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2014 SMS Pre-Planting Checklist (Part 1)

by Apr 2, 2014Ag Leader, SMS™ Software

As much as I dreaded Daylight Savings Time this year, I was happy to see it come as it’s a simple reminder that spring is here and the daylight hours are getting longer.  In general, I am just ready to spend more time outside.  Before you head to the field this spring (or before you get too far into your field work for those that have started already), here are a couple things that you should put on your TO DO list for your precision ag desktop software this spring.


1. Make a backup of SMS and save to a secondary location. 

Making backups of any data (SMS, financial records, pictures, etc) is key to any operation.  We’ve all lost data at one point in time or another due to not making a backups.  On the support line this winter, several customers had to redo work due to computer issues such as failed hard drives and computer viruses.  To create backups in SMS Basic/Advanced, go to Services – Backup

2. Verify that you are on the latest version of SMS

As precision ag displays gain more functionality, file formats have to be modified to record this new information.  This means you will need the latest version of your precision ag desktop software to be compatible to read this new information.  You can update your SMS software by going to Help – Check for Updates

3. Finish reading in your files from last fall and clear off the card

This step may be done for some of you, but we are still getting calls from customers that haven’t read in last year’s information.  To read in new files into SMS Basic/Advanced, go to File – Read Files.

Check back tomorrow for the final two steps for preparing for this spring.