ARM

Since the first release in 1982, the ARM program has become a useful tool crop production and crop protection research trials, plus a broad range of agricultural disciplines.  Our software is a valuable tool that saves our customers time throughout the research season.  The software saves time creating trials, collecting and analyzing data, and producing the many reports required for successful and timely trial management.

Software written by Gylling Data Management, Inc. (GDM) is a recognized and respected standard throughout the crop protection industry for managing plant science research data.  Our software is used worldwide by researchers and managers in approximately 70 countries, many companies, and hundreds of universities.

• ARM
  (formerly Agriculture Research Manager)
• What Trial Format Options Are Available?
• Can Data Collectors Be Used With ARM?
• General ARM Features
• Trial Creation
• Data Management
• Reporting
• Sample Spray/Seeding Plan Report
• Trial Data Management
• Subsamples

• Trial Reporting
• ARM Data Summary Reports
• Validation
• Customizing
• EDE
• Recommended System Configuration
• Ordering Information
• ARM Brochure (pdf)
• ARM 8 Brochure (pdf)
• ARM Introduction (PowerPoint presentation)
• ARM 8 PowerPoint (PowerPoint presentation)
• ARM Order form (pdf)

ARM (formerly Agriculture Research Manager)

The ARM is software for establishing, managing, and summarizing of herbicide, insecticide, fungicide, seed/variety, fertilizer, general non-chemical, nematicide, and plant growth regulator research trials.  ARM manages agriculture research trials throughout the entire research season, and is most beneficial for field and greenhouse researchers.  It is designed to manage and summarize on a single-trial basis.

The newest ARM version includes expanded statistical analyses, improved reporting, increased capacity for treatments and data, and enhanced validation.

ARM is designed to run on Microsoft Windows 2000 or newer operating systems.  ARM offers many built-in reports that can be customized with many options.  Reports can be printed to Microsoft Word or Excel with a single button click, giving full flexibility for reporting.

The ARM author was a crop protection researcher for more than twenty years, and understands your research needs.  We encourage users to call with their computer questions and ideas.  Many ARM features are suggestions from our current ARM clients.  Free support is provided for all software that GDM markets.

Researchers with little or no previous computer experience can easily understand ARM.  Context sensitive help screens and tutorials are included.  ARM gives the best return for the price with the most flexible reporting capabilities of any research data management software.

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What Trial Format Options Are Available?

ARM includes format choices for fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, general, fertilizer, plant growth regulator (PGR), and seed trials.  Crop protection companies with customized ARM forms can offer their customized forms to contractors for use with contracted trials.

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Can Data Collectors Be Used With ARM?

ARM can communicate with many data collectors.  Using data collectors can save a substantial amount of time in recording field data and transferring it to the ARM.  We have written ARM Data Collector software for Psion Workabout .  See our ARM Data Collector Software (pdf) brochure for more information.

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General ARM Features

Used to manage individual research trials (used ARM summary Across Trials to summarize a trial series)

• Easily enter protocols into ARM and create randomized trials from the protocols

• Produce simple line, bar, and box-whisker graphs within ARM.  Box-whisker graphs are the quickest way to review new assessment quality and treatment differences.

• Program menu text is available in US English, International English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Japanese languages

•  Automatic conversion between U.S. and metric treatment units

• Supports master and personal validation list for data entry fields, and thousands of entries in master validation lists

• Supports the APCA (formerly NACA) EDE and includes Standard Agricultural Research Terminology

• Context sensitive help for menu commands and editors

• Printing reports is fast and easy

• Open protocols or trials directly from Windows Explorer

• Two lines (60 characters) available for Company Name

• Customizable toolbar

• Direct import and export from database tables, with logic similar to the EDE export/import features of ARM (user-defined and controlled, and able to work with a variety of databases)

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Trial Creation

• Up to 999 treatments, assessment data columns, and subsamples per trial

• Several plot numbering and randomization options

• Single file contains all trial information

• Force randomizations to disperse treatments

• Optionally conduct under GLP/GEP compliance

• Split replications into blocks during randomization

• Hot-edit proposed trial randomizations when creating trials by moving treatments to adjust arrangement

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Data Management

• Plot assessment data editor based on a grid designed like Microsoft Excel

• Calculate gross margin (income) using transformations

• Manage trial workload schedule

• Many word processing commands in text editors

• Validation supports master and personal lists

• Color fields to identify validated and required fields

• Footnotes for data columns

• Data collection reports with printed data headers

• More flexibility in subsample entry and reporting

• Automatic recalculation of transformed data when original assessment data is changed

• Many built-in data transformations including Henderson-Tilton, Abbott’s, and data correction

• Import text to and from ASCII editors or word processors

• Elastic boundaries on site description sections

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Reporting

• Attachments:  MS Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, digital photographs, and PowerPoint presentations can be connected to a trial or protocol

• Field layout tool for arranging trials within a field

• Plot map drawing tool, providing the ability to add graphical drawings and textual descriptions to plot maps

• Automatic choice for default number of decimals accuracy on summary reports

• Explorer-like tree view for Available Reports on Print Reports dialog

• Print large letter plot signs for field tours

• Homogeneity of variance test during AOV

• Correlation and dose-response reports

• Product calculations for percentage formulations, option to weigh liquid formulations

• Define report sets from report components

• Print multi-column labels in many formats

• Bar, line, and box-whisker data graphs

The treatment editor is shown below.

• Use personal or master validation (lookup) lists for treatments, data headers, and site description data to speed input.  Master lists are nearly unlimited in size.

• Specify spray volume and mix size by treatment or by trial and correctly calculate product amounts to apply.  Supports seed treatment trials, and can report liquid formulation quantity by weight.

• Calculates quantity of formulated product or stock solutions as product amount on spray/seeding plan

• A trial can be managed under GLP/GEP edit logging with ARM maintaining an audit trial of who makes field entries and edits, and the reason for any changes

• Define plot data information of how to view and print subsamples, data origin, cursor order, and entry status

• Print optional frames (boxes and lines) around various report sections to improve appearance and readability of reports

• View subsample means within plot data editor

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Sample Spray/Seeding Plan Report

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Trial Data Management

• Randomize and appropriately analyze trials as randomized complete block, completely random, split block by application, Latin square, non-randomized, factorial, split-plot, and strip-block
• Print data collection sheets.  Optionally pre-enter assessment headings, and even include treatment information.
• Enter data using a spreadsheet format, or read assessments from electronic data collector directly into plot data editor. Editor automatically makes space for assessments and subsamples.
• Use the Find command on the Edit Menu to find words in study editors and validation lists, and use Replace to make changes
• Export trial data to other programs to obtain additional statistical analysis and data graphing capabilities
• Use plot data column tools to copy and re-arrange information across and within data columns (such as shifting data up or* down)
• Fully supports EDE (Electronic Data Exchange) export and import, including user-defined EDE records
• Merge study information such as Header, Treatments, Site Description, Tasks, and Plot Data from either ARM study or EDE file
• Convert yields from plot units to standard measure such as bushels per acre or kilograms per hectare
• Select treatment and data header fields to build graph labels
• Print graphs to screen, paper or file. Use Export button to copy/paste graphs to a program such as PowerPoint.
• Adjust yields for moisture content during yield conversion, based on either an average moisture for entire trial, or moisture in each plot
• Transform data using built-in arcsine square root, log, Abbott’s % of Untreated, Henderson-Tilton or square root transformations.  Average, Count, and Sum Subsamples functions automatically ignore missing data.
• Enter your own data transformation equations, including formulas to normalize data or calculate index values for standardized scales.
• Use simple commands to move, copy, and delete trial information in all trial editors. Use Windows clipboard to transfer information within a trial and between trials.
• User-definable data type codes, providing automatic checking for out-of-bounds data during entry.
• Enter standard numeric plot data, non-analyzable numeric information, or even short text entries in plot data cells.
• Define plot data view showing original or calculated columns, blank or completed assessments, and selected data header fields (rows).
• Print data column footnotes on reports. The footnote entry screen is shown next.

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Subsamples

• Easily create and remove subsamples from plot data storage areas
• Automatically display varying number of subsamples to aid in data entry
• View subsamples means within plot data editor

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Trial Reporting

ARM gives great flexibility in printing reports. Design your reports by listing the ARM report components in any order, then create a report set. Report sets can be saved with your custom options for each component, and used again later. You have nearly unlimited choices on information and arrangement in reports.

Following are the ARM report components that are available to use in creating your report sets:

ARM Reports

Many choices are available for selecting printers, setting fonts and page margins, formatting dates, including company logo bitmaps, and adjusting information spacing relative to borders. You can select a subset of treatments, and select and rearrange data columns on your reports, so reports only list the information that you wish to include.

List ingredient information for pre-mix treatments, including the portion of the total rate contributed by each ingredient. Synonyms can also be printed for treatments, for uses such as listing common name in place of trade name on printouts.

Use the plot data view dialog box to develop a view of assessment data that is sorted in the order you want data to be presented. Within a plot data view, you can easily perform multi-level sorts such as sorting by assessment date within species. Hide all calculated or all original data columns with one command when creating the view. Once a view is created, print a data summary that automatically uses the current view.

The Print Reports menu shown next allows you to create your own customized reports from the various component reports.

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ARM Data Summary Reports

• List individual plot data, and means by treatment
• Print treatment means with mean separation letters in ascending or descending order
• Summarize selected or all treatments and assessments, and arrange assessment order on reports
• Can automatically select ratings with data
• Define a view of assessment data in the plot data editor that can be automatically used in reports
• Automatically calculate percent control (control = 0%) or percent of control (control = 100%), and set reported accuracy (95% vs. 95.3%) on printouts
• List treatment means table with LSD (or HSD if Tukey's), CV, standard deviation, grand mean, Bartlett's Homogeneity of Variance, and Friedman's Method for Randomized Blocks
• Define default decimals accuracy for treatment means
• Print minimum and maximum ratings, also standard deviation or standard error per treatment, along with treatment means on summaries
• Optionally print either full or brief analysis of variance tables that are appropriate for the experimental design
• Print factor and interaction means for factorial, split-plot, and strip-block experimental designs
• Support comparison treatments in factorial and split-plot trials
• Perform Yates missing plot analysis
• Print subsamples averaged by plot, or listing individual entries
• Apply dose-response analysis using the estimation methods of Logit, Probit - Least Squares, or Probit - Maximum Likelihood
• Include summary comments on report
• Perform correlation analysis
• Summary Mean comparison tests: LSD, Duncan’s New Multiple Range Test, Student-Newman-Keuls, and Tukey’s HSD at .01, .05, and .10. Also Waller-Duncan K ratio t test (K=100), Dunnett’s vs. Control, and Dunnett's vs. Reference at .01 and .05.

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Validation

Validation lists, sometimes called lookup tables, are defined for nearly any data entry field.  Items can be easily and quickly selected from these lists.  Validation makes data entry much easier for inexperienced typists, helps insure uniformity, and nearly eliminates the chance of typing errors.

• Use personal or master validation (lookup) lists for treatments, data headers, and site description data to speed input.  Master lists are nearly unlimited in size.

• Entry fields and prompts can display in different colors to indicate validated and required entry fields

• Easily filter entries in large validation lists to display only those items of immediate interest

• Quickly search validation lists for a specific word or phase using the Find command

• Easily add or delete from validation lists in study editors

• Can lock validation lists to prevent un-authorized users from making changes

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Customizing

The ARM is very user-configurable.  There are many options to change report appearance, study editor views, and actions. 

• Treatment fields (columns) can be hidden on study editor and reports, and field sizes can be adjusted if needed.

• Items in most validation lists can be added, deleted, or revised.

• New rate units are added by GDM upon request.

• Labels size and format is user-configurable for plot and container labels.

• All reports can be copied to Word or Excel by a simple button click, offering full flexibility to change report formatting.

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EDE

We at GDM believe that Electronic Data Exchange provides important benefits for all researchers by defining a standard format for transferring data between researchers. To show our support and commitment to EDE, we continue to offer EDE export and import with ARM at no extra charge.

ARM exports and imports in studies in several EDE versions, and is compatible with other commercial trial data management software.  Information can be imported from standard EDE formats used by cooperators into customized study formats used by crop protection companies.

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Recommended System Configuration for ARM

ARM 8 requirements are based on minimum software required to support Microsoft .NET 2.0 runtime, plus hardware to provide adequate software performance for typical tasks.

Recommended system configuration:

• Windows 2000 or newer, including Vista
• 1 GHz or faster processor
• 512 MB or more of RAM
• 400 MB available hard disk space
• 1024 x 768 or higher display resolution
• Mouse or pointing device
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM to install program and license
• Printer
• Recommend one physically separate drive (USB flash drive, second hard drive, or network drive) for archiving and backing up ARM studies
• Optional USB connection for Psion Workabout Pro or other data collector

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Ordering Information

Each ARM program is custom built with your name and company installed (up to 38 characters long for investigator and 60 characters for company). ARM includes program CD-ROM, license CD, and quick reference card. We provide free computer support for all our software. Please complete ARM order form (pdf) to purchase our software.

A free demonstration program is available on request.

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ARM Brochure

The ARM Brochure (pdf) describes general features of ARM.

The ARM 8 Brochure (pdf) describes selected new feature of ARM 8.

ARM Introduction Presentation

The ARM Introduction (PowerPoint presentation) shows selected features and program screens from ARM.

ARM Order Form

Use this ARM Order form (pdf) to order an ARM license.