To:          Cannabis Licensees, Labs and Integrators

Fr:          Jim Morgan, CCRS Executive Sponsor

Re:         Moving Forward with CCRS

The Cannabis Central Reporting System (CCRS) is now the sole and official reporting system for cannabis business activity in Washington State. The full transition to CCRS was a two-part process. First, CCRS was successfully deployed on Dec. 6, 2021. Second, this past Saturday evening the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB) decommissioned Leaf Data Systems.  

Thank you to the licensees, labs and integrators that proactively transitioned to CCRS at the required time. With the successful application launch, the reporting expectations for cannabis industry transactions reporting changed from Leaf traceability software to CCRS.

System is Working

Overall, the system has rolled out as new systems do. Not perfect (none are) but successful. Business has not been halted nor has the system been down since “go live.” Roughly, three-fourths of licensees have transitioned to CCRS, and each day more licensees are uploading records into the system.

For several months the LCB has communicated the upcoming transition to CCRS and steps licensees could take to familiarize themselves with the system. In October, the LCB provided the opportunity to test the new environment to learn how the system works and to prepare their records for transitioning to the new system. Unfortunately, very few took that opportunity. That means almost the entire industry is essentially transitioning at the same time now.

Helping Industry Partners

We continue to work with licensees and commercial integrators to address issues and help them make the transition. Once onboard, licensees will find reporting in CCRS to be simpler and easier to remain compliant. It will just take a little more time to get there since so many are trying out the system for the first time. 

An LCB team that consists of the CCRS Steering Committee and key staff meets daily to report status activity, common issues faced by the industry, and address issues that need to be resolved. The IT division has worked nights and weekends to deploy hot fixes and resolve issues. If you have contacted the IT Service Desk needing help, know that they are responding within about 24-hours of contact.

Going forward

The LCB’s top goal now is helping industry members successfully transition to CCRS. Be assured that the agency recognizes that the transition will take time. Before too long, however, all licensees are required to have transitioned and to be accurately and timely reporting their data. Those who may choose not to try will face escalating penalties for noncompliance.

Thank you again for your efforts thus far. We look forward to working with you now and in the new year to make the new system one that works well for the industry and for LCB.

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