The state of Massachusetts uses the Massachusetts Cannabis Industry Portal (MassCIP) in addition to Metrc to regulate cannabis. Dutchie communicates with MassCIP via Metrc for patient allotment, posting products dispensed to patients, and sales reporting.

Things to know

• Dutchie POS does not directly integrate with MassCIP and does not retrieve any patient information from MassCIP, such as demographics, photos, etc. Instead, Dutchie POS and MassCIP both integrate with Metrc.
• MassCIP uses the Grams/concentration value of each package in Dutchie POS to calculate allotments. Dutchie POS' Flower equivalent value is only used to limit sales in the Dutchie Register and is not transmitted to MassCIP.
• Each item's Metrc External category maps to the MassCIP category. For non-flower external categories (such as concentrates, infused products, or suppositories), MassCIP multiplies the Dutchie POS Grams/concentration value by 5.3.
• Manufacturers and Cultivation facilities in Massachusetts: The MA M-Number is issued by the state. Item records must be added to Metrc first, once the M-Number is registered. Product names in the Catalog must match Metrc item names EXACTLY.
• Once added, Dutchie can update Item information by saving the Catalog products with Sync to Metrc Item set to Yes. However, if the name in Dutchie POS ever changes, the connection will be broken.

Integration requirements

• Certain settings need to be enabled by Dutchie in order to use the MassCIP integration. Reach out to your Dutchie Administrator for assistance with settings.

Integration workflow

Configure MassCIP settings

There are a number of options for configuring settings for MassCIP. These settings are editable  in the Backoffice to configure settings:  

1. Go to Settings > Integrations.
2. Click the MassCIP card.
3. Click the Actions dropdown.
4. Select Settings and fill out the fields as below:

Status and modes

The MassCIP integration displays a Status and Mode for the integration. A status of Disabled indicates Dutchie is not communicating with the VG at all, and it has been disabled in the database.

There are three possible modes: Real Time, Batch, and Allotment Only. 

• Real Time: Transactions are posted to the VG before they're checked out in Dutchie.  Any failure in posting will return an error to the POS and prevent the checkout.
• Batch: Transactions are queued for transmission periodically (typically every 15 minutes) and checkout will never be blocked by the VG. If a failure occurs, it is logged for review and will be tried again with every subsequent push until the error is resolved.
• Allotment Only: No transactions are ever posted to the VG and the integration is used to pull allotments only.

Patient details

Patient profiles in Dutchie POS must have both of the following to avoid issues with reporting and pulling patient allotments:

The patient’s last name must be entered in the External Name field and must be an exact match to their last name in the MassCIP patient portal.

In the Backoffice under Customers > Configure > Fields, make sure External Name is set to Show.

A valid P Number must be entered in the MJ state ID field in the Backoffice:

Or in the MMJ State ID section of the customer profile in the Register:

If the External name field is blank, we’ll use the Dutchie POS Last name field as a backup. In this case, Dutchie POS will automatically remove common suffixes like Jr. and then split the remaining name based on spaces and report the last value.

• John Doe => Doe
• John Doe Jr. => Doe
• John Johnson-Doe => Johnson-Doe
• John Johnson Doe => Doe

Note how this can cause issues if a customer’s last name has a space in it. For example, if External name is blank and a name like “St. Clair” is entered in the Last name field, Dutchie will try to look up the patient by “Clair”.

By contrast, we’ll always use the full text string in External Name, so making sure that field is accurate is the best practice.

Troubleshooting

Patient allotment does not pull

This can be caused by an error communicating with the VG (either too many sessions or invalid credentials). An error message will appear in the Register anytime Dutchie POS tries and fails to retrieve the allotment. It can also be caused by an incorrect P Number and/or last name. If in doubt on the last name, fill in the external name with whatever value you can type into the VG website successfully.

Transaction fails to post

Missing product grams, batch name or external category are the most common cases and can be immediately fixed by updating the Product Catalog.

A transaction that would cause over-dispensing will also cause the transaction to fail. This typically happens when there are mismatches between what Dutchie POS calculates as the grams (multiplying by 5.3) and the flower equivalent set on the Product Catalog. If these match, the Register should not let you add items to the cart that will exceed the patient's allotment. Furthermore, login and session issues can also cause a transaction to fail to post.

An item did not post to VG

Transactions can’t be partially posted, so if the transaction is posted successfully, the only reason this can happen is that it is not set up as a cannabis item.

Wrong grams posted to VG

Check the value of Grams/Concentration in the Product Catalog as well as the product grams field in the inventory table (the screen may not show the correct value). Typically, either the inventory or catalog value is incorrect.

The other possibility is that the category is set incorrectly so the proper calculation (multiplying by 5.3, or not) did not take place.
 

Learn more

• Learn more about traceability integration in Dutchie POS