OVERVIEW: Distru now allows for the creation of Processing Jobs and Processing Job Types for all of our Metrc-integrated family. Distru has made it easier to create both of these and drastically cut down on the need to hop back and forth between your production paperwork and Metrc.
🛑 IMPORTANT: DO NOT CREATE/EDIT/FINISH ANY PROCESSING JOBS IN METRC DIRECTLY. ONLY DO SO THROUGH DISTRU TO AVOID ERRORS
What is a Processing Job?
Metrc added the Processing Job feature to help mimic the real-life workflow or process that cannabis production facilities actually use when making a new batch of product. For example, let's say you were taking bulk flower and oil to make 10,000 infused pre-rolls and you began this project on Monday with an estimated end-date of Thursday. Before processing jobs existed, in that time in between starting the project and finishing it, the source packages were left in an active state in your Metrc inventory when in reality they were being consumed in the production room. So if you happened to get audited in that time it could potentially lead to a red flag, and you would need to explain the discrepancy. This is where Processing Jobs come into play. It allows you to represent that a Processing Job has started and is consuming specific source packages, but hasn't yet been completed 100% so is still a work-in-progress.
Previously when creating a new package in production, the user would specify that new package as a "Production Batch" which would cause the new package to require a new compliance test. Now the only way to create Production Batch package is by creating the package from a Processing Job!
Table of Contents:
A. PROCESSING JOB TYPES
Before a Processing Job can be started, you must create a Processing Job Type. For every product your facility makes that has a unique SOP for production, a Processing Job Type will need to be established to represent that production process in Metrc. For example, producing a pre-roll vs producing a cookie have very different SOP's, so they will require separate Processing Job Types. However if you produce 1g and 2g pre-rolls in the same production run using the same source material, that could be specified using a single Processing Job Type.
To create a new Processing Job Type, click the Metrc-shield in the top right corner of your Distru page and scroll down to the bottom of Metrc Actions. Then click "Create Metrc Processing Job Type."
There are 6 fields of information to consider when creating a new Processing Job Type:Processing Job Type Name
Metrc License
Select the appropriate Metrc license you wish to associate with this Processing Job Type (You will only be able to select licenses with access to Processing Jobs)
Processing Job Type Name
Enter a name that clearly identifies the type of product that will be created using this Processing Job Type
Ex. "1g Infused Pre-Rolls"
Category
Extraction of Cannabinoids is to be used when the end product will weigh less than the source material used to make it.
ex. 1000g of flower are used to make 100g of concentrate
Incorporation of Cannabinoids is to be used when the end product weighs more than any individual source ingredient used to make it.
ex. 1000g of flower and 500g of concentrate are used to make 1000 x 1.5g Infused Pre-Rolls
Description
Write a short, concise summary of the process to create the end-product
ex. "1g of ground flower mixed with .5g of crumble hash incorporated into a pre-roll cone."
Processing Steps
List all the steps used in the creation of the end-product. (It's ok to list the specific SOP ID's instead as well)
ex "SOP 1-987PR, SOP 1-988PR, SOP 1-989PR, SOP Cleaning-Protocol"
Attribute
Click into this space and select the best of these 6 attributes that best pertain to the process.
None of the other options.
Outputs that are intended for oral consumption or intended to be used as an ingredient in a product intended for oral consumption.
Outputs that contain any major food allergen, as that term is defined in OAR 845-025-7000.
Processes that are purely mechanical and do not involve the use of solvents.
Processes that result in effective sterilization.
Processes that use hydrocarbon solvents.
NOTE: if more than one attribute describes this Processing Job Type, you have the option to select multiple attributes.
After you fill out all 6 fields of data for a specific Processing Job Type, click the green "CREATE PROCESSING JOB TYPE" button in the bottom right corner of the window.
B. PROCESSING JOBS
A unique Processing Job will need to be created for every production run. This is now the only way to create Production Batch packages.
Only create a Processing Job for production runs that are creating a new product that requires compliance testing. For example, splitting a package of bulk flower into smaller packages of bulk flower does not require a processing job.
CREATING A NEW PROCESSING JOB
Click the hamburger menu in the top left of your Distru screen, then manufacturing which will take you to the Assemblies table. From here, click the green "Create New Assembly Button". OR click the "+" icon along the top of your Distru screen, followed by "Create Assembly." Either option will bring up a new window to create a new Assembly.
OR
After selecting a Metrc license that has access to Processing Jobs, you'll notice a new toggle that allows you to designate an Assembly as a Processing Job. Toggle this ON.
You'll be prompted to enter a "Processing Job Name" and select a pre-created "Processing Job Type" from the dropdown menu. How you name the Processing Job is entirely up to you, but it may benefit you and your team to include the name of the product that's actually being produced and include the date as well to keep the name of each job unique (You cannot have two processing jobs with the same name). The Processing Job Type that is chosen MUST be representative of the product (or products) that's being produced.
After giving your Processing Job a name and Processing Job Type, proceed to fill the Output section to specify which products you intend to create with this Assembly.
Every package that gets created from a Processing Job is considered a Production Batch. Make sure to include the Metrc Production Batch Number for each output.
Once you've entered all of your outputs, the ingredient section will unlock and allow you to specify how much of each ingredient is being allocated to each output. If you have a BOM associated with an output, the ingredient list will auto-fill, you just need to select which batch and/or packages to use for each ingredient.
🛑 IMPORTANT: The quantity sum of each Metrc-tracked ingredient across all outputs for this assembly will be synced to Metrc as the source package quantity that gets consumed on the associated processing job. After saving the assembly, any updates to the ingredients or ingredient quantities will submit an adjustment to the processing job!
After filling out the Assembly Info, Outputs, and Ingredients section, you will be able to save the assembly. You have two options
Initiate - Save the assembly in pending status, reserving the ingredient quantities and available Metrc tag associated with the output, but not completing any outputs or syncing anything to Metrc.
Initiate and Complete - Save the assembly and complete all outputs, which will also sync the output packages to Metrc and consume the ingredients. This will finish the Processing Job in Metrc.
Upon completing, you will be prompted with a confirmation showing the input and output quantities as well as the opportunity to record processing notes as well as the total waste created by the processing job.
Click FINISH & SYNC to complete the outputs and sync them to Metrc as well as finish the Processing Job.
🎉 You also have the option to complete and sync an output without finishing the Processing Job! If you have an assembly with multiple outputs you can complete and sync one independently of the other outputs
To complete and sync an individual output, the processing job assembly must be already saved. Edit the pending processing job, and click "Complete this output" in the output section.
You'll now have a Pending Processing Job with an Output product that has been created. You can still add new outputs to the assembly/processing job. You will still have to select UPDATE & COMPLETE ALL on the Assembly itself in order to have it be marked as done, simply creating the sole output product on its own does not actually complete the Processing Job itself.
🛑 Before staring the Multi Output Processing Job make sure that you have created a Processing Job Type that accurately represents what you're about to create (refer to part A of this article on how to create a Processing Job Type and what info you need to do so)
***IMPORTANT TO NOTE***
If you make an adjustment to a Processing Job input (for example, you change an input quantity of an item from 100g to 1000g) Metrc will not allow you to discontinue the Processing Job. It doesn't matter if the adjustment takes place in Distru or Metrc, you can't discontinue an adjusted Processing Job. The Metrc approved workflow for this situation is to Finish the Processing Job in Metrc directly without creating any output packages. Then adjust up the source package in Metrc to the replace the quantity consumed by finishing the processing job. This will create an Inventory Audit Alert in Distru.
Reach out to the chat bubble with any questions! We're here to help! 🎉