During busy spells of fine weather, agricultural contractors come under immense pressure to get through the workload.

This is especially the case come silage season. If the work being done isn’t being recorded properly, or a notebook is lost where vital information was taken note of, it can lead to lost information and work not correctly invoiced.

In a sector where margins have never been as tight, contractors need to avail of tools which make life a little bit easier.

On my travels in New Zealand, I saw similar types of apps and software systems being used in almost all contracting fleets.

In this piece, we take a look at two such examples, both of which are Irish-owned businesses.

OneClick Accounts

OneClick Accounts is the brainchild of Peter O’Donovan, the son of an agricultural contractor. The app is designed around simplicity and ease of use.

The software carries out work behind the operational screen to make life easy for the contractors.

The inspiration for Peter to develop OneClick Accounts came from years of seeing how contractors’ bad habits in relation to recording work costs the business money.

These bad practices included employees writing down job information in books that got left in the toolbox, notepads ruined with oil and even writing the job information in the dust on the baler.

This meant it was inevitable that some jobs were not recorded fully and that information was lost and never invoiced for.

The only data that has to be entered is the number of bales made or acres mown etc.

How does it work?

All drivers download the OneClick Accounts app on their phone. Each driver has a login password for the business they work for. On the app, there is a pre-populated list on a dropdown menu for all the customers and all the jobs carried out by the business. This eliminates the need for keying in any information.

The only data that has to be entered is the number of bales made or acres mown, etc. Other customised job descriptions for each customer can also be included.

This might include possible selections for baled silage, barrel or net wrap or extra plastic used, etc.

This takes away the need for drivers to key in job descriptions. All the jobs are selected from a menu, like a contact list on a phone.

All the jobs are selected from a menu, like the contact list on a phone.

There is a box to add a description or a comment on each job so the contractor knows the story when the information is sent over and can communicate it to the customer when it comes to invoice time.

For confidentiality, drivers don’t have access to invoices or reports for any customer, only the information required to record the job. The employee or driver can enter information even if there is no phone coverage. It will then sync afterwards when the phone signal comes back. The app can run on all Android and Apple phones.

Once logged on, the contractor can see all the customers’ transactions for a selected period or the entire history.

Generating the invoice is as simple as clicking on the customer and checking all of the work for the period. Once approved, a link is then clicked to generate the invoice.

The invoice is generated for email or in PDF format for print. The program records when the invoice was sent to the customer automatically.

The only work the contractor has to do is approve the information coming from the driver’s phone. The contractor can also look at the total money collected for each job. This allows him to see in live time the busiest operations and the customers for whom he does the most work. The package is available on a yearly subscription, depending on the size of the business ranging from a few hundred euro.

Kingswood Computing

Kingswood Computing has been on the go since 1987. Set up and run by Gerry Lynskey, the firm operates in three related sectors – agricultural contracting software, livestock software and veterinary management software. Depending on the requirement of the individual contractor, Kingswood offers two packages.

Billing app

For the contractor with minimal office backup who just wants to focus on getting their money in, Kingswood has a simple mobile solution called the Billing App.

It allows the contractor to record job details, enter payments received, check customer balances and send invoices and statements via email, all from the tractor cab.

All they needs is a smartphone with the Billing App on it. The app also allows operators to enter job details on their phones without having access to the financial details on the system.

A job scheduler function allows the contractor to allocate jobs to particular operators days or weeks in advance.

The operator can see the allocated jobs on their phone and as he/she completes them, they’re recorded as done.

A key indicator function will tell the contractor information such as how much revenue they’ve generated this year, how much money they’ve outstanding at any point in time and how many jobs they’ve completed but not yet billed out, etc.

A geotracking facility means the app can be used to monitor operators’ clock-in and clock-out times.

Meanwhile, a geolocator function can record time and place, start and finish time of each job automatically.

The printing out of invoices and statements can be easily done from a computer or tablet, while all the billing activities can be done from the phone.

The cost of the Billing App is an annual fee of €250 plus VAT per year.

Full Contractor Accounts

For the larger contracting enterprise, Kingswood offers a computer-based Full Contracting Accounts, which offers a complete accounting solution.

This includes sales and purchase ledgers, VAT analysis, job cards and invoicing.

All this information feeds into end-of-year accounts reports for both the accountant and the contracting business. This includes profit and loss, enterprise costings and monthly budgeting. This enables a contractor to work out his/her VAT every two or three months and to have complete oversight of his costs at the end of the year.

The software system is developed to issue the following reports:

  • Customer/supplier reports – age of debt, invoice/payment listing.
  • Financial reports – cashflow, profit and loss, balance sheet.
  • VAT – invoice and payments/receipts-based VAT
  • Management reports – activity costing, yearly comparisons, etc.
  • Cashflow budgeting – actual cashflow versus budget – monthly/annual.
  • Audit reports – for accountancy and taxation purposes.
  • As part of this package, Kingswood also offers a mobile Job Card ,which works in conjunction with the computer software.

    The Job Card app is used for inputting job details and checking customer balances by phone, keeping track of ongoing client activities.

    The operator enters the job details on the phone app and the information is instantly sent to the Kingswood server.

    The program then reads the Job Card information automatically.

    It syncs with the PC program, meaning all information is displayed on one portal.

    The second package is much more comprehensive. The package and training will cost over €1,000 plus VAT and then require a yearly subscription fee of €250 plus VAT.