The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Traceability Advisory Committee convened between January 2017 and August 2019 to discuss cannabis supply chain transparency in Washington state. The Committee was composed of agency staff, traceability software vendor representatives, industry stakeholders, a representative from the Washington State Office of the Chief Information Officer (WA OCIO), and a quality assurance vendor.
WSLCB - Traceability Advisory Committee
(May 22, 2018)
- USA - Washington
- Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB)
- WSLCB - Traceability Advisory Committee
Tuesday May 22, 2018 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Observed
Observations
An Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Project by Gartner Consulting was presented to the Committee and an executive from MJ Freeway defended the company's software development process.
Here are some observations from Tuesday’s WSLCB Traceability Advisory Committee meeting.
My top 3 takeaways:
- Gartner Consulting introduced the Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Project WSLCB has contracted to analyze the implementation of the traceability system and recommend next steps (transcript, audio).
- Gartner Consulting Managing Partner John Kastrinos explained they will prepare a “project health assessment” on the traceability system implementation.
- Gartner Consulting is contracted for an eight-week engagement which is already underway. The project deliverables include an assessment of the MJ Freeway engineering process, an assessment of supply chain challenges focused on the licensees and the integrators, a remediation plan, and a final report gathering all information. Gartner Consulting stated the remediation plan will be specific to make it easier to act on recommendations and measure results.
- Kastrinos explained: “Where projects are, we really kind of help identify some of the root causes and remediation for some of the challenges to really kind of, kind of point things back in the right direction to help when it comes to some of those challenges.”
- Gartner Consulting wants to talk directly with or gather feedback from software integrators and licensees (transcript, audio).
- Gartner Consulting Director Larry Cooper explained they have initiated discovery workshop interviews to size up where the project is from a “people, process, and technology” perspective.
- Gartner Consulting is scheduling in-person and online interviews with software integrators and licensees. They have also created an online survey to gather feedback.
- If you are a software integrator or licensee and would like to schedule an in-person or online interview with Gartner Consulting, contact Gary Hacker at the WSLCB [ gary.hacker@lcb.wa.gov ].
- If you are a software integrator or licensee and would prefer to fill out an online survey, we’re working on acquiring that link and will follow up on this thread. You can also request that link from Gary Hacker.
- Ike Hull, Vice President of Engineering for MJ Freeway, took some time to somewhat forcefully explain his perspective on the evolving software development process between MJ Freeway, the WSLCB, and the software integrators – while the Gartner Consulting representatives observed in the room (transcript, audio).
Follow Up (May 30, 2018)
In communication with Gary Hacker, he relayed that the online survey is not available yet and it sounds like WSLCB Communications will email the link out to all licensees once available.