Every cannabis business owner knows it takes many resources to research, implement, and onboard new cannabis software. We want you to get it right the first time. But whether you’re selecting your first or your next cannabis manufacturing software, you have an important decision ahead of you.

• Ease-of-Use and Onboarding
• Process Management and Standardization
• Inventory Management
• API Integrations
• Cannabis Accounting
• Reports, Forecasts, and Analysis
• Compliance and Traceability

Ease-of-Use and Onboarding

When selecting a cannabis manufacturing ERP solution, ensuring its ease-of-use and a proper onboarding process needs to be a top priority. Operators should spend time vetting not only the cannabis software but the cannabis software vendor, too. Consider this: you’ve spent significant time and money implementing a new software system that delivers top-notch cannabis industry-specific features and functions that streamline common cannabis bottlenecks and reduces user errors. However, employee onboarding and training was rushed and fell short. Navigating the system is unintuitive and becomes too complicated for your employees to fully adopt, meaning you’ve wasted resources and brought on more problems than you were hoping to solve.

Process Management and Standardization

Instead of selecting the best cannabis technology available, many young companies choose off-the-shelf solutions and entry-level accounting packages. Unfortunately, these solutions can’t handle the breadth of cannabis tasks effectively.

An ERP system that takes a formal, standardized approach to cannabis processes creates a more cost-effective and repeatable workflow and promotes efficiency throughout the entire operation.

Standardizing these processes makes it easier to create and enforce company policies and procedures by tracking key aspects and providing structure to your business.

Inventory Management

THC-infused edibles and other cannabis manufacturers know how vital the inventory cycle is. Every cannabis manufacturer can experience irregular inventory cycles resulting in short supply, overstock, and cash flow concerns. A reliable inventory management system helps you forecast product demand to prevent shortages and overstock for maintaining your material supply.

By tracking ingredients following Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), you can stay compliant with government regulations and avoid costly mistakes while keeping you prepared to make quick decisions.

A cannabis-specific ERP inventory management system provides a proper reporting mechanism of inventory in your store, in the warehouse, or on its way.

API Integrations

Cannabis manufacturers ultimately look for multiple API integration capabilities from their ERP, so it’s important to look for software that integrates with some of the applications you may still use. For example, for state and global compliance, you may use a regulatory cannabis system integration like Metrc to ensure you’re up to date with the latest laws.

Cannabis Accounting

Cannabis operators need accounting software that helps them navigate the many complexities of cannabis accounting. To reduce your cannabis manufacturing company’s taxable income, your accounting solution has to understand IRS Code 280E and be able to track the cost of goods sold (COGS), an essential metric for financial stability.

While cannabis is legal in many states, it remains illegal on the national level. IRS Code 280E intended to keep illicit drug manufacturers and dealers from claiming operating expenses as deductions on tax returns, but it continues to be a headache for legitimate cannabis organizations. Instead, you can deduct COGS to include administrative and inventory costs, significantly reducing exposure to lost revenue.

Reports, Forecasts, and Analysis

Forecasting capabilities are particularly crucial for companies looking to grow. A cannabis ERP system helps you forecast product demand so that you can prevent shortages and overstock while maintaining enough supply. Demand forecasting further helps you better manage your cash and staff.

Cannabis manufacturing ERP automatically generates many forms of reporting required for cannabis compliance, including reports detailing where inventory has been, where it’s headed, and who’s interacted with it. From intuitive, easy-to-use dashboards, you get raw ingredient tracking to finished products, the accumulated cost of goods, input and output reports, and more.

By centralizing and democratizing your cannabis data, you give your staff the power to collect and analyze information from a single source to use toward business objectives and timely reporting to stakeholders.

Compliance and Traceability

Cannabis manufacturing ERP systems are designed from the ground up with cannabis in mind and offer features that inherently collect and maintain all of the information necessary from production, extraction, and infusion processes for regulatory compliance and traceability. Non-compliance in the cannabis industry comes with stiff penalties, but the amount of data necessary to trace, record, and report is extraordinary.

Operators face intense scrutiny of how cannabis products are tracked and monitored through the supply chain, also known as traceability. The most significant compliance challenge for your cannabusiness arises with the traceability requirement that accompanies every cannabis product and production materials requiring you to track, trace, and monitor every seed, plant, and product through its entire lifecycle.

Ready to take your cannabis business to the next level? Find out if Cannabis ERP is right for you.