Typical fruit sales window.

Over the past few seasons there’s been a huge uptake of ViTrax’s built-in financial module known as ViTrax Money. This trend is indicative of packhouses’ and depots’ need for first-line accounting software that integrates tightly and seamlessly into ViTrax.

The main issue on a technical level is that each transaction needs to link directly to a specific bin or pallet (or even deeper in cases of mixed pallets). Herein lies the key for ViTrax Money’s existence: every fruit sale – be it local markets, exports, hawker sales, etc – is stored as a series of sub-transactions, with each sub-transaction linking to a specific pallet or bin. From this detailed database, summaries by invoice, credit note, varieties, growers, fruit sizes or even orchard numbers can be drawn.

Because of the rising popularity there’s been an increasing need for this part of the system to evolve and grow faster than was expected initially. Feeding off our clients’ enthusiasm, the FarSoft team has been working hard on enhancing and enriching the ViTrax Money features. A few pilot installations have proven successful during the past season. All ViTrax Money users are moving over to the new and improved module as the new season starts.

Notable changes are enhanced window designs for both grower and trader transactions, simpler fax payment (aka partial payment) windows, and hugely improved methods of getting information out easily. A robust audit trial and built-in general ledger complete the picture.

Functionalities in Vitrax Money that have drawn the most interest include invoicing for contract packing, automatic pooling, packaging material repository, payment reconciliation and grower credits.

Of course the intention with ViTrax Money is not to replace or compete with a fruit business’s existing in-house financial system (e.g. Pastel or Accpac). ViTrax Money acts as a pre-processor and feeds ‘processed’ transactions into the main financial system.