Choose a spray log app by following a completed job from field entry to customer handover and later export. For Northern Ireland, DAERA requires a machine-readable original that preserves application data; it lists CSV, XLSX, XML and JSON as acceptable examples and excludes PDFs and scanned images for that purpose. A polished report is only one part of the recording workflow. [1]
There are several starting points. DAERA supplies an agricultural and horticultural Excel template. SprayKeeper describes mapped jobs, operator and equipment information, customer reports, weather and stock tracking. Sprayfolio markets a spray diary for contractors, greenkeepers, councils and small farms, with offline recording and structured exports. The feature descriptions below are attributed to those providers. [3][4][5]
Define the job you need the software to handle
Write down the operation before comparing features. Identify whether you manage your own fields, spray for several customers, maintain amenity sites or combine those roles. Record the jurisdictions in which applications happen. These choices determine which information and handovers your evaluation needs to cover.
DAERA's record guidance covers agriculture, horticulture, forestry and amenity use in Northern Ireland. It also distinguishes the contractor's machine-readable original from the customer's reference copy. Keep that distinction visible when deciding which person needs access to a system and which files must leave it. [1]
Use a completed application whose original note is available. Identify the actual product, place, operator, date, quantities and units. Where the product conditions make growth stage relevant, include that information. A real sample gives you something concrete to compare with the saved output; a demonstration with empty fields cannot establish whether your information survives export.
The official spreadsheet as a starting point
DAERA's publication page provides an Excel template, a user guide, EPPO crop lists for four sectors and a BBCH reference. Its user guide describes ten sheets with 100 rows each and says users may download further copies. The workbook asks for business identity at the top of each sheet and supports renaming sheets by field or crop. [3][2]
The same guide says selecting the crop from the dropdown automatically populates its EPPO code. It distinguishes mandatory black-headed fields from optional weather observations. Use the DAERA workbook guide to complete a trial row before deciding whether another system adds functions your operation actually needs. [2]
Keep the trial workbook and a note of the steps required to complete it. Identify who enters information, who resolves an unfamiliar code and who maintains the reviewed file. If you compare an app, ask it to perform the same job so the comparison concerns your process rather than an unrelated feature list.
What the vendor pages describe
| Option | Described workflow | Evidence to retain in your evaluation |
|---|---|---|
| DAERA workbook | Structured agricultural/horticultural records and crop-code support | Completed row and saved workbook |
| SprayKeeper | Mapped target areas, operator and equipment details, branded customer summaries, stock and cost information | Provider description, demonstration notes and a sample output |
| Sprayfolio | Offline diary, site records, product-register assistance, customer sharing and structured exports | Provider description, export sample and the terms chosen |
The table summarises the official and vendor sources, rather than assigning a compliance score to any option. Compare the actual entry and output with the requirements for your business. [3][4][5]
SprayKeeper's page describes equipment fields including sprayer and nozzle type, product details, active ingredients, MAPP numbers, batch numbers and expiry dates. It also describes branded job summaries emailed on completion, environmental information and stock/cost tracking. These functions address more than the minimum product-and-date entry. [4]
Sprayfolio's page describes named areas, equipment logs, customer links, operator roles, bulk site imports and change history. It markets offline operation and separate GB and 2023/564-style outputs. Use the provider's actual sample export to establish how the selected output represents your job. [5]
Match fields before choosing a subscription
DAERA's NI guidance identifies the existing application fields and adds product authorisation number, EPPO code and conditional BBCH stage. Its workbook guide also explains operator, times, treated location and extent, method, dose, water and buffer information. Use those fields as a concrete checklist for an NI trial. [1][2]
For each trial field, record where the value appears in the saved output. Keep the original product name and code recognisable. Check that an application involving several products retains each identity and quantity. Look at the relationship between a site, treatment and customer rather than judging the output from its file extension alone.
A named code field is useful only when the selected description matches the actual crop or land use. Confirm any prefilled value against the application information. If a field is conditional, establish how the program distinguishes a genuinely inapplicable value from an incomplete entry awaiting clarification.
Test capture and later correction
For a practical evaluation, create a trial copy of the known job. Save it, close the record and reopen it. Correct an intentionally mistyped internal job reference in the trial and follow that change into the export and customer copy. This is a suggested exercise using your own sample, not a claim that the providers were independently tested here.
If offline work is part of your requirement, include that scenario in the provider demonstration or your own trial. Sprayfolio advertises recording without signal. Keep notes about the device, selected version and steps you actually observed before depending on a particular behaviour during work. [5]
For a team, assign trial roles that resemble the real operation: applicator, office record keeper and customer recipient. Establish which person can correct a record and how the other parties see the revised version. Preserve the completed sample and the questions left to resolve before purchase.
Export a structured original and a reading copy
DAERA explains machine readability through extraction, search, analysis and transfer without manual re-entry. It also says the format must preserve required application data and allow supply to the Department on request. Test those tasks with the actual export you receive. [1]
Open the saved file without relying on the original application's screen. Find a treatment by site and date, inspect product and quantity units and compare the crop information with the original note. Keep the exported fields and their meanings together. An output that loses the meaning of a quantity still leaves a question for your record keeper to resolve.
The customer copy has another purpose. DAERA allows a reference PDF while the contractor retains the compliant machine-readable original, and requires the structured records to be supplied without undue delay when requested by the customer. Plan both deliverables for a contract operation. [1]
Read the price and access terms for the selected plan
SprayKeeper's page lists monthly operator-based tiers and says its prices exclude VAT. Its advertised packages distinguish one operator, two to five, six to twenty and an enterprise option. Sprayfolio advertises a seven-day free trial without a card. These are provider statements read with the source date shown below. [4][5]
Keep a copy of the plan and terms you actually choose. Record the number of people needing access and the customer-report workflow. Ask how you obtain older records if you stop using the service, and retain the answer with your purchasing notes. A trial length or operator count does not by itself answer the archive question.
If a provider demonstrates a feature outside the selected plan, identify that distinction before adopting the workflow. Put the required output format, access roles and retrieval process into your evaluation notes. Compare the total process your business will use rather than choosing from a monthly headline alone.
Preserve records through a software change
HSE states three-year professional-user retention, distinct from five-year retention for the supply-chain roles it lists. DAERA also states at least three years for application records. Keep that archive accessible when replacing a spreadsheet or app. [6][1]
Before migration, inventory the periods and sites in the old system. Export a reviewed sample and compare its values with the original. Identify attached documents and customer copies that sit outside the structured table. Preserve an index explaining how the old identifiers relate to the new ones.
Keep a tested copy of older records in the archive you plan to maintain. Confirm who can retrieve it when the usual administrator is unavailable. The contract handover guide provides a responsibilities checklist for customer work, while the digital timetable keeps the NI conversion dates attached to their jurisdiction.
Use the portal to prepare your record workflow
Choose the form-completion guide for quantities and entry structure, the DAERA workbook for official spreadsheet instructions and the UK overview for regional routes. Bring a completed, understood entry to a software trial so you can compare what is recorded, what is handed over and what remains retrievable later.