Revision History of Optimate AlpaFarm

Optimate AlpaFarm has the longest documented revision history of any alpaca herd management program—eight years and counting!
Optimate has a proven history of regular and substantial and continuing program development, second to none in the industry.
March 2010
added       Breeding History subreport to Animal History Report
added       Herdbook Report - additional report with multiple sort orders

January 2010
improved    Update Shearing Record - recall Shearing Date and Sampling Date
            for next Insert
improved    Update Alpaca - delete corresponding Locator record when marking
            How Disposed as Deceased
improved    Fleece Test Labels Report - added facility to exclude Deceased and
            Sold animals from report
improved    Fleece Test Labels Report - added Ident and IAR to list of sort
            orders


September 2009
added       Empty Female Report
added       Parents Report
added       Browse/Update Testing Lab
improved    Update Alpaca - setting Disposed to 'Deceased' adds a record to
            Death Register if required
improved    Browse/Update Death Register - changed Alpaca droplist to lookup
            button
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - Pregnant filter now displays girls up to
            60 days overdue
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - changed Count Rows to tickbox, same as
            Browse Alpaca
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - added Spitoffs columns, Surrogate column
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - added Mating Date to sort By Dam Full
            Name
improved    Update Mating Schedule - added Dam Owner, Sire Owner
improved    Update Mating Schedule/Mating Schedule Report - widened Comments
improved    Browse/Update/Select HerdPrefix - widened HerdPrefix
improved    Browse Show Result - added Comments column
improved    Update Show Result - added Judges' Names
improved    Update Shearing Record - added Sampling Date, Testing Lab
improved    Browse Breeding History - added Ident Number to sort By Name
improved    Browse Breeding History - changed Date format to follow Windows
            settings
improved    Update Breeding History - added Date calendar lookup
improved    Update Breeding History - changed Alpaca droplist to lookup button
improved    Update Breeding History - increased size of spin control on Date,
            added spin control to Line Number
fixed       Mating Schedule Report - wasn't always displaying picture of dam
fixed       Mating Schedule Report - widened animal names
fixed       Browse Herdbook - sometimes was out of date
fixed       Browse Mating Schedule - Herdbook filter didn't always show every
            animal in the Herdbook
fixed       Show Result Report - widened animal name
fixed       data extraction - did not support Vista
fixed       Update Alpaca - US - ARI Number was hidden


March 2009
added       customisable colour band to marketing reports


February 2009
fixed       Update Alpaca - Ident Number not always calculated correctly if
            Year droplist contained duplicate Year Code


December 2008
improved    Update Alpaca - added Ear Tag, a generic in-house tag
improved    Update Company - widened Bank, Account Name
improved    Update Invoice, Update Invoice Payment - widened Cheque Name,
            Cheque Bank
improved    Update Invoice, Update Invoice Detail, Print Invoice - widened
            Description, Long Description
improved    Browse/Update Item - widened Description
fixed       Update Alpaca - Year droplist could picked wrong year if list
            contained duplicate Year Code
fixed       Export Alpaca Seller - alpaca with no show results recorded could
            cause crash


September 2008
added       additional sort orders to Browse Invoice - Customer, Balance Owing
            and My Company
added       Comments control to Update Individual
added       Invoice Number to bottom section of invoice
added       Direct Deposit prompts to bottom section of invoice
improved    Insert Many (Locator) - didn't always handle blank destination
            Location sensibly
fixed       problem where maximised windows could be too large to fit on the
            screen


June 2008
added       Weight Chart - graph weight data for animal
added       Weight Export facility - export weight data to csv
added       check for sane window positioning
improved    Locator Snapshot Report - can now specify which paddock
improved    Update Alpaca - added "Unreg. Fem." to choice of gender
improved    Update Weight - remember the most recently used animal and date
improved    support for UK locale - BAS# etc
improved    Update Alpaca - US - made Pattern like other similar fields
fixed       Browse Shearing Record - widened button Shearing Report
fixed       Edit Husbandry Worksheet - widened button Delete Column
fixed       Locator Snapshot Report - UK - widened column Ear Tag


May 2008
improved    Sex - added "Unregistered Female" to list of choices
improved    Browse Vet Header - fixed text on Print Alpaca button
improved    Browse Country - fixed text on View Region button
improved    support for UK locale
fixed       ReportMatingSchedule - was including deceased animals


March 2008
improved    Location History Snapshot Report - added Sortby Ident, From, To
improved    Finances menu - clarified Companies and Customers menu options
improved    Update Alpaca - added AARNumber, DNANumber
fixed       Update Worksheet Matrix - infinite loop when selecting a column
            before any rows had been added


December 2007
added       Animal History Report - combination reports for animals
fixed       Agisted Alpaca/Sold/Herd Shearing/Location History Snapshot/Mating
            Schedule/Herd Weight Reports - setup window was ignoring Alt+F4
fixed       Update Locator History - didn't update To-Paddock
fixed       Reports saved as PDF - normal text was saved as bold
fixed       windows sometimes flickered or redrew slowly when resized
fixed       caption buttons in maximised windows not always removed when
            window closed


August 2007
added       Herd Weight Report
improved    currency support for locales
fixed       Browse Mating Schedule - wasn't excluding negative spitoffs from
            list of pregant females
fixed       View Master File Summary, Alpaca Report, View Alpaca Summary -
            (UK) was displaying "$"


May 2007
added       support for more locales
improved    Mating Schedule - ask user before auto-adding
            Alpaca/Locator/Progeny records for newborn cria
improved    Show Results - added Best Fancy, Colour etc
improved    Browse Breeding History - improved responsiveness
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - improved performance and feedback of
            Is Latest
improved    Update Alpaca - widened JDMAP Cert. No., added calendar lookup for
            ExpiryDate
improved    Update Alpaca - widened OverseasIdent, DNA Case Number
fixed       Spitoff Report - wasn't filtering spitoffs that already had
            results recorded
fixed       EDOB/Drop Report - was excluding overdue girls
fixed       Tax Summary Report - wouldn't produce a report if there were no
            invoices for the period ("No records to process")


December 2006
added       Mating Schedule Work Report
added       Expense Group Report
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - changed filter for Pregnant from EDOB to
            ADOB
improved    Locator History Report - added IAR column


October 2006

fixed       coefficients of inbreeding - were not being printed if an animal
            was "Excluded from Coeffs"


September 2006

added       Actual DOB to Update Mating Schedule form
added       automatic creation of Alpaca, Progeny and Locator records when
            Actual DOB is entered
added       Surrogate Dam to Update Mating Schedule form
added       ability to exclude Chilean Dam etc from inbreeding calculations
added       Locator Snapshot Report - snapshot of animal location
added       Suri Backcross to Update Alpaca form
added       N/A to Type droplist in Update Alpaca form
added       On Property and Off Property tabs to Master File Summary window
added       Off Property tickbox to Update Paddock form
added       owner filter to Agisted Alpaca Report
added       location sort order to Agisted Alpaca Report
added       iteration to Agisted Alpaca Report - can do a new report by
            tweaking the previous one
added       date sort order to Sold Alpaca Report
added       date range to Sold Alpaca Report
added       iteration to Sold Alpaca Report
added       iteration to Expense Report
added       iteration to Revenue Report
added       iteration to Mileage Report
improved    Update Mating Schedule form - add automatically newborn cria to
            Alpaca master file, Locator file and Progeny file
improved    Update Mating Schedule form - newborn cria goes into dam's
            paddock, or into ~newborn paddock if dam's paddock cannot be
            identified
improved    Browse Alpaca window - refresh display when values changed by
            other windows
improved    Browse Locator window - refresh display when values changed by
            other windows
improved    Browse Progeny window - refresh display when values changed by
            other windows
improved    Browse Progeny window - added sort header
improved    Browse Mating Schedule window - highlight bar would move to top of
            table after editing a record
fixed       colouring of common ancestors in Pedigree Tree - sometimes
            coloured animals that shouldn't have been
fixed       Coefficient of Inbreeding in Pedigree Tree - sometimes included
            Chilean Dams etc
fixed       Insurance Report - could crash sometimes
fixed       Recalc Pop button on Browse Paddock window - stopped calculating
            paddock populations
fixed       Expense Report, Revenue Report, Mileage Report - regression


July 2006
added       Coefficient of Inbreeding and Wright's Coefficient of Relationship
            to Pedigree Tree Report
improved    UpdateExpense - added calendar lookup for expense date
improved    UpdateExpense - remember most recently used expense group
fixed       UpdateExpense - wouldn't always allow deletion of record


May 2006
improved    PrintOneInvoice - (US) changed "TAX INVOICE" to "INVOICE"
fixed       PrintOneInvoice - (US) "ABN" translation (to "Company Number") too
            long, changed to "Co #"
fixed       IAR s7->s8 BrowseWeight/Progeny/Herdbook/Husbandry/MatingSchedule/
            ShearingRecord/ProgenyMale, UpdateWorksheetMatrix


March 2006
added       Expense Groups - alternate way of grouping expenses, additional to
            account/category
added       Export animal data to AlpacaSeller
improved    Update Alpaca - improved layout for Pedigree Tree (button)
improved    Update Alpaca - Weight record created automatically if alpaca
            inserted with nonzero birth weight
improved    Update Alpaca - display OS Ident number in US version
improved    Update Mating Schedule - added Disable Auto Scan Date
improved    Browse Mating Schedule - fixed build(dynamic index) file closed
            error
improved    IAR Import Wizard - handle animals where ABRI data is missing
            breeder info
improved    IAR Import Wizard - support for w98
fixed       ++'s in column headers of some browses
fixed       Update/Browse Alpaca - Name did not permit entry/display of full
            32 characters
fixed       Pedigree Tree - column headings were not being translated
fixed       IAR Import Wizard - import of pedigree data for user-entered
            animals
fixed       SireIARNumber - UpdateMatingSchedule, PrintOneMatingSchedule,
            PrintOneAlpaca, PrintOneProgenyMale
fixed       CriaIARNumber - PrintOneProgeny, PrintOneProgenyMale


November 2005
added       Mileage
added       Vehicles
added       Stud Services


October 2005 (late)
added       Insurance
added       Expense Report
added       Invoice Payment Report
added       Sales List Report
added       Herdbook Valuation Report
added       Spitoff Report
added       Herd Shearing Report
added       "CV" to Covariance column in Shearing Report
improved    UpdateMatingSchedule - will calc EDOB regardless of value of
            SpitoffResult or ScanResult (previously req a "successful" result)
improved    ImportZPedigree - will import pedigree of pre-existing animal
            pedigrees


October 2005 (early)
added       support for multiple companies
added       Expenses
added       Accounts/Categories, to support Expenses
improved    ReportTaxSummary - to support multiple Companies
improved    ReportTaxSummary - to support Expenses
improved    Browse/Update/PrintOneInvoice - to support multiple Companies
fixed       marketing reports - widened IAR Number again


September 2005
added       Mass Movement of Animals
added       Scheduled Reminders
added       Locator History including Report
added       Fleece Test Labels
updated     IAR Import Wizard
improved    BrowseLocator - added tree and multiselect table
improved    UpdateInvoicePayment - added MerchantNumber, AuthPhoneNumber
improved    ReportEstimatedDOB - added MatingDate, DaysPregnant; tweaked
improved    UpdateHusbandry - ALP droplist -> lookupbutton
improved    UpdateShearingRecord, PrintOneFleece - extended Curvature
            >=100deg/mm
improved    UpdateWorksheetMatrix - updated locator tree logic
improved    BrowseItem - added CloneButton
improved    BrowseHusbandry - added CloneButton, ViewButton
improved    UpdateHusbandry - added CalendarButton
improved    UpdateInvoice, PrintOneInvoice - support discounts >=100%
fixed       UpdateInvoiceDetail - changes to LongDescription were lost when
            window focus was lost


June 2005
improved    BrowseAlpaca, BrowseMatingSchedule - added RowCount for filters
improved    BrowseMatingSchedule - added Master/Herdbook/Agist filter
improved    ReportEDOB - added filters for herdbook,sold
improved    AddTranslateGroupHeaders - handles clicksort headers as well
fixed       BrowseMatingSchedule - by Dam Name/by Colour/by Sire Name/by D.
            Full Name did not sort correctly
fixed       (US/CA) translations in BrowseItem, References:FarmCodes,
            BrowseAlpaca, BrowseMatingSchedule,
fixed       BrowseLocalClimate - a label disappeared when the window was
            increased in height


May 2005
added       support for multiple species
added       Report Herdbook By Species
improved    Mating Schedule - support multiple species
improved    Contacts - no longer have to explicitly add an Individual if all
            you need for an Organisation is an individual's name (eg. "Attn:")
improved    help for Finances module


May 2005
added       Enterprise Edition, including
            - Invoicing, designed for the alpaca industry, including support
              for progressive payments
            - Contact Management
            - cash basis Tax Summary
            - Cashflow Projection
added       Pedigree Tree
added       Tax Summary Report, Tax Types Report, Tax Codes Report, Standard
            Items Report, Transaction Type Report, Credit Card Report
added       Filters to Browse Mating Schedule - Dam and Sire
added       Water Source to References
added       Water Supply to Paddocks - allows multiple water sources per
            paddock
improved    BackupData - now copies *$???.tps to conv instead of backup (and
            also moves backup\*$???.tps to conv)
improved    BackupData - no longer copies *z.tps to backup
improved    UpdateWorksheet - didn't prompt to save changes when cancelling
fixed       Tools:Calculate Local Climate Data - progress window would not
            disappear when finished
fixed       dual application instance bug - second instance would crash
            instead of simply not running
fixed       regression error UpdateHerdPrefix - couldn't change Herd Prefix
fixed       (US/CA) UpdateHerdPrefix - changing Farm Prefix prepended Common
            Name with new Farm Prefix
fixed       regression error BrowseAlpaca - alpaca thumbnail not redrawn
            properly on horizontal resize window
fixed       Translation of Group Headers
fixed       BrowseMatingSchedule - see TranslateGroupHeaders
fixed       UpdateProgeny - adding record with blank cria prevented later
            inserts


December 2004
added       drag-and-drop alpaca movement to Locator in Worksheet
improved    UpdateAlpaca - added Disposal tab
improved    Husbandry Worksheet
fixed       Help:Technical Support - '&' in Registered Name could prevent
            email from being generated properly

October 2004
added       CashFlow
improved    Husbandry Worksheet - added Date Job Done etc

September 2004
improved    help - added worksheet
fixed       SelectHerdPrefix - no longer invokes edits
fixed       ViewAlpacaSummary - new threading model introduced bug in 2.2.1.1
fixed       Windows 2K/XP Pro _free bug - no longer call that code in that
            context

August 2004
added       Husbandry Worksheet
added       support for wheel mouse

May 2004
added       Status Report
added       Fleece Report
added       Show Results Report
added       Date Range to Husbandry Report
added       fleece picture and histogram image to Update Shearing Record
added       text "by Name" and "by Owner" to respective Agisted Alpaca Reports
improved    Husbandry Code - widened from 6 characters to 10
improved    Update Show Results - better layout
improved    Update Shearing Record - tweaked
improved    Browse Show, Update Show - tweaked

February 2004
added       Sold Alpaca Report
added       Gestation, Ident, IAR, IsProblemGirl, Comments to EDOB/Drop Report
added       Birth Weight and Body Condition Score to Weight Report
added       Pregnant filter to Browse Mating Schedule
added       tiered Gestation period to Update Mating Schedule
added       clickable email link to Update Customer
added       support for US weights and measures
improved    Progeny Report - single line per record
improved    Help:Email Technical Support
improved    Registration:Purchase Unlock Code
improved    download size - decreased by 500KB
improved    Update Progeny - much faster for large Alpaca file
improved    Update Weight - much faster for large Alpaca file
improved    marketing reports - "Breed" changed to "Type"; IAR left-justified
improved    Browse Weight, Update Weight, Weight Report - widened Weight
fixed       sorting by Saddle/Blanket Weight and Total Weight in
            Browse Shearing Record (were reversed)
renamed     Farmer Edition -> Wether Edition

January 2004
added       Mating Schedule Report
added       tiered gestation periods (default/herd/alpaca)
added       Is Problem Girl tickbox to Alpaca file
added       "Visiting" to list of possible Ownership Statuses
added       ClearEDOB to UpdateMatingSchedule
added       cd support and various info tweaks to IAR Import Wizard
improved    UpdateAlpaca - much faster for large Herd file
improved    UpdateMatingSchedule - much faster for large Alpaca file
improved    UpdateProgeny - much faster for large Alpaca file
improved    Browse Dams' Progeny, Browse Sires' Progeny - much faster for
            large Progeny file
improved    logic for calculating EDOB in Mating Schedule
improved    synchronisation of alpaca Status and How Disposed - 'sold' now
            only changes 'owned and 'co-owned' to 'sold'
improved    ToolsWallYearPlanner - prints next year as well as this year
improved    Data Backup - no longer uses dos box
improved    IAR Import Wizard - pedigrees are now imported
improved    robustness of logic in IAR Import Wizard
improved    IAR Import Wizard - finetuned
improved    IAR UnImport Wizard - finetuned
fixed       overflow on Husbandry Report

October 2003
added       Herdbook By Location Report
added       Agisted Alpaca Report
added       Agisted Alpaca By Owner Report
added       Visiting Alpaca Report
added       EDOB/Drop Report
added       All/Latest radio buttons to BrowseMatingSchedule
added       cost override to UpdateHusbandry
added       columns and sorts to BrowseLocator
added       three User-Defined fields to UpdateAlpaca
added       Reports:Request Change
improved    Alpaca Report - added IAR,DOB for parents
improved    age calculator on BrowseAlpaca - quotes months up to 47 months;
            quotes only years when birthyear is specified
improved    BrowseHusbandry, UpdateHusbandry, PrintOneHusbandry generally
improved    trialware sample data
improved    trialware timeout - new trialware will unexpire
            sufficiently-expired trialware
fixed       Sires Progeny Report - detail overflowed into footer
fixed       synchronisation of birthdate fields in UpdateAlpaca
fixed       sorting in SelectAlpaca

September 2003
fixed       UpdateAlpaca - AU version was using US colour selector

August 2003
added       Herdbook Report - stock report of alpacas in herdbook
fixed       updating by UpdateLocator of BrowseAlpaca(Herdbook),
            BrowseHerdbook, BrowseHusbandry, BrowsePaddock
fixed       UpdateLocator - screen controls were a bit of a mess

July 2003
added       view radio buttons (Master File/Herdbook/Agistments) to Browse
            Husbandry
added       name filter to Browse Husbandry - show only animals with names
            starting with letters you specify
added       time filter to Browse Husbandry - show only records from the last
            N months
added       "Visiting" to Ownership Status droplist in Update Alpaca
added       "Other" to Type droplist in Update Paddock Maintenance
added       Owner(s) and Location to View Alpaca Summary
added       Owner columns to Browse Alpaca and Browse Agistments
added       Your Herd Prefix to Update Options
added       "trialware" Unlock Code to Registration:Enter Unlock Code - allows
            fullblown Alpaca Report
improved    Husbandry Report - can now control display sequence of procedures
            on same day
improved    Update Alpaca - no longer need to temporarily set Ownership to
            Owned in order to set/change Owner(s)
improved    some Date controls - changed dd-mm-yyyy to your Windows setting,
            and made arrows bigger
fixed       Total Value fields in View Master File Summary which sometimes
            displayed incorrectly
fixed       incorrect sorting in Browse Sold Alpacas
fixed       some field synchronisation problems in Update Alpaca

June 2003
added       view radio buttons (Master File/Herdbook/Agistments) to Browse
            Alpaca
improved    Browse Husbandry - Sold and Deceased animals are filtered out
improved    Husbandry Report - added (first) owner's stud name to report
header
fixed       Multiple menu in Alpaca:Locator should not have been visible, and
            now isn't
fixed       Update Alpaca - couldn't change Ownership from Sold to Agisted if
            How Disposed was Sold
fixed       Update Mating Schedule - subsequent Mating Dates weren't updating
            Estimated DOB

May 2003
improved    load times for BrowseAlpaca and UpdateAlpaca
improved    various parts of the Help System
fixed       Ident Number field synchronisation in UpdateAlpaca

April 2003
added       alpaca thumbnail to BrowseAlpaca
added       support for custom wallpaper to Tools:Options
added       Help:Request a Change
improved    support for deceased alpacas
improved    support for Windows XP
fixed       broken links in Help:On the Internet

March 2003
added       IAR Database Import Wizard
added       IAR Database Import Undo Wizard
added       record counts to Browse Alpacas and Browse Herd Prefixes
improved    Update Mating Schedule - Male droplist is now restricted to
            Active Cert and Reg Males
improved    Update Progeny - Sire droplist is now restricted to Cert and Reg
            Males (of any Activity)
improved    Add Mating Schedule - initial Mating Date is today not tomorrow
improved    Update Customer - widened Company field
improved    money handling in Sale, Purchase, StudService (Enterprise Edition)
fixed       sorting by IAR in Browse Alpaca, and extended Drop No. to 4 digits
fixed       sorting in Sold Alpacas
fixed       Add Customer, which could generate a spurious Duplicate Key error
fixed       primary key in Mating Schedule

February 2003
Even more help - Help: On the Internet has things like sending diagnostic
information to Technical Support, and easy access to Optimate's website
Improved and reconfigured Trialware version allows personalised Alpaca Report
and also allows data to be accessed even after Trialware expiry
Added more sample images for Reports

January 2003
Improved menu structure
Added sample logo and image for Reports

December 2002
Improved Update Breeding History

November 2002
Automatic data backup
How to Make Great Reports in Help menu
How to Make Great Dossiers in Help menu
Calculation of Drop Number (and Ident Number) for newly added alpacas
Improved synchronisation of entry fields in Update Alpaca
Data Flow in main Help System: boxes are now clickable links to the
corresponding page in the Help System
Alpaca Summary as well as Herd Summary in Browse Alpacas
Age column in Browse Alpacas (days/months/years as appropriate)

October 2002
Marketing Reports - Alpaca Report, Progeny Reports, Husbandry Reports etc

August 2002
While the DOS version of Optimate AlpaFarm has been around
for some time, the Windows version is brand new.