Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for milk collection centres.
A checklist built from how milk collection centres 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.
- Supplier register and pass book
- Milk weighing and test entry
- Rate chart and price slabs
- Rejection and quality log
- Cooler temperature and shift log
- Dispatch and plant reconciliation
- Feed sales, advances and deductions
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For the centre owner or society secretary
- For platform clerks
- For testers
- For the accounts clerk
- For suppliers
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Litres and average fat and solids by supplier, shift and route
- Rejected cans by supplier and reason
- Cooler readings above limit, with time and person
- Tanker loads against plant receipts, with differences
- Feed and mineral mix sold, with dues by supplier
- Payment statements by cycle, with deductions
- Suppliers whose supply has fallen across the last cycles
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Milk analyser file or cable
- Receipt printer
- SMS
- WhatsApp or other messaging
- Bank payment file
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Can readings come straight from the analyser?
- How does it avoid applying the wrong rate?
- What happens when a can is rejected?
- Can suppliers see their own figures?
- Does it handle cattle feed on credit?
- How are tanker differences handled?
- Can it run with unreliable power?
- Who owns the supplier records?
- How is the quotation prepared?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- The pass book and the register disagree
- Rates are applied by memory
- Plant readings differ from the platform
- Deductions are worked out at the end of the cycle
- A warm cooler goes unnoticed
Prefer to talk it through? See the milk collection centres page.