Once your lab has completed the testing and made the results available, the findings can be imported into agrē, printed, and shared with the grower immediately via Grower Central. They can also be deleted if/when no longer needed.
There are two ways that test results can be imported into agrē:
Web Service Download
You tell agrē to authenticate directly with the lab over the internet and download the test results into agrē.
File Import
You receive an electronic file from the lab containing the test results and you import the file into agrē.
What you'll find:
For labs offering web service, you’ll download the test results directly into agrē.
Note
Currently A & L Canada, AgVise, Down to Earth, and Midwest Laboratories offer web service download.
To download new test results:
* indicates a required field
Navigate to Agronomy > Soil/Tissue Tests.
The Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Click Import Web.
The Import Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Chose a testing lab from the Laboratory* dropdown.
Specify a Start Date and End Date.
Depending on the Laboratory selected, some or all of these fields may not be accessible.
For AgVise, only the start Year is submitted (Month and Day are ignored).
Optionally specify a Grower, or Reference number to shorten the list of test results.
Depending on the Laboratory selected, these fields may not be accessible.
For all labs except AgVise:
Click Retrieve.
A&L and Midwest Only: The Lab Authentication window opens.
If you haven’t saved your credentials (username and password) in User Config Options agrē will prompt you to enter them on the fly (they will be used to connect for this session, but will not be saved so you'll need to enter them again next time you submit).
Confirm the Username and Password are correct and click OK.
For AgVise:
Click Create Export.
The Invalid AgVise Key windows opens if a valid AgVise key has not been stored in User Config Options .
As the key cannot be entered on the fly, you won't be able to import test results from AgVise until a valid key is saved .
The Soil Tests Requested window opens and lets you know AgVise is queueing up your results.
This can take a minute or three, so give them a bit of time.
You can click OK right away (which closes the Soil Tests Requested window) but give them a few minutes to load your test results before you continue on to the next step.
After waiting a minute or three, click Retrieve to get the list of results.
If none are listed, wait another minute or so and click Retrieveagain.
If a message box appears saying "Error Occurred: Failed to read export data from file system" this is a message from AgVise, not from agrē.
Please try retrieving your results again in another minute or so. AgVise may need more time to queue up your results.
The Import Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
The grid is populated with tests results that match the criteria you selected.
If no results are returned, try changing the criteria and Retrieve again.
Check the Import box next to the test results you want to import.
Select a customer by typing the Customer* name if one is not retrieved automatically.
Test results must be linked to a customer account before they can be imported.
Note
The lab’s Grower name may or may not exactly match the name of an agrē customer account – some labs don’t return results with the same name you specified on the submission.
Some labs offer the option to Keep Report in Queue so that you can import the results again later if needed (results can be imported only once, so you'd need to delete the original one before it could be imported again).
To prevent the same test result from appearing in the queue again, uncheck the box.
Click Import to download the test results.
The Tests Imported window opens and displays the number of tests successfully imported. It also reminds you to link the test results to a field if needed.
Click OK to acknowledge the download.
The Tests Imported window closes and any test results listed as unallocated/unlinked will remain so until manually linked to a field).
For labs that send you an electronic file, you’ll import the test results into agrē.
To import test result files:
* indicates a required field
Navigate to Agronomy > Soil/Tissue Tests.
The Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Click Import File.
The Import Soil/Tissue Test window opens.
Chose a testing lab from the Laboratory* dropdown.
Click Browse Files.
The Choose A Soil/Tissue Test File to Import window opens.
(config U) Navigate to where the results file has been saved on your local hard drive (or on a drive within your company’s local area network).
Select the test results file that you want to import and click Open.
The Choose A Soil/Tissue Test File to Import window closes.
Back at the Import Soil/Tissue Test window, the Reference number, Report Date and Grower from the results file are displayed.
Note
The lab’s Grower name may or may not exactly match the name of an agrē customer account – some labs don’t return results with the same name you specified on the submission.
Link the Soil Test to a customer by typing the Customer* name or click Find to search for the one.
Test results must be linked to a customer account.
Click Import to import the test results file.
The Import Soil/Tissue Test window closes.
Tip
Test results can be deleted by clicking Delete.
Most test results can be imported again at any time (although some labs remove results that have already been retrieved from the download queue so you may need to call them and have them reloaded).
All test results, whether downloaded (unless they were submitted with agrē) or imported from a file, are brought in as unassociated because they may contain results for multiple fields in the same file or download.
A test result is usually associated with a specific customer field, but can be left unallocated. Unallocated results will not be included in the Field History report and you will also not have the test results available when you are doing crop planning.
To associate test results with a field:
Navigate to Agronomy > Soil/Tissue Tests.
The Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Select a test result and click Link to Fields.
The Link to Customer/Fields window opens.
Choose a customer field from the Link to Field drop down list.
Repeat if test results for multiple fields are listed.
Tip
Click Change Customer if this test result should be linked to a field on a different customer’s account.
After all results have been linked to a field, click Save.
The Link to Customer/Fields window closes.
Back at the Soil/Tissue Tests window, the Field(s) are displayed, and the Fields Linked? column displays the status (Yes, No, or Partial).
When the Soil Tests window opens, all test results from the last 6 months are displayed by default but you can optionally search for older results, or just results for one customer, or from just one lab, by changing the default search criteria.
To search for test results:
Navigate to Agronomy > Soil/Tissue Tests.
The Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Click New Search.
The Find Soil/Tissue Tests window opens. Change any of the default criteria to change the list of results
Select a Report Date of Any Date, or modify the start or end date of the Date Range.
In the Reference box, type a reference number (or a portion of one).
Select a particular Soil Laboratory.
Choose a Test Type (soil or tissue).
Select a specific Customer.
Click Search.
The Find Soil/Tissue Test window closes, and results matching the criteria are listed in the Soil Tests window.
Once you have permission, you can preview (and print, PDF, or email) any imported soil test result or trending report.
Displays the soil test or tissue test lab results report.
To preview test results:
Navigate to Agronomy > Soil/Tissue Tests.
The Soil/Tissue Tests window opens.
Select a test result and click Preview Item.
The test results are displayed and can be printed, converted into a PDF file, or emailed.
Exit the report when you’re done.
Compares a field’s soil test results from the same lab from a specified sampling start date.
To preview trend analysis reports:
* indicates a required field
Navigate to Agronomy > Reports > Trend Analysis.
The Trend Analysis - Soil Tests window opens.
Select a Customer*.
Select one or more Field(s).
All fields are selected by default.
Select the From (start) date.
The default is the start date of your agrē database (so you’ll see them from the beginning of agrē time).
Choose the Lab*.
Results from multiple labs cannot be combined due to the different way each lab structures their results files.
Specify a sort order.
Sort Oldest to Newest is the default.
Click Preview.
The test results are displayed and can be printed, converted into a PDF file, or emailed.
Exit the report when you’re done.