Re: Looking for specialised skills/product/advice (farming)

Didier Gasser-Morlay wrote:

These guys are considering using ms project for the task and I do not believe that it is a proper tool for this and I wonder if any of you has had to deal with a similar project


MS Project will let you define resources (like tractors) and staff (the farmers) and assign who has what resource on what
day/time. Because it's likely there will be too many factors for the allocations to be automatic, it's probably going to be
a big overall planning session (just like any other complex project management task). Someone (an expert, a farmer) is going to say, "You can't plant soy beans until <blah>", and "You can'd do <blah until blah>".

And the weather is not strictly predictable, so certain things are going to have to be on a "swinging" or "flexible" basis. For example, "spraying this field happens at least two weeks after <blah>, and there are contingency plans due to rain or lack of it..."..... "harvesting of this field tentatively starts the week of <blah>".

I don't think you can "pump all the constraints into the program, click Go and be done". Given that, you want maximum tweakability and hand-editing.

If not MS Project, then another commercial Project Management Tool could be more ideal.

I am scared of people who just select "microsoft X" and don't evaluate the other software out there. I'm also scared of people who run off to write a new package when there are 100+ project management tools out there that are feature complete enough to do the basic things you need. I don't see anything "farm specific" in the algorithms. Mother Nature is your Factory Floor, and the fields are your production lines, and you're doing a major outdoor Factory Automation operation.


Warren



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