Choose a spray records app by testing a complete Irish job: identify the product and parcel, record what was applied, retain the IPM reason, and retrieve a readable copy. DAFM requires professional-use purchase, disposal and application records, with records demonstrating IPM. Start with that documentary task when comparing software. [1]
Establish what your record has to contain
DAFM’s completed crop example distinguishes the application date, product, PCS number, crop or situation, location/LPIS reference, treated area or tonnage, application rate, water volume, method, aquatic buffer, STRIPE nozzle where applicable, reason for use, operator/PU and equipment certificate. Use the field-by-field guide as your comparison sheet. [2]
Before opening demonstrations, make a shortlist of your actual working situations. A dairy paddock, a tillage parcel, a council verge and a customer’s yard need different location descriptions. Bring an anonymised past record and the corresponding operator note. Ask each supplier to show how that information enters the diary and how another person finds it afterwards.
Separate a compulsory record field from a convenience feature in your notes. Weather capture, photographs and dashboards may help your work, but first establish where the identity, quantity and units appear. Describe the task in your own vocabulary rather than copying a feature name from a subscription table.
What the available evidence establishes
| Resource | Verified scope | Useful demonstration to request |
|---|---|---|
| DAFM crop example | Official field headings and completion guidance | Reproduce the information without losing units |
| Herdwatch October 2020 release note | Spray-mix recording appears in that dated release | Demonstrate the present Irish workflow |
| Sprayfolio vendor page | Browser-based diary, offline capture and customer sharing are described | Run the entire job and export it |
DAFM supplies the field guidance. Herdwatch’s October 2020 note says users can record a spray application using a spray mix. Sprayfolio describes its own browser, offline and customer-access functions. These are different kinds of evidence: an official record guide, a historical release note and current vendor descriptions. [2][3][4]
The Herdwatch note establishes that particular historical function. It supplies no basis for assigning today’s price, file schema or full Irish field coverage. In a comparison worksheet, write the version and date of the demonstration beside each feature you actually see. Keep a copy of the sample output you assessed.
Offline capture: test the return journey
Sprayfolio says records save on the device when there is no signal and synchronise automatically when connectivity returns. It also says the product registers are stored on the phone. Attribute these capabilities to the vendor when recording your comparison. [4]
For your own evaluation, prepare a small practical exercise before disconnecting the demonstration device. Select a customer, a location and an operator, then describe a completed historical job. Turn off connectivity, save it and close the software. Reopen the diary and locate the same entry. Reconnect and compare the record seen on the other authorised device.
Pay attention to the distinction between saving an entry and sending it to a shared workspace. Ask what the interface shows while transmission is pending. If someone corrects the area on a second device, inspect how the first device presents that correction after reconnecting. Keep those observations in your procurement notes; they are questions for the demonstration rather than claims about every product.
Try the exercise with your normal phone settings, including larger text and the keyboard you normally use. A diary that feels comfortable at a desk deserves another trial while wearing your ordinary work clothing and reading the screen outdoors. Arrange that trial in a safe setting, away from active spraying.
Product selection needs the container identity
DAFM instructs users to take the product name from the container used, rather than an invoice. Its completed-record guidance also says the PCS number must come from the container, not an invoice or the PRCD website. A search suggestion is therefore something to compare with the actual pack while preparing the entry. [2]
During a demonstration, choose a product whose full name you know. Inspect the selected authorisation number and the name that appears in the exported file. Repeat the exercise with a similarly named entry. Ask how a user corrects a wrong selection and whether that correction remains understandable in the history.
Give particular attention to reused mixtures. Confirm what the software copies when you repeat an earlier job. List the fields you must review: date, location, crop, area, product, rate, water, equipment and operator. Make your repeat-job checklist short enough to use each time, but specific enough to catch an outdated parcel or a colleague’s identity.
Rate, total quantity and water must stay distinguishable
DAFM’s completion guidance stresses clear units such as kg/ha and l/ha. Its separate end-user requirements include the quantity of each product actually applied in kilograms or litres. These descriptions deserve distinct headings in your comparison. [2][5]
Ask the demonstrator to explain every numerical box before entering values. Identify which box describes product per hectare, which describes total product and which describes carrier water. Read the resulting output as a sentence. A column headed simply “amount” needs clarification in your trial notes.
Use an invented arithmetic example, without a pesticide recommendation: a historical exercise covering 2 ha at an assumed 1 L/ha contains 2 L of product. If the assumed water volume is 200 L/ha, the water total is 400 L. These figures illustrate units only. Ask the software to preserve the inputs and their meanings, then compare its display and export with your calculation.
Try a decimal area and a solid-product unit as separate exercises. Inspect whether the file keeps the unit alongside the number. Test how the system handles a correction without silently changing unrelated jobs that used the same saved mixture.
Contractor handover is a separate acceptance test
DAFM’s council guidance says hiring a contractor does not waive the local authority’s SUD responsibilities. Application, IPM and risk-assessment records must be available, and the contractor’s contact details must be supplied. That makes document retrieval a concrete procurement task for council work. [6]
Sprayfolio says a client can use a site share link to view applications and download a PDF summary and machine-readable file without an account. Its description provides a feature to test with a demonstration customer. [4]
Create two fictional customers in the evaluation workspace and assign a clearly different location to each. Generate the customer-facing output and inspect its scope. Check that the intended recipient can identify the job, operator and treated place from the copy. Ask how an updated record is communicated after an earlier copy has been delivered.
For a contractor shortlist, add columns for the customer’s preferred delivery method, office contact and retrieval responsibility. Agree who keeps the original operator note and who reconciles corrections. These are practical allocation decisions; place them alongside the software assessment rather than expecting an application name to settle them.
Imports: preserve the original treatment date
Sprayfolio advertises importing a season of historical records from CSV or Excel and matching the incoming columns on screen. It says transferred rows retain their original dates and are marked as transferred from paper. [4]
Prepare an import exercise with an unambiguous date, a decimal quantity, a location code and a product identifier containing a leading zero. Keep the original file untouched. After importing, compare the displayed record with that original and export the imported row again. Describe any conversion you observe in the trial worksheet.
Inspect how blank cells are treated. A blank source value should prompt a question about the underlying record, rather than an assumption that the treatment used zero product or no water. Ask the supplier how an incomplete historical record is distinguished from a completed, reviewed application.
If the office already has several workbooks, list their column names before choosing an import route. Identify which sheet is the source of each value. Resolve ambiguous abbreviations with the person who made the record, then retain that explanation beside the original workbook.
Keep purchase and disposal evidence accessible
DAFM’s end-user requirements identify supplier name/address, received product and PCS number, pack sizes and quantities. For returns and disposals they identify the receiving company, product identity, date and quantity. An application diary should be assessed alongside that evidence, even if another system stores it. [5]
Decide where the purchase document, application and disposal receipt will be found in your working arrangement. During the trial, start from a treatment and locate the relevant product paperwork. Then reverse the exercise: start from a disposal document and locate the stock or product identity it describes.
Do not force every document into a treatment row just because one screen is convenient. Keep a short index explaining where each class of evidence lives and who can retrieve it. Give the office a way to recognise records supplied by a contractor separately from its own entries.
Assess access when the subscription changes
Sprayfolio states that an account becomes read-only when payment stops and that existing records remain viewable and exportable. This is the vendor’s stated access policy, rather than a statement about every diary service. [4]
For any shortlist, ask for the written retention and export terms. Record who controls the account, which colleague can retrieve a season and how the business obtains a copy before replacing the system. Open an exported file away from the demonstration workspace and confirm that its headings explain themselves.
DAFM’s completed example requires professional users to retain application records for three years from application. Make retention a specific acceptance criterion, including the ability to locate older customer work and the supporting IPM material. [2]
Make the choice with an evidence sheet
Use a final comparison table with one row per task: capture, product identity, units, offline recovery, customer handover, import, correction, retrieval and exit. For each supplier, attach the dated demonstration output and note who performed the exercise. Mark a task complete only when the copy in your possession answers the question you set.
Finish with a real working scenario from your own business. A single operator may prioritise quick repeat entry; a contractor may prioritise customer separation and delivery; a council may need staff, equipment and sensitive-site documents connected to the same application. Follow the Irish records overview for the documentary context and the council guide for that specific inspection pack.
Evaluate the commercial arrangement alongside the diary
Prepare a procurement note naming the subscription holder, billing contact, authorised administrators and intended users. Ask the supplier to demonstrate how access is granted, withdrawn and recovered after a phone replacement. Keep the answer specific to the proposed plan, including any distinction between an operator seat and a customer who receives a report.
Make your comparison on the complete cost of your own scenario. Describe the number of people, customers and seasons you expect to administer; record the quotation currency, tax treatment, payment interval and renewal terms exactly as offered. Avoid comparing an annual quotation with a monthly headline without writing down the period beside each figure.
Discuss ownership and confidentiality using the supplier’s documents. List which personal details, parcel identifiers and customer documents the workspace will contain. Ask where the relevant privacy notice, contract and account-deletion instructions are located. Retain the versions assessed with the quotation rather than relying on an undocumented sales conversation.
Give the final recommendation an evidence column. Attach the sample spreadsheet, customer report, offline exercise notes and access terms to the shortlist. Explain any unresolved task in concrete language, such as an operator identity missing from the delivered copy or an ambiguous quantity heading. This makes the decision reviewable by the colleague who will administer the diary after purchase.