Management Matters
Great businesses run on systems, not on spreadsheets
Utilizing spreadsheets for hive management presents a common challenge: it creates an extra administrative burden to maintain and keep them up to date. While free tools like spreadsheets can automate report generation and offer graphical representations, they often require significant time and expertise to customize effectively for beekeeping needs.
As your business expands, the complexity of managing spreadsheets increases exponentially. Reconciling worksheets and entering data becomes a time-consuming task prone to errors. Processing dozens of worksheets requires several hours a week of meticulous attention to detail and organizational skills.
Limitations of Spreadsheets
To reduce the burden, this often leads to shorthand entries and recoding of mere totals for hive deaths, queens replaced, etc., losing the analytical value necessary for identifying and addressing specific issues within your beekeeping operation. The reason why the totals are changing is essential. For instance, pinpointing the causes of winter hive losses requires detailed analysis, which simplified spreadsheet entries may obscure.
In some cases, biases or preconceptions can influence perceived causes of problems, as demonstrated by experiences in New Zealand, where identifying the significant role of insufficient feeding in hive deaths challenged conventional wisdom about queen-related issues or varroa being the cause.
The simple fact was hives were not getting fed enough in the spring rounds or could not access the feeder, i.e., there was feed on the hive, but it was too far away from the cluster. Once identified as a significant factor the solution was a simple management practice fix: feeding more in autumn or introducing an earlier spring feeding round, and rotating the feeder closer to the cluster.
Using a management platform like MyApiary offers a remedy by enabling thorough record-keeping without sacrificing analytical depth while taking no longer than filling in the traditional worksheet.
Having crews submit worksheets and maintaining a centralized spreadsheet can also create a gatekeeper mentality within your business for important information; having to have staff constantly come back to you or other senior staff for every decision simply because they do not have access to the information they need is the quickest way to disempower your staff.
Again, this is where tools like MyApiary can significantly help beyond just simplifying the administrative task of recordkeeping. Having a single source of truth or knowledgebase where access and editability are controlled allows information to be disseminated to everyone who needs it, allowing them to get on with their jobs without feeling like they are not trusted or have been micromanaged.
Benefits of an app
Feedback from users underscores the effectiveness of this on-site data entry, which not only minimizes errors but also fosters ownership and engagement among crew members. Entering information in the field after they have completed working a yard ensures the information is fresh, and our data entry wizard makes quick work of recording what's been done, asking six questions about what was seen, and collating the final yard makeup and hive strengths.
By empowering teams with access to timely and accurate information, you can cut out the daily sync meetings and spend more time communicating the real business issues, such as resourcing to complete critical rounds, right through to what has been observed in the hives. Identifying any potential issue that is brewing so that it can be corrected now.
Overall, using modern tools promotes proactive decision-making and enhances overall operational efficiency. Crews are better prepared, knowing exactly what today’s plan is, spend less time on comebacks for missed items, and getting lost trying to find their way to unfamiliar yards. This means more time focused on what is happening in the hives, ultimately driving better hive health and productivity.
Summary of benefits
- One-time data entry, even when Offline. No administration requirement to enter data. ⏱️
- Centralized source of knowledge: everyone has the same information and is on the same page.
- Cut out the daily sync meetings with our work scheduler and spend more time communicating the issues. ⏱️
- Site pins and Directions to the job, reducing the amount of time crews get lost. ⏱️
- Reduced loss in translation errors with standardised bi-lingual grading and job templates.
- Instant analytics and Historical reporting at the click of a button. ⏱️
In summary, while spreadsheets may suffice for basic data management, tools like MyApiary offer a comprehensive solution tailored to the unique needs of modern beekeeping operations. Ensuring you have the head space to look around at what’s really happening in nature and in your business, providing critical insight into how this season is tracking.
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