Spring 2011

Newswire Spring is on the Way From your Editor—Debbie Ewing

It‟s been above freezing for three

consecutive days, so I‟m declaring spring

officially started. This seemed like the

longest winter yet. Even my Chesapeake,

who loves the snow, barked a warm

welcome to the first flock of Canada

Geese that flew north overhead. He was likely disappointed

that no one shot one so he could retrieve it, but even he knows

where there‟s geese, there‟s hope!

Other than the twin lakes that have temporarily appeared in

our parking lot (frozen storm drains), it doesn‟t look very much

like spring. It will be quite a while before the mountains of

snow have melted and the fields have dried enough to get out

and do some work.

In the mean time, you‟re probably setting up your new „prepaid

price level‟ prices, and we‟ve given you a couple of alternatives

to think about for billing family farms later in the season.

We‟ve also dropped our prices on preprinted forms for a

couple of weeks so you can stock up for spring for less.

Spring is when you feel like whistling even

with a shoe full of slush. ~Doug Larson

What’s Inside

Tronia News & Events ................. 2

Grow Your Business Forms & Labels Sale ..................... 3

agrē Tips: Make a Blend—faster! ............................. 4

agrē Tips: Alternatives to Split Billing ............................... 4

agrē Tips: FAQs ............................ 4

agrē Tips: Exporting Data ............. 5

Still using the Edge? ..................... 6

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Congratulations to our retailers who were recognized for their

achievements and nominated for awards at CAAR this year. Each

time one of your names was called at the banquet, we hope you could

tell from the wild clapping and cheering at our tables how proud we

were! We‟d like to think that using the best ag retail software in the

industry contributed in some small way to your success.

Not that we‟re biased or anything, but didn‟t we have a darn fine booth

this year? And we had the best dressed pit crew, too! It was great to see

familiar faces from our training classes, and to put a face to voices we‟ve

heard only over the phone. A few of you were pretty capable when it

came to slot car racing and gave our staff some serious competition on

the drive to the winner‟s circle.

Congratulations are also in order to QA/Tester

Amie on the birth of her third baby Asher

Jameison on February 12th.

With all these babies popping out over the last few

years, the rest of us are afraid to drink the water!

CAAR Draw Winners

Apple iPad

Robson Rogan

Purity Feeds Co. Ltd.

Kamloops, BC

Apple iPod Touch

Matthew Krutzfeldt

Parkland Fertilizer

Wetaskiwin, AB

Tronia News & Events

Late Breaking Baby News

The wait is finally over!

Operations Manager

Rhonda is a grandmother!

Michelle Rhonda was born

April 2nd.

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New!

Specialty Papers

Tronia now carries a line

of specialty paper that

includes:

linen look

heavy bond

coated

carbonless

synthetic

announcement

cards

hard-to-find colours

Specialty paper is

perfect for :

letterhead

newsletters

holiday cards &

letters

Annual Reports

To help you stock up on preprinted

forms in time for spring, we’re

offering a discount on orders

initiated and approved between

April 11th – 26th.

Invoices Loadout Tickets

Statements Delivery Slips

Cheques Meter Tickets

Envelopes Letterhead

Memo/Notepads Labels

Call or email Dee Klassen for all form orders & inquiries

10% OFF ALL NEW FORM or LABEL ORDERS

Order a new product you have not ordered before

and save 10% (see below for a partial list of forms)

5% OFF ALL REPEAT FORM or LABEL ORDERS

Repeat a previous order and save 5%

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agrē Tips: Make a Blend—faster!

Use File > Config Options > User

>Miscellaneous tab to define your

blending defaults. When you make a blend,

agrē will use these defaults so you won‟t

have to select them each time. You can

always override the defaults if you‟re

making a different blend.

More speed blending tips can be found in the Make a

Blend (the fast way) section of online help.

agrē Tips: Frequently Asked Questions

We‟ve always had FAQs in the Customer Centre on our

website, but we‟ve added them to the Getting Started

section of Online Help to make them easier to find.

agrē Tips: Split Billing Alternatives

Non-Inventory Product

You can return a non-inventory product (which

won‟t change any product costs and thus skew

your margins) to give one customer a credit on

their account, and use the same non-inventory

product to create a charge on the other family

member‟s account. Set up the revenue account

of the non-inventory product to match the

revenue account that was used on the original

sale. Both customers retain sales history.

Transfer Balance

If sales history isn‟t an issue, you can transfer

some or all of a customer‟s balance to another

customer. If there are more than two or three

growers that share product with each other, a

extra 'holding account' may simplify your end

of season process, especially if you know at the

start of the season that the growers will be

sharing their purchases and they get the same

prices.

Some retailers spend a lot of time at the end of the season rejigging loadout tickets and invoices to

accommodate customers who share product. One of these alternatives may be a preferable solution.

For more complete instructions and explanations, ask your CSC for the Split Billing Alternatives white paper.

If you’ve got a suggestion

for a FAQ or a tip,

let us know!

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agrē Tips: Exporting Data

The information that you enter in agrē can be extracted to a file that can then be

imported to and manipulated with other software programs (like MS Excel).

When we were at CAAR showing off some of

the new features in our most recent release, we

discovered that not everyone was aware of the

different ways that data can be extracted from

agrē.

Data Exports

Navigate to File > Exports > Data and select

the information you want to export.

You can preview the information before you

export it, and you can copy the information and

paste it directly in a Microsoft Excel spread-

sheet.

What kinds of data can be exported?

Data exports were developed in response to

direct requests from other retailers, so chances

are at least a few of them will come in handy

for you too.

If you‟ve started using CRM attributes, a pre-

view of the CRM Custom Attributes export

will quickly show you which attributes have

been tagged to which customer‟s account.

During spring you might want to keep an eye

on the balances exports (there‟s one each for

customers, products, and suppliers). If the

Low Sales Margin export identifies a profit

margin you‟re not happy with, you may want to

run the Product Cost History export to help

you decide if you need to change your prices.

I want the previewed data to be grouped

together by Location. Can I see it that way?

You sure can! You can view the data grouped

together by any field you want.

From the data preview, click on the Advanced

tab. Drag the “Location” column header (or

any other column header) into the dark grey

box above the columns. The data will be

grouped together by that field. You can then

drag other column headers to create subgroups.

Note that the data only previews this way; if

you actually export the data it will be listed in

the same order as on the Simple tab.

What if there’s no data export for the

information that I want?

If the information you want exists on a Report,

you can run the report with your chosen criteria

and export the results.

Exporting Report Data

For a simple report like the Balance Sheet, ex-

porting based on Report Output will probably

work well, but for a more complex report like

Customer Sales, you‟ll likely want to export the

Raw Data.

When you export report data, you may need to

do a bit more formatting and cleanup in Excel

than you would with a data export, as agrē ex-

ports all the underlying report data.

More detail about exporting data can be found by

searching for Exports in online help.

Around the Corner

Friday, April 22

Good Friday—Tronia closed

Monday, April 25

Easter Monday—8am-1pm

Spring Hours Apr 26—May 28

Mon—Fri: 7am-5:30pm

Saturdays: 9am-12pm

Monday, May 23

Victoria Day—8am-1pm

CSC Pam’s son Cory learns to drive. Have you got a photo you’d like to show off? Share it at news@tronia.com

Visit us online at

www.agre.ca

Providing business solutions through the use of technology and training

#335 Carleton Drive

St. Albert, Alberta, Canada

T8N 7L1

Toll Free: 1.888.987.6642

Local Phone: 780.459.4477

Fax: 780.459.6405

Email: support@tronia.com

Still Using the Edge?

The countdown continues and the Edge

‘End of Life’ will be December 12, 2012 at

which time Edge will no longer be supported.

Our goal is to have everyone converted by the

end of November 2012 and we are in the last

phase of conversions with less than 20% of

Edge users left to go. Most retailers want to

time their conversion in coordination with

their fiscal year end, so the sooner you‟re able

to book your conversion, the more likely we

can provide you with a date that coincides with your fiscal year end.

We understand that conversion to agrē is a big commitment and our decision to sunset the Edge

has been made with careful consideration regarding our customers and our business. Please

contact your CSC at your earliest opportunity to discuss your options.

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