Sales Order module. This allows for full dispatching, trip, driver and equipment management (and status), and freight billing with driver and contractor payables. The Equipment and Facilities Management module can used to schedule preventive maintenance, track repairs, and all expenses, including fuel, by equipment item. If an over-the-road fleet is involved, this module also provides IFTA fuel tax reporting. Separate versions of the inventory module are available for supplies and parts. The Export-Import module can be used to map electronic data transfers with your trading partners into and out of ABECAS™ Insight. The Task Agent can be used to automate program and reporting functions as well as work with SQL scripts for additional tasks. Report tasks may be emailed, faxed or printed. File transfer tasks can automate the exchange of information between you and your trading partners. Customer and Salesperson web access is available along with handheld computer processing for various production, receiving, picking, and shipping operations. Dashboards may be built to your requirements.