AgVantage Software, Inc. • 877-282-6353 • http://www.agvantage.com
A three-way partnership is driving the development of state-of-the-art business intelligence (BI) tools that use graphic displays to deliver unique data insights in a visual format that assists grain businesses and their customers in making more timely and effective decisions.
Landmark Services Cooperative, Cottage Grove, WI, is using the BI tools developed by BIG Consulting, Cypress, TX and Lincoln, NE, to access detailed data within their ERP software platform supported by AgVantage Software, Rochester, MN.
Don Schlising, vice president of information technology and marketing at Landmark, says the coop has been testing the BI tools for several months.
“It’s been a great joint venture between AgVantage, BIG Consulting, and us,” Schlising states. “The AgVantage BI programs provide data integration and analysis capabilities which present critical information in a graphical interface, so you can see a visual presentation of that data. It displays trends visually, so the information is presented in a much friendlier way. The interface allows us to drill down deeper and much more quickly into our data sources, so we can make smarter, more educated decisions.”
To understand where its strengths and weaknesses are in the grain division, Schlising notes, Landmark needed an application that could perform very detailed grain origination and marketing analysis by looking at the units purchased and sold by each facility.
“We also want to look at the marketing efficiency of our customers’ grain by tracking the process of the units we sell for them and to make sure we are marketing their grain in the best possible way for each customer by commodity. It was a customer-focused effort to help them, because as a member-owned cooperative, our purpose is to make sure our customers are as successful as possible. It was also a business-oriented method for us to better understand our operations, so we can determine if we are achieving optimum profitability.”
Landmark has been working with AgVantage for 30 years, Schlising adds, so it was natural to continue to work with them when a new software application was needed. BIG Consulting has delivered the BI expertise and developed tools to pair with AgVantage software that fit Landmark’s analytics needs. “It’s been a fantastic partnership,” he says.
Landmark has 2,325 voting members and more than 11,000 active members. It has more than 20 locations stretching from central and southeast Wisconsin into northern Illinois.
Lisa Sick, vice president of project management for AgVantage Software, says their grain and agronomy BI modules, created in partnership with BIG Consulting, are now available through AgVantage Software. Modules dealing with finances, energy, and feed processing are being developed and will be rolled out soon.
Reprinted from Grain Journal September/October 2018 Issue
