A Heady but Wobbly Takeoff for Canadian Cannabis

After a big media buildup and much anticipation, recreational cannabis finally became legal in Canada. The results out of the gate were mixed, with sales surging in some places, lagging in others, and supply shortages making it difficult for many Canadians to purchase legal cannabis. One thing became clear: Canadians love cannabis. Big Bang The Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS), which sells online, reported making 100,000 sales within the first 24 hours, with sales rising to 150,000 orders within the first week. Shopify, whose e-commerce software powers a number of Canadian government cannabis retail sites, said the…

For APTMetrics, Power BI Is a Gift That Keeps on Giving

To say that Power BI has been a game-changer for HR consulting firm APTMetrics may be an understatement, according to CFO Marty Kelly. Kelly credits Power BI with not only improving his company’s performance, but with making his job and those of his co-workers an order of magnitude easier and more efficient. APTMetrics’ primary business is assessment-centered talent management solutions. Kelly says Power BI has yielded benefits across all areas of the business, including finance, marketing, sales, and operations, allowing for the consolidation of information across multiple disciplines. The scope of Power BI’s…

How to Fix Incorrect Purchase Receipt Accruals

In this series, we answer real-life questions from Acumatica users QUESTION:  I have a variance in my PO accrual report. How do I correct it? ANSWER:  If you have a report in which there is an accrual account difference, the cause may be multiple Reversals of AP Bills. If this is the case, here is how to resolve it: First, if you perform a Reverse Action in an AP Bill created from a PO Receipt, as shown…

Kudos for Acumatica: Champion ERP and MaxQ’s Solution Platform of Choice

MaxQ chose Acumatica ERP as the platform on which to build advanced business solutions because of its modern cloud-based design, integrated architecture, comprehensive feature set, user-friendly interface, advanced automation capabilities, and more. It is therefore satisfying to see these same qualities recognized and validated by analysts and product reviewers in their evaluations of Acumatica. Among the sterling reviews Acumatica received this year, PC Magazine UK  found Acumatica to be best in class, with the reviewer giving Acumatica a rating of “Excellent” as well as the Editors’ Choice Award. The PC Magazine review found…

As Legalization Looms, Canadian Cannabis Players Make Moves

With recreational cannabis on the brink of becoming legal in Canada, major Canadian cannabis companies are making strategic moves to strengthen their positions. While the Canadian market for recreational cannabis will be sizable, big Canadian cannabis producers like Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth Corp., Tilray, and Aphria are positioning to become leading suppliers of cannabis products worldwide. Cannabis being illegal on the federal level has hampered the industry’s growth in the U.S., whereas Canadian cannabis ventures have benefited from the support of the Canadian government. “Our government embraces us, and we are seeing a boom…

Hemp Makes Legal Comeback as CBD Oil Demand Surges

“Reversal of fortune” is the perfect way to describe the legal and economic comeback of the hemp plant in the United States. Banned and abandoned by farmers for decades in the U.S., the legal resurgence of hemp coincides with an exploding demand for CBD oil, which is fueling what is being called a hemp gold rush. The ability to grow and sell hemp legally also promises a reversal of fortune for farmers across the United States, including cannabis growers in states in which oversupply is squeezing margins and driving growers…

What’s So Special About Power BI?

In previous blogs we showed how businesses were benefiting from Power BI in ways that were not possible previously. What makes Power BI such a revolutionary analytical solution are  technology innovations that were introduced in Excel. As Gil Raviv notes, Power BI, Excel, and SQL Server Analysis Services share the same analytics engine, Power Pivot, which was introduced as the PowerPivot add-in to Excel 2010. Power Pivot, says Raviv, is “a game changer in self-service BI.” High-Performance Engine Power Pivot is based on an in-memory technology called VertiPaq, which arranges data into columns…

Cannabis Price Crash Puts Manufacturers in Peril

The price of legal cannabis has been dropping at a steady rate, and the outlook is for a continuing decline before the market levels off. Small cannabis manufacturers and dispensaries are being driven out of business, and large manufacturers that fail to take measures to minimize production costs are at risk of meeting the same fate. As marijuanaventure.com warns, “When the market shakes out in five years and people stop selling at a loss, companies capable of producing high-quality cannabis at an industrial scale and with low production costs will be the…

Cannabis and Alcohol Industries Cozy Up Through Cash

As the saying goes, money talks—and the large amount of money being invested by alcohol and cannabis companies in joint ventures speaks volumes about the direction the cannabis industry is taking. This trend was underscored by the recent announcement that liquor giant Constellation Brands was investing $4 billion in Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. This massive cash infusion follows a $190 million investment by Constellation Brands in Canopy Growth Corp. in 2017. Such a major investment by Constellation Brands is a solid vote of confidence in the cannabis industry, and no doubt is…

Making the Impossible Possible with Power BI

Power BI is making it possible for organizations to analyze data, share data, and obtain insights in ways that were not possible for them previously. As we noted, Power BI is a significant advance because analytics of this type were too complex and expensive for most companies in the past. Besides affordability, a big part of Power BI’s appeal is the self-serve capability and immediacy with which business users can begin gaining insights. Rather than having to wait weeks for their IT organization to analyze data, users across a company…