The How-To on Implementation

Working with our BPM solution provider's consultants to guide us in designing the applications and reports was a critical factor to our success. It was required that the business processes and information needs of all system users be mapped out in detail ahead of time. That allowed us to configure a comprehensive plan, ensuring that we included the right information from the start and that we had the right people on the team.

Knowledge transfer was initiated as soon as the process got under way, so our reliance on the consultants was minimized for our current applications, allowing them to focus on new applications in other areas.

User acceptance testing (UAT), inspired by our consultants, was an integral part of our implementation. At various times during the system's development, end users of the application, at various levels, were shown the product to date. This ensured we were able to maximize functionality and ease of use, while also improving user buy-in, which is critical to the success of any project.

We have begun taking our BPM solution to the next step, working to develop predictive analytic models that provide even more insight and accuracy into our forecasting and analysis of the business, promoting keener understanding of the complex cost structures surrounding land usage, equipment, time, labor, and materials. These predictive capabilities promise to reduce the amount of time spent gathering and analyzing data by creating an auto-forecasting system applicable to everything from crop yields and weather to operational requirements. Twenty years of historical agricultural data on fields, varieties, soil types, fertility, weather, and yields will be loaded in order to determine the most profitable combinations and identify potential problems. Our vision is to unlock previously hard-to-quantify information -- a farmer's inherent knowledge of his fields, the weather, and his crops -- and capture it in a form that will influence, educate, and aid current and future stewards of the land.

The same concepts are being applied to the mill side of the business, where manual processes in place since the 1930s are in the midst of a long-overdue update. Our mills will be able to look at sucrose levels and other quality characteristics from the sugarcane grind, as well as consumable materials, labor, and equipment, to help establish where operations are running smoothly, where bottlenecks are, and where there is potential for cost savings. These financial and operational processes are also being used to more effectively manage our environmental concerns -- activities such as fertilization, irrigation, and cultivation. Considering the proximity of U.S. Sugar's land assets to the Florida Everglades, we have already pioneered integrated pest management to minimize the environmental impact of pesticides. Using these new data collection and analysis tools allows us to optimize fertilization and cultivation rates in an effort to further minimize their environmental impact.