1. Preparation
A good preparation is very important for the successful implementation of a new business software.
Below and in the following articles, you'll find the main steps to make the implementation process a smooth experience and get you set up with your system as quickly as possible.
2. Workflow Analysis
Implementing a new system can also be an opportunity to study and review current workflows, and also implementing new processes that you identify during this period. Therefore the more detailed you are describing practices and business processes the better we will be able to understand your needs and help you tailor the database setup to your needs. Attached is a document that helps you describe the processes.
3. Appoint an onsite “Farmer”
This person is someone who is in a position to understand the different workflows and has a technical understanding of the installation. This person often becomes the first point of contact for both the Users and the farmerswife team and should also be able to bring all the different parties on board and communicates the changes and challenges that the new system brings with it. It's also crucial to involve the diff. departments and bring together key users to discuss the future use of the system.
4. Call for documentation
- Please collect and send us / your Project Manager the below information:
- Standard rate card/price list - it will help us to get a feeling on the services you provide and how you charge for them. From this, we can determine how the object setup would be best done.
- Examples of typical quotes you send out, e.g. one complex and one simple - if you are planning to use farmerswife for quoting/bidding as well, then please send us a few examples.
- Examples of your invoices - if you are planning to use farmerswife for Invoicing as well.
- Spreadsheets you currently use, e.g. for scheduling or equipment tracking, asset management
- Reports - farmerswife comes with a default set of reports that we've added based on our existing customer demands. However, you might have other needs so we have to check that we can achieve these reports and consider them while the database is being set up.
5. farmerswife and client review this documentation
Once we've received the documentation above we'll schedule a call to review the information and discuss how to best set up the database.
6. Installation (for local hosting)
Local Hosting: If you've purchased the software and are going to host it yourself, please send us an email to license@farmerswife.com with the local static IP address of the machine that is going to host the server.
Review the System Requirements. Then download and install the server for your OS and also the farmerswife desktop client on all the machines that Advanced Users need to connect from.
Cloud Hosted: Please install the farmerswife desktop client on all the machines from where Advanced User needs to connect from.
Link to download and install the desktop client on Mac
Link to download and install the desktop client on Windows
7. Start configuring the farmerswife database
After installing the farmerswife Server and Client application it is time to set up the database with Users, Equipment, Machines, Contacts, Rates etc. Ideally, you get your hands on and closely involved in the object setup and further configurations. This is usually done in 1-1 sessions with your Project Manager followed by specific tasks for you to continue until the next session is held.
To get familiar with the different object types and configuration options take a look at the Object Types article.
8. Implementation workshop takes place
Whether you have purchased online, onsite or offsite implementation (LA, Mallorca), ideally most of the setup has been done before the workshop takes place so you can focus on the actual functionality usage of the system and practice your daily workflows. Smaller adjustments are usually done during that training though ideally bigger workflow changes have been discussed beforehand.
9.Post-training follow-up as you begin using farmerswife.
Please let us know if you have any questions on the above! We love to help you setup your farmerswife system just the way you need it and we do this a lot so don't hesitate to ask!