New Bill to Legalize Cannabis Nationally Would Be a Game Changer

Legalizing cannabis in the United States nationally would have a dramatic and far-reaching effect on the cannabis industry, which has been living under the shadow of federal laws that make cannabis an illegal substance. It looks now that nationwide legalization could happen sooner than expected because of New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s introduction of a bill to decriminalize marijuana. Said Schumer: “My thinking, as well as the general population’s views on the issue, has evolved, and so I believe there’s no better time than the present to get this done. It’s simply…

Cannabis Manufacturing: Scaling Up and Getting Industrial

As the cannabis industry continues to expand, cannabis production centers inevitably will follow the path of other major industries and become large-scale operations. The new Liberty Health Sciences venture in Florida gives us a sense of what we can expect to see over the next few years as more big businesses embrace cannabis manufacturing. Medical marijuana became legal in Florida in 2016. In January, Liberty Health Sciences out of Toronto purchased 242…

Trends to Watch in The Cannabis Industry and Medical Cannabis Production

Cannabis Manufacturing Growing cannabis as wells as production of cannabis extracts in industries is against the law in many countries. For that reason, many face prosecution if they engage in any of these activities. On the other hand, anyone trafficking marijuana within regions that do not allow it is liable to a jail term according to the laws of the land. However, there is a shift from prohibition of production and growth of cannabis. As from the previous year, adults in four new states can now use marijuana for recreational purposes. Legal pot sales in North America hit almost $7 billion…

Reordering Lines on an Acumatica Sales Order

A popular requested enhancement to sales orders has just been added to the Acumatica release number 6.10.0472.  This lets you reorder document lines by using any of the following ways: You can drag-and-drop lines to reorder document lines within one page. You can cut a line on one page by using Cut Row in the context menu and paste the line on another page by using Insert Cut Row in the context menu. See below for an example.   A very useful feature that you may have missed in…

Cloud Backup Is Your Best Protection from Ransomware

Ransomware has become the biggest malware threat on the Internet. It gives you a choice between losing critical files and paying the crook who wrecked them. Victims have handed over as much as $17,000 to get their files back, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get them restored even if you pay. The surest defense is an up-to-date cloud backup with a safe copy of all your files. What is ransomware?   Ransomware usually starts with a phishing email message. If you open the attachment, it runs a script that downloads and launches the actual ransomware. It runs quietly in the background, replacing…

4 Ways the Cloud Improves Supply Chain Planning

Supply chain planning used to be more of a guessing game, relying on intuitive managers that, basically, had the inventory and sales data in their heads or on spreadsheets. Advancing technologies have been changing how business processes are: managed, planned, and accomplished – shifting thinking patterns from managing inventory and sales to managing functions and tools within ERP systems. 2017 seems to be the year when a balance will emerge more distinctly; let’s discuss this more by examining 4 ways the cloud improves supply chain planning. #1. Automation: Manufacturers and distributors have many working parts to manage within their enterprise systems,…

Microsoft Power BI Gives Small Businesses Enterprise-Level Analytical Power

Microsoft’s Power BI is a significant advance that can level the playing field for your small business. Small to medium-size businesses often struggle with implementing company-wide analysis programs because of the high cost associated with big data reporting and assessment. Besides the high cost and complexity of implementing analytic solutions, a business owner had to spend money to train someone to be able to read and interpret the information. Affordable High-End Analytics Microsoft Power BI eliminates these barriers, offering the same level of performance analytics that big companies use for a fraction of the cost. Power BI is a cloud-based business data analysis application…

Non-Stock Kits in Acumatica

I have repeatedly been asked if MaxQ had a product that could help get shippers created for kit items that were not in stock.  While we are about to release an Auto-Kit module (more on this later), most of the requirements can be handled by what appears to be a little known feature already in Acumatica’s Inventory Module, Non-Stock Kits. Taken from the Acumatica help: “When a non-stock kit is listed on a sales order as a line item, its stock components are specified on a pick list and shipped to the customer. Upon shipment confirmation, the quantity of stock components…

6 Uses for Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI is an essential software system for businesses with large amounts of disparate data created during the normal course of business operations. There are many uses for a software system like Power BI (BI stands for Business Intelligence). The following six uses, visualization, server-level management, integrated analytics, streamlined processes, and detail oriented visualization give your business the tools to process information and create quality management systems. Intuitive Visualization Visualization of data is essential for human management of business systems. While computer programs eat data for lunch, business people have rather more varied diets and need to be able…

Business Intelligence Software: Benefits to Combining Internal and External Data

Business Intelligence Finding business intelligence software that gives you a complete picture of everything in your business isn’t always easy to find. It’s one reason maybe you’ve waited to invest in BI software, even though you’re realizing doing too much guesswork about business reality isn’t smart. In today’s more competitive business climate, not knowing everything about your business can end up hurting you in the long run. All it takes is overlooking one tiny piece of information, and it could snowball into a bigger problem financially. Going with a “gut feel” about your company should never be a way to envision the future….