From Scale Ticket to Settlement Check

Five-year-plus relationship with software vendor yeilds significant benifets

In today’s fast-paced industry, nearly six years may seem like a long time to stay with one software vendor. But the people at Schuyler-Brown FS in Rushville, Illinois , a GROWMARK-affiliated coop, have found their long-term relationship with Vertical Software, Inc., Peoria, Illinois (309) 676-0700), has provided enough benefit for themselves and their customers to justify the loyalty.

Grain Broker Leah Wilson says that prior to adopting Vertical Software’s ScaleTrac scale automation and grain accounting (GrainTrac) system in 1990, Schuyler-Brown relied on GROWMARK’s in house software systems. (The coop still uses GROWMARK general ledger software.)

"The system had so few users that GROWMARK couldn’t really support it and keep up with the latest technology," she says. GROWMARK-affiliated coops in Illinois in 1990 got together and appointed a committee to look into the various grain accounting and scale management packages on the market. Both Wilson and Schuyler-Brown Grain Manager Gordon Miller served on the committee.

"We got hands-on experience using a number of systems, and the ScaleTrac and GrainTrac systems seemed to have the most flexibility," Wilson comments. "We also thought Vertical Software provided good support, and it wasn’t going to

disappear from the market a few months down the road." Today, nearly 20 GROWMARK-affiliated coops in Illinois utilize the software.

System Functions

The ScaleTrac system reads the weight of incoming grain as it crosses the scale at Rushville, and those numbers are downloaded onto the ScaleTrac computer. The scale operator calls up the appropriate producer and punches in the grade and test weight. Later, the computer will calculate the payment amount, taking into account any grain discounts, and cut a settlement check, including all appropriate splits. Net-day mailing of checks is typical at Schuyler-Brown.

The scale operator also assigns a disposition for the incoming grain. Dispositions could include long term storage, contract, Price Later (delayed price), spot market, HTA, or grain bank. Finally, all of the data remains in the system, which can generate useful reports such as daily position reports, long and short positions, purchases, sales, and company owned inventory.

These functions provide Schuyler-Brown with a number of advantages, comments Miller:

• Coop managers have precise, up-to-the-minute information on their financial position at the close of every business day, which allows for better decision-making.

• Since computerized grain accounting takes less time than manual hand entry, settlements are more timely.

• The office can run with fewer personnel.

EDI Update

A year ago, Vertical Software came through with an upgrade that allows faster, more accurate communications between Schuyler-Brown and one of its biggest customers, The Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Decatur, Illinois. The upgrade was Vertical’s SpeEDI software, which allows electronic data transfer between the two companies.

Schuyler-Brown merchandises grain directly to ADM and directs patrons to haul the grain directly to the river terminal, generally without an intermediate stop at Schuyler-Brown facility. ADM records scale ticket information on its own in-house system. Once a day, using the SpeEDI software Schuyler-Brown downloads that information directly into its own GrainTrac system, which then calculates settlements and updates the coop’s financial position.

Again, the result is faster more accurate dispositions with less labor, Miller says.