I’ve mentioned before in this newsletter how important I think it is to regularly get continuing education. As I write this, I am preparing to make a trip to New York to attend a financial standards meeting, where I get updated annually on changes in recordkeeping and reporting recommendations. I typically attend three or four similar meetings each year to stay current and/or learn new things.

At Red Wing Software, we offer a number of ways to stay current on changes to our software, or just learn how to better use the features that may be new to you. In July, we had two three-day seminars in our Red Wing office attended by a number of new customers as well as people wanting a refresher or were ready to use more functionality they hadn’t previously taken advantage of.

In addition to our classroom training sessions, we offer on-site consulting (as do a number of our partners), over-the-phone one-on-one training, educational videos, and most recently, live web sessions. All of these options are listed on our web site, so you can take advantage of whatever method works best for you. And, of course, your individual questions can be answered immediately by calling our friendly and knowledgeable support staff.

Whatever option you choose for continuing education, whether on Red Wing Software products or other aspects of your business, you should set aside some time to stay current with your business tools and learn new ways to make your business better.

• Katrina’s (Administrative Assistant) daughter, Kyla, enjoyed a boat and beach outing.
• Connie’s (Technical Writer) daughter, Jenna, traveled with her Spanish class to Costa Rica for a trip of a lifetime! They stayed with host families to be immersed in their culture and practice speaking Spanish, learned Costa Rican cooking and dancing, visited the beach, mountains, and pineapple, chocolate, and coffee plantations. Jenna thought the best part of all was zip lining over the rain forest.
• Marlene (Technical Support Specialist) and Dick (Development) and family of four married daughters and 12 grandchildren had a great family vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Our cabin overlooked the majestic Smoky Mountains. Hiking trips with steep inclines were an adventure with 12 kids, but playing at Laurel Falls was an awesome reward at the end. The family picture was taken in front of Laurel Falls. No one was ready to leave the Smokies!
• Stephanie (Marketing) and her boyfriend Glenn took a trip to Europe, where they stayed in Vienna and Bratislava, and took a tour of Slovakian castles. It was a trip of a lifetime!

The online Virtual Classroom provides you with in-depth information and explanations that allow you to learn more about CenterPoint from any location where you can access the internet (high-speed internet connection recommended). The training sessions in the Virtual Classroom are presented live by one of our CenterPoint experts. The sessions will also be recorded and sent to you so you can refer to the information afterwards.

You can view and register for available sessions from our web site at www.redwingsoftware.com by selecting Products > Virtual Classroom Training (under ‘Services’ on the right-hand side of the menu) or by clicking one of the links below.

Overtime Processing for CenterPoint Payroll
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
10:30-11:30 am CST
Price: $39.00

Direct Deposit Processing for CenterPoint Payroll
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
2:30-3:30 pm CST
Price: $39.00

Transaction Search for CenterPoint
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
2:30-4:30 pm CST
Price: $59.00

Budgeting Basics for CenterPoint Agriculture
August 31, 2017
2:30-4:30 pm CST
Price: $59.00

At Red Wing Software, we are continuously looking for ways to help our customers make better use of the data they enter into our applications, and easier ways to share information between programs. To that end, Dick and Dan, the managers of our development and design departments, recently participated in a gathering of like-minded software companies that have similar goals.

This industry specific, not-for-profit organization was formed to help develop standard methods for naming conventions of specific data in order to make communication between programs easier to accomplish. While there is still some work to be done before these standards are available to be published, our team is actively involved in shaping these standards, especially in the area of financial information.

For quite some time, we have had the ability to export data from CenterPoint and, in the latest version, have added the ability to import data into CenterPoint. Some of our customers have already found uses for this functionality. Over the next few months, we will be announcing and releasing some exciting new ways that data entered into CenterPoint applications may be shared with other specific programs.

Four Cubs Farms Featured in Dairy Star Magazine

Four Cubs Farms was featured in the story Seven Decades of Continued Growth, in the June 10th, 2017 issue of Dairy Star magazine. The story details the growth of the farm over the past 140 years!

Fairmont Farms, Inc. Featured in Progressive Farmer

Fairmont Farms, Inc. was mentioned in the June 12, 2017 issue of Progressive Farmer, in a story entitled, Up-and-coming Dairy Youth Read to Make Impact on the Industry. The piece gives some nice coverage of youth becoming involved in the dairy industry.