November 2023

The DQB 1.75 release is ready

This release focuses on new enhancements for entering a call memo for the Call Doctor list and case reporting by customer group, which involved 32 reports.  In this newsletter, we focused on the special features in DQB for group practices and customer groups. 

Note that in addition to the dental group practices, customer groups can be setup for any purposes you wish such as new customers, those in a specific region or using a specific technology, those who came on board from a specific source.  

When ready to download this release from our website, call or email to request the current authorization codes. 

Features for group practices

For dental group practices, in QuickBooks you first setup the record for the main billing customer.   Then under this customer for each individual doctor in the group:  for the QB desktop versions you enter a job, for the online QBOE versions you enter a sub-customer.   

In DQB/Options/Synchronization, you must set the indicator to automatically synchronize both customers and jobs/sub-customers.  Both the main billing customer and each doctor will have their own record in DQB.  This allows each doctor to have their own preferences, ship-to, cases, and communications for case management and reporting.  

For the DQB sales and production analysis reports, you can in Basic Lists-Customer Groups setup one to include all of the doctors in the group. With the DQB 1.75 release, we are also enhancing many of the case reports that had selection for one customer to now also select for the customer group. 

With Lab Lookup, you can also provide a service to the group to check on the cases for all the doctors in the same session.

Looking ahead to upcoming holidays

Our offices will be closed on

November 23 and 24 for the USA Thanksgiving holiday. 

December 25, 26 and 27 for the Christmas holiday.

To answer your questions....

Q: With our prior system, we scheduled by selecting an item and entering the date.   With DQB do we need to use automatic scheduling and standard procedures? 

A: You can begin by scheduling as you did before but we highly recommend that you setup for automatic scheduling to let the program find the best dates to both meet the doctor's request date and assure smooth efficient workflow in your lab.   From the case item grid you can edit the scheduled dates whenever you wish.  Labs find, however, that most cases can be automatically scheduled and this serves to save time and assure that cases are delivered in time. 

Once you create a smooth workflow with mostly automatic scheduling, you can further enhance this by setting up standard procedures with specification of each work center, item, days and memo for each step in the process. These provide for faster more accurate case design and entry.  

Some of the educational resources available to help guide you include: 

• Help guide from a button in DQB  
• Website blog on Scheduling Cases   
• White paper on Scheduling Cases  
• Website tutorial 
• Our tech support team

Q: What is the best way to store and access digital files? 

A: From the calls we receive and the online forums, we have learned that there has been a wide variety of ways labs have been trying to handle the digital files they receive.   From the labs that use the DQB Images/Digital Files supplement, we have been told that this is one of their most valued resources.   The digital files and documents are automatically associated with the case.   This means that the variety of ways you can find a case using the DQB case list can also mean fast easy access to the digital files.  It also means that the backups that are performed for your database can also be used to secure the digital files.  

Two other resources to consider are:

• DentalRx web portal that provides a convenient way for the dental office to transmit the digital files 
• Advanced Backup Protocol that provides for scheduling automatic backups to your choice of media and location, both local and on the internet, with your choice of encryption and security measures

The ongoing challenge to secure your information

From the dental lab forums and news releases, we learned that two of the other companies providing online software for dental labs recently experienced severe disruptions.  The most serious and long lasting were those under Henry Schein where a cyber attack brought down all their systems for many days, putting them and their customers back to handling business manually.   The other was Evident where all the information entered by the labs across a couple of days was completely lost.  

Securing your informaton has always been a challenge for all of who provide software and all the more since the expansion to the internet.   With just about every release, we need to include more advanced measures to assure against data breaches.  For those synchronizing with the online versions of QuickBooks, Intuit requires that we continually update our software to coordinate with their security measures.   

Here are some of other ways we have tackled the need for greater protection and security of your work and information.  

• For online hosting, DentalRx and Lab Lookup, we have tested and recommend use of Amazon Web Services for their advanced technology and performance.  
• For communications, we have chosen Verizon FIOS and Digital Voice for their very high level of accessibility and security, advertised to be 99.99% reliable. 
• For each lab, we developed and offer Advanced Backup Protocol to provide for automatic backups to both local and internet locatons with a wide choice of locations, media, encryption and security measures.
  

Highligts of the DQB 1.75  release

Here are the significant enhancements to DentaLab for QuickBooks (DQB) in the 2023 October Release 1.75 based on requests and suggestions from users of the system as well as the technical support staff.  These are available for both the starter and standard versions and for both synchronization with QuickBooks desktop and online versions.  

DQB Case Reports by Customer – Expand to Customer Groups

For this initial set of reports, we have added selection for customer group to the top criteria set.  Using the same formats as the single customer, the report will include all of the doctors in the selected group.

Cases by Date and Status:

Below the selection for a single customer, we have added Select Customer Group.

Cases Shipped:

The criteria section now includes selection for:

• Single Customer. 
• Customer Group
  

Activity Logs:

The criteria section now includes selection for:

• Single Customer. 
• Customer Group. 

DQB Call Memo for Call List

Database:   The Case Communication record will now include the Call Memo fields:

• entry date
• edit date 
• entry by 
• spoke to 
• memo text

Case Entry:  A button to the right of the Call Doctor indicator has been added:    Add Memo for Call List 

This will display a frame for entry with the format similar to entry for a Case Communication. The entry date will default to the case date but can be overwritten. 

After the user clicks Add, save the record and return to the case entry process.

A reminder note has been added at the bottom of the frame:  To update this call memo, go to the Case Communications tab.

Call List:

We have added  the Customer Name and a slash in front of the Contact:   Crossroads Dentistry/Sara
Sample: 

Memo:  Entry 9/18/23  Edited 9/20/23  Entry By Sam  Contact Sara    discuss changing delivery to 9/28 by 3 PM.   

Multiple case communications can be entered.

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