Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for hydroponic and greenhouse farms.
A checklist built from how hydroponic and greenhouse farms work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Bay and system map
- Crop cycle planner
- Nutrient and climate log
- Scouting and treatment record
- Harvest, pack and lot codes
- Standing orders and dispatch
- Inputs and consumables stock
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For head growers
- For scouts and crew leads
- For pack house staff
- For dispatch and accounts
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Yield per bay and per crop cycle, by variety
- Reservoir readings against limits, by round and bay
- Treatments applied with re-entry and harvest intervals still running
- Lots packed with trimming loss and unsold boxes
- Rejections and short deliveries by buyer and lot
- Seed germination result by lot and tray batch
- Input stock below reorder level, with open purchase orders
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Label printer
- Payment gateway
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does it plan how many trays to sow?
- Can it read our dosing controller?
- Can a rejected box be traced to a bay?
- Does it stop pickers entering a sprayed row?
- Can I run vertical towers and soil-free tunnels together?
- What if our connection drops in the greenhouse?
- Can we keep food safety paperwork here?
- How are my records returned if I leave?
- How is the farm priced?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Reservoir readings live on clipboards
- Seeding is not planned from orders
- Harvest lots cannot be traced back
- Scouting notes never reach a decision
- Packing losses stay unexplained
Prefer to talk it through? See the hydroponic and greenhouse farms page.