ON FARM NNAATTIIOONNAALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENTC Path to a Paperless checklist paperless office☐ Map out current office processes or tasks. ☐ Identify which records need to be kept and which ones don’t. Imagine a farm office that isn’t and making finding information so much ☐ Establish how accounting drowning in pieces of paper: no easier,” she said. software can be used to go receipts and bills spilling across down the paperless path. “If it’s all stored and administered ☐ Request all invoices are sent the desk, no folders overflowing correctly, it’s more secure than a filing with documents. electronically. cabinet in your home office.” ☐ Scan receipts as soon as they It might sound like a dream, but a Debra said some hard copies may still are received. paperless office can be a reality, with a be required, so it’s best to approach ☐ Seek help to devise an new series of workshops to help farm going paperless on your own terms. appropriate electronic filing businesses streamline record keeping, system. improve security and reduce time at Going paperless doesn’t have the desk. to be costly, as often it’s just a matter of getting more value out of Building skills Through its producer‑education existing equipment. ■ platform Profitable Grazing Systems (PGS), MLA is supporting the Paperless After completing this introductory Farm Office introductory course in WA, Debra Mullan, PinG WA course on the paperless office, run by Partners in Grain WA (PinG WA). E: admin@pingwa.org.au producers can further their skills The full‑day (8:45am–3pm) through a longer‑term, learning PinG WA Executive Manager Debra program with PGS. Mullan said there are many reasons for Paperless Farm Office workshops going paperless, aside from the obvious are held in rural areas on demand, PGS provides the opportunity to environmental benefits of reducing with new course dates available learn as part of a small group with paper use. on the PinG WA website: the assistance of a coach who pingwa.org.au/workshops will guide participants in further “A paperless farm office can minimise mla.com.au/pgs improving their businesses. time by preventing double handling Ploughing through paperwork Rachael (pictured), her husband Rachael has already made some Andrew and her father Alan Warburton changes to the way things are done. farm together at Kojonup. “I’ve got Dad and Andrew to download The office work falls to Rachael and, an app on their phone so they can scan while she enjoys it, she wanted to find receipts as soon as they buy anything. better ways of doing it. “This is especially important in a family Earlier this year, Rachael attended a business when there’s only one person paperless office workshop as she was doing the books but lots of people keen to get the enormous pile of paper spending the money – being able to off her desk. immediately transfer the info to the bookkeeper is a real bonus.” What she came home with was a solid skillset that enabled her to start makingRachael is also getting more value immediate changes. out of her existing Microsoft Office subscription by saving all her files to achael Plowman is changing “The office work is sometimes seen as a OneDrive so she can access them even Raspect of her family’s sheephow she manages the businessnecessary evil, but it’s really part of thefarm business,” Rachael said.when she’s away from the office. ■Rachael Plowman and cropping enterprise by moving “The real beauty of going paperless is E: plowmanrachael@gmail.com towards paperless record keeping. not having to file things manually.” 26