How the Right Cannabis ERP can Help you Streamline your Cannabis Production and Meet State Compliance

In the regulation arena, the requirements for cannabis are more like what the food industry faces. But food is regulated at the federal level whereas cannabis is regulated by individual states. Those that allow the recreational or medical use of cannabis have their own set of regulations. Any cannabis company that operates in multiple states faces complex compliance challenges.

Beyond aligning with state compliance, cannabis producers face multiple challenges similar to all manufacturing operations. These include monitoring consumption rates and forecasting demand trends to measure product popularity and to plan for the procurement of materials.

Within production facilities, cannabis businesses also need to track labor rates to schedule resources effectively to meet production goals. Throughout the cannabis supply chain process from manufacturing to finished products, businesses need to not only track inventory, but also quality, potency, and compliance certificates of analysis.

Manual Approaches Hamper Business Growth

When first starting up, mastering the planning process for cannabis production can be achieved with the skillful application of Excel spreadsheets and general accounting software such as QuickBooks. But as the rate of sales orders increases rapidly, these manual and entry-level approaches tend to hamper business growth.

Systems lock up, access to information is limited or cumbersome to analyze, and production lags. This delays fulfilling customer orders—increasing the risk they may take their business elsewhere and therefore impacting revenue. What’s needed is a central ERP platform that integrates production workflows with financial data as well as operational data including procurement, inventory, compliance and quality control, sales orders, and sales forecasts.

ERP Automates Processes and Streamlines State Compliance

Many growing cannabis producers have solved the challenge of using manual spreadsheets and entry-level accounting programs by transitioning to an ERP system such as Microsoft Business Central.  SilverLeaf from Velosio powered by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central integrates all financial and production functions to optimize cannabis business operations.

With unique and/or state-mandated inventory tagging, SilverLeaf enables cannabis growers and processors to track bulk materials as they turn into crude oil, get refined, and then combine with other bill of materials components to create finished products. You can trace vape pens, for example, all the way back to the raw materials and the plant material they came from. SilverLeaf also breaks down each product into costs for raw materials, labor and overhead so you can accurately measure margins.

During the materials quarantine stage, SilverLeaf helps monitor the label testing process to know when the materials in a batch have received a certificate of analysis and are ready for the next stage of production. You can adapt this function according to the varying requirements of each state you operate in—whether it’s testing bulk cannabis products or finished goods. This capability helps ensure you won’t sell anything that hasn’t passed state-required quality testing.

Streamline State Compliance

To streamline state compliance, SilverLeaf integrates with the Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting Compliance (Metrc) system. This helps you drive seed-to-sale traceability and comply with state regulatory bodies that oversee the cannabis industry. SilverLeaf automates sending data to Metrc and other secondary systems (such as quality control handling) that cannabis businesses must report to in order to process and produce marijuana products legally.

This capability is particularly helpful for those who operate in multiple states under different business entities. You can manage operations in each state and roll up the KPIs of each entity to see how the business is doing as a whole. SilverLeaf can support hundreds of legal entities to sync with your organizational structure.