Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter

Monday 3rd April March 2017

NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.

************

PII 060: 4 Annotated Pictorial Guides You Need for Using Tayo Solagbade’s Popular Livestock Ration Formulator

Every now and then Farm CEOs who just purchased my Farm Business Best Practice Management apps call or send emails to ask for help with getting up and running using them.

That’s why I provide step-by-step explanations about how to use my popular Excel-VB Poultry Farm Manager, using four annotated pictorial guides that give quick tips about how to use the software.

In this week’s issue of my Performance Improvement IDEAS newsletter, I explain the steps involved in using the Ration Formulator, using each of the pictorial guides.

Click here to download the guides in a zipped folders.

I created and began sending them to buyers as extra “quick start” learning tools, when I noticed more Farm CEOs who bought the app had difficulty making out time from their busy schedules to read the detailed PDF guide I send each buyer.

Download and study these 4 guide images.

Print them out if you prefer.

Either way, they will help you quickly learn to use the app.

If you need any help making sense or use of the information provided, let me know.

Note that you will have cause – in using the software to – “try” using variable values for feed ingredients, until the Pr+ value, Energy level and other important parameters for your feed turn out the way you want them.

Recall that you need a SOUND understanding of feed formulation principles (such as those described in the feed formulation handbook) to make effective use of this software.

The common saying – Garbage-In Garbage Out – in relation to computers applies firmly here!

Guide 1 – Nutrient Composition Table

Click UPDATE SETTINGS on the Ration Formulator’s Menu to access this table

The nutrient composition tablie is in a different worksheet from the ration computation table, which has formulas. New ingredients added to the nutrient contribution table instantly appear in the computation table’s drop menus.

For every ingredient that is chosen by the user in the computation table. All corresponding nutrient values (Protein, energy, calcium etc) entered for it in the nutrient table instantly appear in the corresponding columns in the computation table – via a database function.

No need to type new values in, each time a new of different ingrendient is added. This app is futuristic in that it enables users easily add new ingredients or completely replace old ones and their nutrient without having to temper with the spreadsheet etc. So s/he gets to focus on formulating the ration, rather than worrying about modifying a spreadsheet.

The user clicks an ingredients name in the in-cell drop menu or via the floating data entry form. Clicking an ingredient’s nae will post it in the cell and the database functions in the table will instantly cause its computed nutrient values to appear along the same row (drawing from the nutrient composition table where they would have been posted initially: A drop menu is also used to choose “fixed” or “variable” label to assign to each ingredient.

Guide 2 – Computing a Ration Formula Using the Excel-VB Driven App (Steps A to D)

At “A“: Type target protein value you want in the final feed into “Tgt Pr+(%).

Below it, enter total kg of feed you want to make.

At “B”: Use the drop menus to choose the crude protein sources you want to use. If you choose more than ONE CP source, you MUST choose “Mixture” at “C” in”Variable No. 2” under Pearson Square Inputs

Once the above is done, click the REFRESH button. The software will  generate values for in the “Estimated %  To Use In Ration” section (below section “C”).

At “D“: You will now enter the generated values into the data entry fields for EACH ingredient at “D“. Then finish by clicking REFRESH to generate the ration formula.

Drop menus provided next to each ingredient name allows you specify if it is a Variable or Fixed ingredient. The app’s computation takes this into consideration. If you forget to make up the totals to 100% the app will throw an error alert and force you to find and correct the mistake BEFORE you can progress.

The table’s total protein should equal the target Pr+ value you want in the ration you’re formulating. If not, check the total % in ration (should be approx 100%) in the table. Sometimes minor changes to the variable ingredients will be needed to get the target protein right. The kcal ME/g Calcium, Fibre (should ne within the desired range for your animals).

You will check Ingredients Cost (Naira). Compare to your budget. Make adjustments if needed – possibly using cheaper alternatives. Note that the app instantly inserts user entries in the data form, into the correct location on the spreadsheet. The user need not interact with the spreadsheet at all. And when the right formula is obtained, it can be stored (by clicking the “Store this formula” button on the worksheet and/or printed out by clicking the “Print Preview” button on the worksheet.

Guide 3 – Error Handling to Ensure You Get Reliable Ration Formulas

The app formats relevant formula cells in the password protected ration formulation area. They turn red when “invalid”.

If the error is not corrected, the user will not be allowed to move beyond that stage. In the instance below, the TOTAL% in ration is less than 100%. The user must clear whatever caused that error before s/he can continue with the ration formulation.

In contrast, manual Excel workbooks created for feed formulation typically allow such severe errors go unnoticed, since no in-build error handling exists.

Bear in mind that this application has evolved over the years, based on feedback from users, to improve the “reliable and safe use”. The original version built in 2004 was not as enhanced as this.

Guide 4 – This app generates THIS print-ready Pearson Square formula and diagram page

The app is based on an improved version of the Pearson Square technique. It generates a print-ready formula and diagram. At the bottom of the print page, the user is reminded using a set of bullet points of rules guiding feed formulation based on this ration formulation technique.

Excel-VB Driven Ration Formulator

1. Click here to learn more about this app – watch demo videos etc

2. Click here to watch a 4 part video in which I demonstrate how to use this app to formulate rations using real life data sent to me by an Algerian PhD student.

Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.

EXCEL-VB DRIVEN POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE

Click here to download a detailed PDF user guide and watch 15 screen shot user guide tutorials of the Monthly Poultry Farm Manager that I now offer Farm CEOs.

Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.

SDN Blog™

New posts from last week*

Monday:

[Wednesday]:

[Thursday]:

N/A

[Friday]:

[RECOMMENDED] My Lord, Tell Me Where To Keep Your Bribe? – By Niyi Osundare (Renowned Nigerian poet)

[Saturday]:

N/A

[Sunday]:

[RECOMMENDED] Understanding Relative and Absolute Cell References in MS Excel

Tayo K. Solagbade*

Self-Development/Performance Improvement Specialist

*Best Practice Farm Business Support Specialist & Founder of the MS Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club and Competition

Mobile: +234-803-302-1263 (in Nigeria) or +229-66-122-136 (in Benin Republic)

http://www.tayosolagbade.com

Tayo K. Solagbade is a Location Independent Performance Improvement

Specialist and Multipreneur (i.e. a highly versatile/multi-skilled entrepreneur), with a bias for delivering Best Practice solutions to Farm Businesses and others.

Since 2002, he has earned multiple streams of income providing individuals and organizations with personal development training and coaching, custom MS Excel-VB solutions, web marketing systems/web hosting, freelance writing services, and best practice extension support services (for farm business owners).

Tayo is the author of the Self-Development (SD) Bible™ and the popular Livestock Feed Formulation Handbook. He is also the developer of its accompanying Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator™ and the Poultry Farm Manager™ software.

He has delivered talks/papers to audiences in various groups and organizations, including the Centre for Management Development, University of Lagos, Christ Baptist Church, Volunteer Corps, Tantalisers Fast Foods and others.

In May 2012 he was the Guest Speaker at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development’s Annual Semester Entrepreneurial Lecture at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

On 1st April 2013, Tayo (who reads, write and speaks the French language) relocated to Cotonou, Benin Republic to begin slowly traveling across the West African region.

His key purpose is to deliver talks, seminars and workshops on his key areas of focus and interest to interested audiences (Email tayo at tksola dot com for details).

In a previous life, before leaving to become self-employed, Tayo served for seven years (October 1994 to December 2001) as a high performing manager in Guinness Nigeria. He rose from Shift Brewer to Training & Technical Development Manager, and later acted in senior roles as Production Manager and Technical Manager.

In addition to constantly challenging the status quo and influencing positive work changes, he built a reputation for using self-taught spreadsheet programming skills (starting with Lotus 1-2-3, and later moving to Excel Visual Basic) – in his spare time – to develop Automated Spreadsheet Applications to computerize manual report generation processes in the departments he worked. Over four(4) of his applications were adopted for brewery level reporting.

Tayo holds a B.Sc degree in Agricultural Extension Services from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, having graduated top of his class – with Second Class Upper Division honors – in 1992. He is an Associate Member of the UK Institute & Guild of Brewing, a 1997 National Finalist of the Nigerian Institute of Management’s(NIM) Young Managers’ competition, a Certified Psychometric Test Administrator for Psytech UK, innovator of Spontaneous Coaching for Self-Development™ (SCfS-D™), and Founder of the Self-Development Academy (SDAc).

When he’s not amazing clients with his superhuman skills (wink), Tayo works as the creative force behind his Daily Self-Development Nuggets blog – on which he also publishes The Farm CEO Weekly Newspaper (sent via email to paid subscribers) and his Weekly Performance Improvement IDEAS newsletter.

You can connect with him on Twitter @tksola.com and Facebook.

Visit Tayo Solagbade Dot Com, to download over over 10 performance improvement resources to boost your personal and work related productivity.

====
[IMPORTANT NOTE:====

On 4th May 2014, Tayo’s 9 year old domain (Spontaneousdevelopment dot com), which hosted his website, was taken over by Aplus.net.

Within a few days however, Tayo used his advanced self-taught web development skills to build a SUPERIOR “reincarnation” of it the website http://www.tayosolagbade.com.

But updates are still ongoing to URLs bearing the old domain name in most of the over 1,000 web pages, and blog posts he’s published.

If you experience any difficulties finding a page or document, email Tayo at tksola dot com.

Click “Tayo, What Happened to SpontaneousDevelopmentDotCom ?” to read a detailed narrative about how the above event occurred :-))

Here’s an article Tayo wrote, to inspire others to defy adversity, and bounce back to even greater reckoning at what they do EVERY time:

And he wrote the one below, to explain why losing a domain name, no matter how old, NO LONGER determines your online success or otherwise:

A Proven Strategy to Find Profitable Buyers Regardless of Your Domain Name
==================

Home |About | Contact | SD Nuggets™ | Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS | Web Marketing Systems | Freelance Writing | MS Excel® Heaven™ | Cost-Saving Farm Biz Ideas