The good news? You don’t have to juggle three systems to stay compliant. With cannabis-specific ERP software, cultivators can integrate directly with Metrc and remove the need for QuickBooks altogether to save you time, money and sanity.  

The Trouble with QuickBooks in Cannabis 

QuickBooks is one of the most widely used accounting tools in the world. It’s affordable, accessible, and a majority of bookkeepers are trained on it. For basic journal entries or vendor payments, QuickBooks can get the job done. But for many cannabis operators, it falls short or leaves you hanging. 

QuickBooks doesn’t integrate with Metrc. That means cultivators must manually enter data into two separate systems, doubling the workload and the risk of human error. It also doesn’t handle batch management, yield tracking, or compliance tagging. When regulators audit, pulling accurate reports across spreadsheets, QuickBooks, and Metrc becomes a nightmare. On top of all the industry-specific shortcomings, the Intuit terms of service allow QuickBooks to pull the plug on cannabis businesses at any time.  

In short, QuickBooks was never designed for cannabis. For growing cultivators, the cracks show fast. 

Why ERP is Different 

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems built for cannabis combine finance, compliance, and operations in one platform. The right ERP integrates directly with Metrc, so every plant and every gram is tracked automatically. No duplicate entry. No gaps between systems. 

As a disclaimer, not EVERY ERP is built for cannabis. 365 Cannabis utilizes Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP and has custom built it exclusively for cannabis. On a more confusing note, not every ERP in cannabis is actually an ERP- it’s common for some seed-to-sale software to claim they’re an ERP despite not delivering on the ERP promise.  

A true ERP streamlines all software for operators and eliminates the need for a mismatched tech stack.  

Here’s what cultivators gain with ERP: 

• Direct Metrc integration: Plant tagging, harvest data, and transfers flow automatically 

• Compliance-ready reports: Regulators ask, you pull the data fast 

• Audit trails: Every action is tracked, so you’re always inspection-ready 

• Integrated finance and forecasting: Cost per gram, yield forecasting, and revenue reporting are tied directly to your cultivation data 

Instead of bouncing between Metrc, QuickBooks, and spreadsheets, ERP creates one source of truth. 

Beyond Compliance: Smarter Operations with ERP 

The benefit of ERP goes beyond Metrc capabilities and what any seed-to-sale can offer. By uniting compliance and finance, cultivators finally see the true cost of production. Batch data connects directly to financial reports. Yield forecasts are grounded in real numbers, not guesses. Investors and stakeholders get clear, accurate reports. 

And without QuickBooks in the middle, finance teams don’t fight against a system that was never meant for cannabis. Everything lives in one platform designed for the industry. Your finance team will thank you, and they’re the team you really want to win over (trust us).  

Next Steps 

Metrc is mandatory. QuickBooks is optional. For cultivators who want to scale without compliance risk, ERP is the clear path forward. By integrating directly with Metrc and eliminating the need for QuickBooks, cannabis operators save time, reduce risk, and create a stronger foundation for growth. 

Your compliance system should not hold you back. Schedule a demo with 365 Cannabis today and see how ERP makes compliance simple, accurate, and scalable. 

The post Why Cannabis Cultivators Outgrow QuickBooks appeared first on 365 Cannabis.

Because cannabis is a regulated product with strict expiration dates, operators must not only produce efficiently but also turn product quickly. The reality is that many overproduce which forces them to slash prices just to get product onto shelves. This cycle of oversupply and discounting has accelerated falling wholesale prices across the U.S. According to Cannabis Benchmarks, the weighted average price for a pound of cannabis dropped from $1,328 in August 2019 to just $1,093 in August 2025—a 17.7% decrease—while inflation rose by 26.36% in the same period.  

With rising costs of living and operating facing off with a race to the bottom, cannabis operators need smarter strategies to protect margins and stay competitive. 

Spoilers: we got your back on this but keep reading. 

How Can Cannabis Operators Control Their Sales Inventory?  

A major factor in the race to the bottom is discounting product pricing. Common reasons for discounting products are upcoming expiration dates and having too much product on hand and needing to make space. A solution that we have seen success with is Available to Purchase (ATP) in cannabis software.  

What is ATP in Cannabis?  

ATP is a live tool in cannabis inventory management software that delivers data to operators on how much cannabis can be legally and operationally committed to a sale. Basic inventory counts will only show how much finished product is ready to sell at that moment- just what’s on hand. An APT program is a comprehensive look at what you have on hand, what you have allocated to customer orders, what’s quarantined, what’s in the production cycle, and what’s pending testing. Where basic inventory reports give a surface-level snapshot, ATP provides a comprehensive, real-time picture of what’s actually sellable. 

How does ATP Help Cannabis Operators? 

ATP capabilities for cannabis management extend past sales availability; it can also be a compliance safeguard. The accurate numbers inclusive of products in testing or to be finished soon deliver accurate inventory across the board. This ensures alignment with the state compliance system and avoids unnecessary compliance penalties. Many ATP solutions also offer FIFO capabilities to ensure, true to form, product is sold on a first in, first out basis.  

ATP also prevents accidental oversell situations that may be costly and labor inducive to fix. Aside from oversells, there may be fees or penalties within state compliance systems for inaccurate product numbers. The ATP tool becomes a single source of truth for cannabis sales commitments and streamlines operations for your sales team.  

When paired with a cannabis ERP system that includes sales projection reporting, ATP gives operators the insights they need to forecast demand, control output, and maintain profitability.  

How Can Cannabis Operators Implement ATP Today? 

The fastest way to bring ATP into your cannabis operation is by using a cannabis ERP system designed for compliance and inventory management. With 365 Cannabis, ATP is powered by SellStack and can be built directly into cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail workflows. That means operators can see, in real time, exactly what inventory is legally and operationally available to sell, without worrying about overselling, compliance discrepancies, or wasted product. 

By combining ATP with 365 Cannabis’ sales forecasting, costing, and compliance integrations, operators can finally take control of their inventory, protect profit margins, and stay competitive, even in an oversupplied market. 

To see the solution in action, schedule a demo with 365 Cannabis and discover how ATP can give your business the confidence to promise only what you can deliver. 

The post Why Available to Promise (ATP) Matters to Cannabis Operators appeared first on 365 Cannabis.

Why is Dab Day celebrated on July 10^th?  

When the characters ‘710’ are flipped upside down, they look like the characters ‘OIL’.  

New Frontier Data reported that vape products “were included in transactions at nearly the same rate among both men & women (21%).” Regardless of age, we’re seeing one in five cannabis shoppers reaching for oil.  

Unique Challenges of the 710 Cannabis Supply Chain 

The processing of cannabis extracts can be done a few different ways, but all routes lead to a complex supply chain. Extracting oil from flower can be tedious and often requires a lot of hardware to produce finished goods. This long path to finished goods leaves the supply chain with several points of vulnerability where things can go wrong or get expensive.  

Modern Solutions for Cannabis Challenges  

Operators who work with vape and concentrates understand the high overhead and hyper-specific regulations required to work in the extract world.  

Three of the Top Reported Cannabis Operator Issues During Production:  

• Remaining compliant per METRC or BioTrack throughout production  

• Not knowing exact COGS  

• Reporting is too slow for accurate inventory or batch tracking  

How Do Cannabis Cultivators and Manufacturers Stay Compliant Through Production? 

The strongest operators have both a compliance expert on staff full time as well as a compliance-based software. 

As more cannabis licenses are issued, the need for cannabis compliance managers rises. The average salary for a cannabis compliance manager averages out to over $90K a year. These roles are typically a one-person department with some exceptions for large, enterprise-level operations that justify a full compliance team.  

There is an opportunity for human error with compliance team members, so the best way to ensure compliance is utilizing tools that guarantee compliance guardrails. Many compliance experts advocate for software that has embedded connections with localized compliance regulators like METRC, BioTrack, and Health Canada. The best cannabis ERP for concentrate producers will all have strong relations with regulators.  

How Can Cannabis Cultivators and Manufacturers Track COGS During Production? 

There are a few ways operators track their COGS that range from very vulnerable to airtight. The most vulnerable way is to manually track spend and labor across finished product. While it appears simple on the surface, it ends up with lots of opportunity for missing numbers, simple typos causing calculation errors, and the chance that it could all be wrong or overlook key spend.  

The airtight solutions ensure accurate tracking based on accounting software for pricing, compliance measures that track what is used where and when, and labor. These tracking practices also deliver an accurate bill of materials for extraction inputs. Utilizing tools that empower operators to know their true cost per gram delivers the control over costs that business owners dream about. Airtight software solutions offer two absolute non-negotiables: accounting integration and compliance data. With accounting integration, spend is inherently tracked and verified for complete accuracy. Compliance data ensure each step of production is tracked and verified against products used, finished goods, and hardware depreciation. The best airtight solutions will be wholly integrated across operational platforms to ensure internal data transparency and compliance accuracy for all aspects of the business.  

Why is Reporting so Slow for Inventory or Batch Tracking?  

The solution here is a better solution. There are some cannabis tech stack companies that are built for cannabis without the resources to ensure a long-lasting product. There are also companies with tried-and-true tech that are not made with cannabis in mind. There are a select few tech companies that truly established technological resources and reliability with the custom infrastructure for the cannabis industry. More advanced tech-based companies will have live reporting, like Jet Reports. 

How Can Cannabis Operators Refine Their Supply Chain?  

By working with an ERP solution that understand their unique challenges across every aspect of the cannabis industry.  

365 Cannabis is powered by Microsoft, so our cannabis partners can take advantage of the suite of Microsoft business platforms, reporting capabilities, and fully integrated suite of support. Aside from the well-grounded tech, the team is powered by cannabis veterans from across North America who are dedicated to the industry’s success.  

The post How Cannabis ERP Solves 710 Cannabis Supply Chain Challenges appeared first on 365 Cannabis.

A 2016 Deloitte poll of more than 3,800 accounting and finance professionals suggests that disparate software systems in the different legal entities pose the biggest challenge and risk to accounting errors.

Intercompany

Intercompany capability is one of the most important, should be out-of-the-box features for businesses managing subsidiaries. It allows users with more than one legal business entity to set up multiple companies to separate the accounting functions of each.

Your organization may have more legal business entities than equivalent accounting and administrative resources. Intercompany offers organizations like these a massive benefit by allowing users to simplify and streamline their business processes. Intercompany postings support transactions between companies including:

• General Journal Entries
• Purchase and Sales Orders
• Purchase and Sales Invoices
• Credit Memos
• Return Orders

Example 2: Seed to Sale

When Dispensary A buys items from Processing B, Dispensary A creates a Purchase Order and sends it electronically to Processing B. A Sales Order is then automatically created in Processing B. Transactions between entities are entered once, automated across entities, and fully visible with a complete audit trail.

Example 1: Bites, Brew, & Bud

A restaurant and brewery management company has acquired several cannabis retail stores to diversify their portfolio. While the entities will not purchase goods from one another (at this time), the centralized system delivers uniformity in entry and reporting, reduces costs, and improves productivity.

Having a single ERP solution also future proofs the entire business as cannabis lounges are looking to legalize. With intercompany software already in place, cannabis lounges can purchase food from the restaurants and breweries can purchase infused beverages from their retailers. All accounting activity is streamlined and automated between entities without any extra hassle or setup.

Global Scalability

With a true ERP software solution, global transactions are not a problem. 365 Cannabis, built on the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform, has unmatched global scalability, including the capability of handling parallel industry entities (restaurants, breweries, horticulture, agriculture), different currencies, and intercompany transactions which can be processed in any chosen currency.

While it may seem trivial, intercompany provides vital functionality along with the following benefits:

• Increased productivity due to time saved and transactions simplified.
• Decrease in human error due to one-time entry and system-wide, automated updates.
• Complete audit trail and full visibility of transactions.
• Cost-effective, efficient transactions with subsidiary companies and affiliates.
• Efficient distribution of documents to all companies.

If you’re currently managing two or more separate entities, it’s time to consider the true value of ERP software with intercompany capability. Contact us today to see how 365 Cannabis can streamline all of your operations in one solution.

The post Managing Multiple Entities: Intercompany appeared first on 365 Cannabis.

Typically, cannabis businesses are focused on producing accurate management reports quickly to meet critical deadlines or real-time demands.

Cannabis Cash Flow Forecasting

Not all cannabis business management tools are created equal

Without the proper business management tools, it can be difficult to create accurate and timely cash flow forecasts. Cash flow forecasting may not be the most exciting subject but having a cash flow forecast is essential to the overall financial well being of your cannabis business.

The fundamental purpose of cash flow forecasting is to generate a cash balance prediction to check that financial obligations can be met. Alternatively, it will highlight potential problems and allow decisions to be made to increase or reduce borrowing, revise payment terms, change credit control policy, or adjust investments.

Excel

Tried and…Tired?

It’s fair to say that most cash flow forecasts are probably prepared in Excel. It’s easy to use and easy to distribute but it is, of course, a separate set of numbers with no audit trail.

While this might be what your business is used to, it’s probably time to invest in a software that can reduce manual data entry, mitigate errors, and greatly diminish the time it takes to generate an accurate cash flow forecast.

QuickBooks

Easy Errors

QuickBooks cash flow forecasting features empower you to make detailed projections based on your revenue and expenses. Easily organize your income and expenses by account, project, category, or company. QuickBooks Online allows you to generate cash flow reports, make smarter decisions, spend your time more wisely, and help your company perform better.

Of course, the biggest caveat to QuickBooks is housing information in disparate systems. Having to manually enter data back and forth between your seed-to-sale software and accounting software leaves plenty of room for error that can result to inaccurate, costly forecasting.

Cannabis ERP

All of your cannabis activities already in one place

The best way to manage cash flow forecasting in through your dedicated ERP software. Housing all your operations and financials in one place makes cash flow forecasting as easy as pressing ‘ctrl + E’.

With a true cannabis ERP software, cash flow forecasting is built directly into the system. You can set-up multiple cash flow forecasts that can be used to capture and present data based on different parameters. The Forecasts are built on a Cash Flow Accounts Structure, typically the structure of the cash flow accounts will correspond to the high-level structure of your General Ledger (G/L).

Using the familiar Heading, Begin-Total, Entry (instead of Posting), and End-Total accounts makes set up and on-going maintenance very simple. Also, if used in conjunction with powerful reporting tools, such as Jet Reports and Power BI, you can create cash flow forecasts that are more accurate, quick and easy to use, and centrally recorded.

From start-ups to global market leaders, cash flow forecasting is critical for all cannabis businesses. Does your cannabis business have the right cash flow forecasting tools in place?

Contact us today to see how a centralized ERP software makes cash flow forecasting quick and easy!

The post Cash Flow Forecasting: Cannabis Business Critical appeared first on 365 Cannabis.

Typically, cannabis businesses are focused on producing accurate management reports quickly to meet critical deadlines or real-time demands.

Cannabis Business Reporting

Finding the right reporting solutions for your cannabis business

Many are asking, “What solution can help us automate tasks to free up time for analysis and activities that enable company growth?”

Such is the case for most cannabis operators looking to reduce the time it takes to produce reports, but without the prohibitive cost of most BI solutions on the market. Brian Cissell, Senior Solutions Architect for 365 Cannabis shares his perspective:

“The growth of any cannabis company creates a tangible need for improving reporting efficiency and achieving better use a team’s resources,” explains Cissell.

Other companies are limited by access to scarce programming talent or the IT resources needed to create reports. For instance, some turn to the help of developers to produce custom reports. This process to create a series of reports for senior-level managers can take five to six days each month, taking up valuable time at a steep cost.

Most cannabis businesses don’t have the luxury of a long wait time for critical reports and data.

Automated Reporting

Take advantage of built-in and integrated reports

When looking for a solution to alleviate these challenges, time-to-value should be a primary consideration. It is easy to find the return on investment with a solution that saves precious resource time nearly immediately by offering a seamless integration with your cannabis ERP software and tools you already know how to leverage, like Excel.

The results with this approach speak for themselves. On average, reports that used to take 5 to 6 days to create, can now be generated in under an hour. That’s over 99% time savings.

“365 Cannabis offers a variety of standard reports as well as integrations into powerful and affordable Jet Reports and Power BI. Our goal is to provide valuable, quick-to-generate reports that allow an executive team to spend less time briefing developers to design reports and more time making important business decisions,” describes Cissell.

Reporting shouldn’t be a full-time job, and with built-in, Jet Reports, and Power BI it doesn’t have to be. Not only does integrated reporting free up valuable resources, but also enabling better insight into operations and trends for more proactive and profitable decisions.

“These reporting tools increase accuracy and save immense amount of time,” says Cissell.

Allocating Resources

Leveraging your people and cannabis ERP software

You may be surprised to find that your company probably already has the right mix of people and technology in place to successfully implement a BI and reporting solution that solves the problem of time-consuming and bottle-necked report generation. This is especially true if you select a solution that is built to work right out-of-the-box with your cannabis ERP software system, such as 365 Cannabis, that is also made for finance professionals who already know and love Excel.

In summary, there are different solutions available to help not only improve, but streamline all of your reporting. However, by using BI and reporting solutions specifically made to work immediately with, and for, existing systems and established employees, you save valuable time and money. This eliminates the need for long, complex implementations and maximizes productivity immediately.

See what powerful reporting can do for your business by starting a conversation and requesting a demo today!

The post Streamlining Cannabis Business Reporting with Business Intelligence Tools appeared first on 365 Cannabis.