#Farm Machinery & Equipment
Deere software upgrade offers new features
Operations Center gets new Work Planner, and mobile app gets renamed.
When a major equipment company makes an announcement, it's news. But these days, instead of shiny new iron rolling off the factory floor, it's more about new arrangements of bits and bytes to make those machines, and your farm, work more efficiently. John Deere's latest update to its Operations Center system brings along some new features.
“[Work Planner] gives farmers a fully integrated planning experience where they can turn that work setup from their office or phone and send it automatically to the Gen 4 display,” says Jennifer Badding, go-to-market manager for digital technology.
She notes once that plan is transmitted to the in-cab display, when it's time to work, the operator just pushes a button and gets to work. The Work Planner is flexible. Badding explains that you can set up simple tasks like planting or spraying or build in details for use later in analyzing a year's work.
“It's really dependent on the person going into the tool to set it up,” she explains. “You can leave it kind of generic or you can put in field name, equipment used, operator name, seed planted, guidance lines and all of that, which I would recommend.”
She shares that on her family's farm her brother could set up the work plan for Dad to hit the field. When in the tractor, all Dad must do is press one button when he enters the field boundary and all key information for that task is already set up. No fumbling with buttons in the tractor, sprayer or combine cab before getting to work. And for operators who do the setup, that can be done in advance and transmitted to the machine, making your workday smoother, too.
Deere tools needed
The company updates Operations Center every other month. The latest update, in January, is more extensive. The system has an improved look and feel. Work Planner was added. And MyOperations, the mobile app, is now called Operations Center mobile.
“A lot of our customers really like to be on that mobile device and with this release we've streamlined that navigation,” she says. “So, it has a similar look and feel whether you're in the office, on the web or on your mobile device.”
To maximize the latest update and get the most out of the Work Planner, a farmer would need four tools: a Generation 4 display, a StarFire receiver, a JDLink connection and the Operations Center. The JDLink tool is important because it allows movement of information – like a work plan – more easily from farm office to in-field equipment with no need for a flash drive to make the transfer. That same system can export information at season's end for analysis.
The updated Operations Center is active online and the iOS version for Apple mobile products is available in the Apple App Store. The Android version will soon be available from Google Play. New users can create an Operations Center account at operationscenter.deere.com, or contact their local dealer for more information.
