Forecasting
Daily, weekly and yearly, by variety.
Growers forecast their supply by variety for the day, the week and the year ahead, so the marketer can plan sales against it.
Use case · Agriculture and supplier portals
A grower portalthat ends theretyping
When forecasts come in by WhatsApp and packing slips on paper, someone in the office types all of it in, and growers phone to ask what they were paid. We built a portal where a produce marketer’s growers capture their own forecasts and packing slips and check their own sales, costs and reports.
Since 2016built and still maintained by CBOS3forecast horizons: daily, weekly and yearly
The problem
Supply information arrives by WhatsApp, email and paper
A business that sells on behalf of many growers has to know what’s coming before it can sell it. Without a portal, forecasts and packing slips come in every way growers can send them, and someone in the office types them into the system. Growers wait for statements to find out what they sold and what it cost them.
Forecasts in every format
One grower sends a photo on WhatsApp, another emails a spreadsheet and a third phones on Sunday night. Someone turns all of it into one supply sheet before sales can start, and by then some of it has changed.
Packing slips typed line by line
Paper slips arrive with the delivery and someone retypes every line. One wrong count and a grower is credited for the wrong quantity, which nobody spots until the statement goes out.
Rejections nobody can trace
Rejected items get noted on a separate sheet or on the back of the slip. When the deduction shows up weeks later, the grower doesn’t recognise it and the argument starts from memory.
A phone that keeps ringing
Growers call to ask what sold, at what price and what was taken off. Every call pulls someone away to dig through spreadsheets for one grower’s numbers.
Statements built by hand
At month-end someone compiles each grower’s statement and emails it out. It takes days, growers wait for it, and one mistake means doing a statement again.
Selling blind on next week
Sales can’t see next week’s supply in one place, so they promise buyers too much and scramble, or promise too little and leave produce unsold.
Each of these starts in the same place: supply information that lives on a grower’s phone or a sheet of paper until someone in the office types it in.
A Monday in the office
The same day, with and without a portal
The supply desk’s Monday when growers send everything in by hand, next to the same Monday when they capture it themselves.
Without a portalWith the portal
06:30
Without a portalForecasts arrive overnight as WhatsApps, emails and a voice note, each laid out differently.
With the portalGrowers have already captured this week’s forecasts by variety.
08:00
Without a portalSomeone builds the supply sheet by hand while sales wait for it.
With the portalSales open the forecast and start planning against it.
10:30
Without a portalThe delivery comes in with paper packing slips, and every line is typed in.
With the portalThe grower captured the packing slip, and rejected items are recorded against it.
13:00
Without a portalA grower phones to ask why their payment was short, and someone goes looking for the rejection.
With the portalThe grower checks their own sales and costs in the portal.
15:30
Without a portalMonth-end statements are still being put together, one grower at a time.
With the portalReports and documents are waiting in each grower’s portal.
17:00
Without a portalA change to delivery days goes out on a group chat, and some growers miss it.
With the portalThe notice goes out in the portal, where growers do their admin.
Before and after
From retyped slips to growers capturing their own
Flip the switch to see the same work with the portal in place.
BeforeWith the system
- Forecasts sent by WhatsApp, email and phone, in every formatDaily, weekly and yearly forecasts by variety, from each grower
- Packing slips retyped line by lineGrowers capture their own packing slips
- Rejections argued about weeks laterRejections tracked against the slip
- Growers phone to ask what they were paidEach grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales
- Statements compiled by hand at month-endReports and documents ready for each grower in the portal
- Changes announced in group chats and missedNotices from the marketer where growers do their admin
Supply information that arrives by WhatsApp, email and paper, and waits for someone to type it in.
Growers capture it themselves, once, in one place.
How it works
Four jobs, done by the growers
Click through each stage to see that part of the portal at work.
01Forecast supply
02Capture packing slips
03Check sales and costs
04Reports, documents and notices
Stage 01
Forecast supply
Each grower forecasts by variety for the day, the week and the year ahead. The forecasts land in one place, so the marketer can plan sales against the supply that’s coming.
Stage 02
Capture packing slips
Growers capture what they’re sending in on a packing slip. Rejected items are tracked against that slip, so the record is there when the grower asks about it.
Stage 03
Check sales and costs
Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s. The question a grower used to phone about is answered on their own screen.
Stage 04
Reports, documents and notices
Growers open their reports in the portal. Documents are generated on a schedule and stored per grower, and notices from the marketer arrive in the same place.
What we built
Five parts, one portal
Packing slips
Captured by the grower.
Growers capture what they’re sending in, and rejected items are tracked against the slip.
Sales and cost views
Each grower’s own numbers.
Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s.
Reports and documents
Generated and stored per grower.
Growers open their reports in the portal, and scheduled documents are generated and stored per grower.
Notifications
Where growers do their admin.
Growers get notices from the marketer in the same place they do their admin.
Hover over a card for more.
What changes
What’s different for each person
Each job moves to the person who has the information first, which is usually the grower.
The office team
Packing slips arrive captured, so the day goes on checking deliveries instead of typing them.
Sales
Next week’s supply is in one place before they commit to buyers.
Growers
Their own sales, costs and reports whenever they want them, without phoning in.
Management
One record of what each grower forecast, sent in and had rejected.
Built with
The stack
- ASP.NET MVC
- .NET Framework
- SQL Server
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Cloudflare
Getting started
How we’d start with you
1
Map how supply reaches you
We sit with the people who collect forecasts and slips today, and with a few growers, and write down every format and every hand-off.
2
Put one job online first
Usually forecasts or packing slips, with a small group of growers, so the office can see the difference before anyone else joins.
3
Build out from there
Sales and cost views, reports and notices follow, and more growers come on as each part proves itself.
Questions we get asked
Do we have to replace our accounting or ERP system?
Usually not. A portal like this sits in front of the systems you already run and passes information to them, so your books stay where they are.
Our growers aren’t technical. Will they use it?
Each screen does one job a grower already does: send a forecast, capture a slip or check their numbers. We test it with a few of your growers before anyone else is asked to switch.
Can growers see each other’s figures?
No. Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s.
Who looks after it once it’s live?
We can. We’ve maintained this portal since 2016 and host it ourselves, in containers on Kubernetes.
We only have a handful of suppliers. Is it worth it?
Probably not yet. A portal pays off as the number of growers or suppliers goes up, and we’ll tell you if a smaller fix makes more sense.
Quick check
Sound like your business?
Tick what sounds familiar.
You buy from or sell on behalf of a group of growers or suppliers.
Their forecasts reach you by email, WhatsApp or phone.
Someone on your team retypes packing slips or delivery notes.
Suppliers often call to ask what they’ve been paid or charged.
You can’t see next week’s supply in one place.
of 5 ticked
0 to 1 ticked
You probably don’t need a supplier portal yet. It starts paying off as your number of growers or suppliers goes up.
2 to 3 ticked
Your team is spending time collecting and retyping what suppliers could capture themselves. It’s worth looking at which steps to move online first.
4 to 5 ticked
Talk it through with us
This is the job our grower portal does. Let’s talk about your suppliers and what they need to see.
More case studies
All case studies Other businesses we’ve built for
Let’s talk
Do your growers still send forecasts by email and phone?
Tell us how supply information reaches you today, and we’ll show you what a portal for your growers could look like.
Use case · Agriculture and supplier portals
A grower portalthat ends theretyping
When forecasts come in by WhatsApp and packing slips on paper, someone in the office types all of it in, and growers phone to ask what they were paid. We built a portal where a produce marketer’s growers capture their own forecasts and packing slips and check their own sales, costs and reports.
Since 2016built and still maintained by CBOS3forecast horizons: daily, weekly and yearly
The problem
Supply information arrives by WhatsApp, email and paper
A business that sells on behalf of many growers has to know what’s coming before it can sell it. Without a portal, forecasts and packing slips come in every way growers can send them, and someone in the office types them into the system. Growers wait for statements to find out what they sold and what it cost them.
Forecasts in every format
One grower sends a photo on WhatsApp, another emails a spreadsheet and a third phones on Sunday night. Someone turns all of it into one supply sheet before sales can start, and by then some of it has changed.
Packing slips typed line by line
Paper slips arrive with the delivery and someone retypes every line. One wrong count and a grower is credited for the wrong quantity, which nobody spots until the statement goes out.
Rejections nobody can trace
Rejected items get noted on a separate sheet or on the back of the slip. When the deduction shows up weeks later, the grower doesn’t recognise it and the argument starts from memory.
A phone that keeps ringing
Growers call to ask what sold, at what price and what was taken off. Every call pulls someone away to dig through spreadsheets for one grower’s numbers.
Statements built by hand
At month-end someone compiles each grower’s statement and emails it out. It takes days, growers wait for it, and one mistake means doing a statement again.
Selling blind on next week
Sales can’t see next week’s supply in one place, so they promise buyers too much and scramble, or promise too little and leave produce unsold.
Each of these starts in the same place: supply information that lives on a grower’s phone or a sheet of paper until someone in the office types it in.
A Monday in the office
The same day, with and without a portal
The supply desk’s Monday when growers send everything in by hand, next to the same Monday when they capture it themselves.
Without a portalWith the portal
06:30
Without a portalForecasts arrive overnight as WhatsApps, emails and a voice note, each laid out differently.
With the portalGrowers have already captured this week’s forecasts by variety.
08:00
Without a portalSomeone builds the supply sheet by hand while sales wait for it.
With the portalSales open the forecast and start planning against it.
10:30
Without a portalThe delivery comes in with paper packing slips, and every line is typed in.
With the portalThe grower captured the packing slip, and rejected items are recorded against it.
13:00
Without a portalA grower phones to ask why their payment was short, and someone goes looking for the rejection.
With the portalThe grower checks their own sales and costs in the portal.
15:30
Without a portalMonth-end statements are still being put together, one grower at a time.
With the portalReports and documents are waiting in each grower’s portal.
17:00
Without a portalA change to delivery days goes out on a group chat, and some growers miss it.
With the portalThe notice goes out in the portal, where growers do their admin.
Before and after
From retyped slips to growers capturing their own
Flip the switch to see the same work with the portal in place.
BeforeWith the system
- Forecasts sent by WhatsApp, email and phone, in every formatDaily, weekly and yearly forecasts by variety, from each grower
- Packing slips retyped line by lineGrowers capture their own packing slips
- Rejections argued about weeks laterRejections tracked against the slip
- Growers phone to ask what they were paidEach grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales
- Statements compiled by hand at month-endReports and documents ready for each grower in the portal
- Changes announced in group chats and missedNotices from the marketer where growers do their admin
Supply information that arrives by WhatsApp, email and paper, and waits for someone to type it in.
Growers capture it themselves, once, in one place.
How it works
Four jobs, done by the growers
Click through each stage to see that part of the portal at work.
01Forecast supply
02Capture packing slips
03Check sales and costs
04Reports, documents and notices
Stage 01
Forecast supply
Each grower forecasts by variety for the day, the week and the year ahead. The forecasts land in one place, so the marketer can plan sales against the supply that’s coming.
Stage 02
Capture packing slips
Growers capture what they’re sending in on a packing slip. Rejected items are tracked against that slip, so the record is there when the grower asks about it.
Stage 03
Check sales and costs
Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s. The question a grower used to phone about is answered on their own screen.
Stage 04
Reports, documents and notices
Growers open their reports in the portal. Documents are generated on a schedule and stored per grower, and notices from the marketer arrive in the same place.
What we built
Five parts, one portal
Forecasting
Daily, weekly and yearly, by variety.
Growers forecast their supply by variety for the day, the week and the year ahead, so the marketer can plan sales against it.
Packing slips
Captured by the grower.
Growers capture what they’re sending in, and rejected items are tracked against the slip.
Sales and cost views
Each grower’s own numbers.
Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s.
Reports and documents
Generated and stored per grower.
Growers open their reports in the portal, and scheduled documents are generated and stored per grower.
Notifications
Where growers do their admin.
Growers get notices from the marketer in the same place they do their admin.
Hover over a card for more.
What changes
What’s different for each person
Each job moves to the person who has the information first, which is usually the grower.
The office team
Packing slips arrive captured, so the day goes on checking deliveries instead of typing them.
Sales
Next week’s supply is in one place before they commit to buyers.
Growers
Their own sales, costs and reports whenever they want them, without phoning in.
Management
One record of what each grower forecast, sent in and had rejected.
Built with
The stack
- ASP.NET MVC
- .NET Framework
- SQL Server
- SQL Server Reporting Services
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Cloudflare
Getting started
How we’d start with you
1
Map how supply reaches you
We sit with the people who collect forecasts and slips today, and with a few growers, and write down every format and every hand-off.
2
Put one job online first
Usually forecasts or packing slips, with a small group of growers, so the office can see the difference before anyone else joins.
3
Build out from there
Sales and cost views, reports and notices follow, and more growers come on as each part proves itself.
Questions we get asked
Do we have to replace our accounting or ERP system?
Usually not. A portal like this sits in front of the systems you already run and passes information to them, so your books stay where they are.
Our growers aren’t technical. Will they use it?
Each screen does one job a grower already does: send a forecast, capture a slip or check their numbers. We test it with a few of your growers before anyone else is asked to switch.
Can growers see each other’s figures?
No. Each grower sees their own sales, costs and private sales, and nobody else’s.
Who looks after it once it’s live?
We can. We’ve maintained this portal since 2016 and host it ourselves, in containers on Kubernetes.
We only have a handful of suppliers. Is it worth it?
Probably not yet. A portal pays off as the number of growers or suppliers goes up, and we’ll tell you if a smaller fix makes more sense.
Quick check
Sound like your business?
Tick what sounds familiar.
You buy from or sell on behalf of a group of growers or suppliers.
Their forecasts reach you by email, WhatsApp or phone.
Someone on your team retypes packing slips or delivery notes.
Suppliers often call to ask what they’ve been paid or charged.
You can’t see next week’s supply in one place.
of 5 ticked
0 to 1 ticked
You probably don’t need a supplier portal yet. It starts paying off as your number of growers or suppliers goes up.
2 to 3 ticked
Your team is spending time collecting and retyping what suppliers could capture themselves. It’s worth looking at which steps to move online first.
4 to 5 ticked
Talk it through with us
This is the job our grower portal does. Let’s talk about your suppliers and what they need to see.
More case studies
All case studies Other businesses we’ve built for
Let’s talk
Do your growers still send forecasts by email and phone?
Tell us how supply information reaches you today, and we’ll show you what a portal for your growers could look like.
Let's Connect
Interested in building a smarter, more connected operation? Contact us to discuss how AI can support your business goals.