A document management system (DMS) is essential to for cannabis business compliance.
Cannabis companies can struggle with document control best practices. As a cannabis company, you must keep track of inventory, laws, and procedures. In this topic we offer some tips to help you with cannabis document management and record keeping and controls.
Naming Files
First, naming files and folders and knowing the names will lessen time finding that item later. Establishing best practices with naming conventions for files, items or reports and document names is important.
Tips on how to create a naming system that will work:
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When storing records outside of a automated system, like ADILAS, create file folders with years then months
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Make sure naming abbreviations make sense
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Don’t name the file or item too long
Folders and Categories
Folders and naming conventions help organize your data. The issues arise when you can’t find what you are looking for. ADILAS gives you many ways to sort various types of files such as Purchase Orders, Production Orders, Invoices and Customer records. Having memorable tags on the files to search keywords and find items even more quickly. Another name for this is called metadata. Metadata describes other data associated with the file. It provides information about a certain item’s content. ADILAS offers special features like flex grids, and attributes to further describe your cannabis inventory and other business records.
A data dictionary, explaining naming conventions and how to search within various records will assist your team in organizing records and reporting on the business.
Version Control
What happens when you need to edit a document? In traditional methods of file management, organizations may end up with duplicate versions of the same folder, category or document. ADILAS business software will help you maintain version control. Automated version control keeps track of files within your content management system. It saves memory and space on computer systems and servers.
All documents in any DMS should have an author on all documents whenever changes or updates occur. When managing version control manually for documents not stored in ADILAS:
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Instead of using versions such as v1, v2, etc. use a date at the end.
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If starting at 1, use 01 for easier searchability in your system.
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Have an author dedicated page with date and what occurred such as edits.
File control will assist your company when it comes time for audits. Having all of your documents in one system, such as an enterprise resource management system like ADILAS, will save time and money when you audited.
Auditing System
In the cannabis industry, it is not a matter of “if” you will be audited, but “when.” Some cannabis companies wait to react when keeping documents up-to-date and organized for an audit. When regulators audit a system, they look to see that you have your data and documents organized. Using a system like ADILAS combine with setting up an internal audit schedule will help.
A reliable DMS will save your company time, headaches and a lot of money. Adilas420 offer tools to help you prove cannabis business compliance. Checkout Adilas420 software for more about cannabis business software solutions.
Tips for auditing your system:
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Setup a schedule for audits.
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Monthly, quarterly, biannually, or annual depending on the audit.
- Hire a third party, like Adilas420, to audit your seed to sale software and supporting documents.
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