Tips That Make the Most of MMP

- New User Tips

  1. Review MMP's Getting Started guide, which is installed with MMP. This guide will serve as an introduction to MMP if you've never used it before. You can access the guide from MMP's About box or double-click on file MmpGettingStarted.doc in MMP's install folder. At a minimum, be sure to read the following sections:
    • Before You Start -- this section covers MMP's basic assumptions and terminology.
    • Using MMP to Enter Plan Data and Allocate Manure -- this section shows you how to allocate manure (plan applications) with MMP and discusses how to develop a manure allocation strategy.
    • Solving Common Planning Problems -- this section covers many of the planning problems that you'll likely encounter and how to address them in MMP.
    • Organizing Your Computer Files -- this section covers file naming conventions and file locations within Windows.
  2. To familiarize yourself with the program before you actually start entering your own plan data, open one of the sample plans that are installed with MMP. Click the Open button at the bottom of MMP's main window, navigate to MMP's Samples folder, and select one of the sample plan files located there.
  3. Review your state's notes before you start creating your own plans.
  4. If you've never created a plan with MMP before, run through these ten steps to getting started quickly. These steps are also included in the Getting Started guide.
  5. When you're ready to start entering your own data, review these quick tips on entering data. These tips are also included in the Getting Started guide.
  6. Periodically review the list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) for answers to many common questions.
  7. You don't necessarily have to fill in every column. Run the Check Plan's Data For Completeness report on the Tools dialog box's Reports tab to check if any required data is missing. Also, if a custom phosphorus index or other risk assessment tool is included with MMP for your state, review the tool's documentation (on the Tools dialog box's Custom tab) for any additional data that you'll need to enter on the Assessment panel.
  8. It's a good idea to enter and proof all input data before you begin making any planned fertilizer or manure applications on the Nutrient Mgmt panel.

- Ten Tips To Start Fast

  1. Use MMP's help whenever you're uncertain about what to enter or how to proceed. Just press the F1 key to get help for the current command button, data panel, or dialog box. With a dialog box, you can also click its Help button. To see a list of major help topics, click the Help button at the bottom of MMP's main window.
  2. Click the New button at the bottom of MMP's main window to create a new manure management plan for entering your own plan data. Click the Open button to resume editing a previously saved plan.
  3. Once you've created a new plan, MMP displays the plan's General data panel, the first of several panels where you'll enter plan data. On the panel are input boxes where you enter data. Press the Tab or Enter key to move to the next input box and Shift+Tab to move to the previous input box, or click on an input box to jump to it. When you move to a different input box, MMP displays information about the input box on the status bar at the bottom of the main window.
  4. At the top of the panel are tabs labeled General, Fields, Assessment, Soil Tests, and so on. Click on a tab to view its corresponding data panel.
  5. Enter as much data as you can for your plan. You can always come back later and fill in the rest. For valuable tips on entering data and using MMP, refer to these quick tips.
  6. To save your plan to a file, click the Save button. To save your plan under another name (for example, to save a previous version or backup copy of your plan), click the Save As button.
  7. To check your data, click the Tools button and click Check Plan's Data For Completeness on the Tools dialog box's Reports panel.
  8. To generate a report showing your fields' nutrient needs, click the Tools button and click Report Annual Field Nutrient Needs.
  9. Use the Nutrient Mgmt panel to plan manure and fertilizer applications for each year in the plan and to plan any manure exports or imports.
  10. To generate a report showing your fields' nutrient balance as a result of the planned manure and fertilizer applications you entered on the Nutrient Mgmt panel, click the Tools button and click Report Field Nutrient Balance.

- Data Entry Tips

  1. F1 for help. If in doubt about what to enter, press the F1 key to display help for the current data panel or dialog box.
  2. Status bar hints. When entering data, the status bar at the bottom of the main window displays a brief description of the type of data expected for the current input box or grid column. If in doubt about what to enter, glance down at the status bar for a hint.
  3. Undo. To undo typing changes that you've made to an input box, press Ctrl+Z. Note that this works only if you haven't moved from the input box. You can also right-click on the input box and choose Restore from the popup menu to undo typing changes.
  4. Copy and paste. To speed up entering the same data into several different input boxes, press Ctrl+C to copy the highlighted contents of an input box to the Windows clipboard. Then move to a different input box and press Ctrl+V to paste the clipboard contents into that input box. You can also right-click on an input box and choose Copy or Paste from the popup menu.
  5. Operating a pick list. To pull down a pick list with the mouse, click the arrow on the right side of the pick list box. To close the pick list without selecting anything, click the arrow again or click anywhere outside the pick list. With the keyboard, press Alt+Down arrow to pull down the list. Press Alt+Down arrow again to close the list.
  6. Pick list shortcut. To speed up entering data with a pick list, type the first letter of the desired item's name to select the first item that starts with that letter. If there's more than one item starting with that letter, you can continue typing that letter to cycle through the items. Note that this works even if the list is not pulled down. For example, when selecting crops, you can simply type C to select Corn without even pulling down the list. (When cycling through the list, don't pause between keystrokes. If you pause, the search is reset. Also, if you type quickly, you can continue typing additional letters of the desired item to jump to it. For example, quickly type CR to select CRP.)
  7. Blanking out a pick list. To blank out a pick list box, scroll to the top of the list and choose the first item, which will either be blank or, if the pick list is in a grid, (None). With a grid pick list, you can also just press the spacebar to select (None) without pulling down the list.
  8. Sorting a data entry grid. To sort the Fields, Assessment, Soil Tests, Storage, Animals, Analysis or Equipment grid, simply right-click on the header row of the column you want to sort the grid by and choose Sort Ascending or Sort Descending from the popup menu.
  9. Deleting or inserting a field. To delete a field or insert a new field, on the Fields panel right-click the indicator column (») of the field you want to delete or the row where you want to insert a new field. Choose Delete Field or Insert Field from the popup menu.
  10. County. In the County pick list, be sure to select the county where the operation is located, not the county of the operation's mailing address. If the operation has crop fields in more than one county, select the county for each field on the Fields panel.
  11. Irrigation. Since irrigation affects fertilizer recommendations in some states, be sure to indicate if a field is irrigated by checking the Irrigation column for the field on the Fields panel.
  12. Cover crop. If a field will have a non-harvested cover crop, scroll to the right on the Crops panel and select it in the Planned Cover Crop column for each year that it will be planted. Do not enter a yield goal. Note that fall-seeded single-cropped small grains that will be harvested the next year should be selected in the Planned Crop column.
  13. Proofing data. Enter as much of the operation's data as you can, then click the Tools button and click Check Plan's Data For Completeness to see if any required data is missing or if there are any inconsistencies in what you've entered. To check if you've entered enough soil test data, look at the Default N Rec, Default P2O5 Rec and Default K2O Rec columns on the Crops panel. If any of these is blank for a crop, then some of the field's soil test data (or the crop's yield goal) is missing.
  14. Close button to back out. Click the Close button to abandon any changes that you've made since the plan was last saved. You can use this the same way you use the File | Close menu command in a word processor or spreadsheet.
  15. State-specific notes. Be sure to review any notes specific to your state.
  16. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Read through this list of FAQs. The first time you read them, some questions or answers may not make much sense to you. Go back and read them again after you've used MMP for a while.
  17. Reporting problems. If you have questions about MMP or problems operating the software, please contact the authors.
  18. Making screenshots. To take a shot of the current MMP window or dialog box and paste the shot into a PowerPoint or Word document, press Alt+PrntScrn. To take a shot of the entire screen, press PrntScrn. This copies the window or screen contents to the Windows clipboard. In PowerPoint or Word, press Ctrl+V to paste the screenshot into the document.