A File Naming Convention (FNC) is a standardized way of naming products that take into account what the product is and how it relates to other products. Simply put, it’s the way you name and label products. View this article for how to create Products.
The idea is that you name all products consistently and in a specific order or manner so that they are easy to find, edit, audit, sell, etc.
A standardized product catalog in Maui is the source of truth for every inventory item that touches your store and creates a uniform way of showing products both in menus, but also in your reporting.
Standardizing cannabis naming conventions is important to keep your three inventories — Metrc, your POS, and your physical inventory — in sync, especially when dealing with different flavors or units of measure.
The Formula for Standardizing Cannabis Product Names
Not Using Variations:
There are four key components to properly naming your inventory.
Brand name
Strain name or flavor
Type or texture
Total mg amount
Put together, here's what the cannabis inventory naming convention template looks like in practice:
Brand Name | Strain Name or Flavor | Type or Texture | Total mg Amount
This is what your product catalog would look like if you do not use variations:
Using Variations:
There are four key components to properly naming your inventory.
Brand name
Strain name or flavor
Type or texture
Total mg amount
Put together, here's what the cannabis inventory naming convention template looks like in practice:
Name: Brand Name | Strain Name or Flavor
Variant Name: | Type or Texture | Total mg Amount
Here is what your catalog will look like if you use Variations:
Do you need to update your product catalog? Here’s where to start
Go through and audit your current product names to understand what you have and how much effort it’ll take to update and fix errors. You can download your current catalog from your cannabis POS software.
Decide on your new naming convention. Consistency is the most important thing.
Apply all new product naming conventions to your POS, either through a bulk upload or by manually deleting old products and/or renaming existing products to fit the new naming convention.
Train staff. Every person who uses your POS system needs to know the naming convention, how to use it and why it’s necessary — especially anyone who can enter new products into the catalog. Be sure to train your budtenders and staff appropriately.
Create workflows for managing this long term. As you’re pulling inventory reports (such as par reports), take a moment to scan through the names. It’ll be easier to spot outliers in this format. While you’re doing inventory audits, run data audits as well (For Flowhub customers, use the Products Report). Look at the spreadsheet and evaluate by category, brand, product type, etc. to make sure everything looks correct, the appropriate names are used and there aren’t any duplicates or errors. If there’s a discrepancy at any time, simply update the name in your product catalog. Remove any duplicates.
As you bring new products into your store, set them up correctly from the start and create dispensary standard operating procedures for training new staff.