April 2025

Welcoming spring after a long frigid winter

Our local news here in Pennsylvania has reported that this winter was the coldest in the past 10 years.   We are guessing that it has also been one of the windiest seasons as well.  This resulted in a number of power outages and plenty of downed trees and icy roads. Now day by day, we are seeing very welcome signs of spring.

In recent months, we have had to direct a large number of hours to implementing security measures mandated by Intuit and Microsoft.  We are hoping to now have a break from these to direct our efforts toward new tutorials to provide both insight and guidance on the many options available in DQB and its supplements.  We will be focusing on three major goals: 

• To provide step by step training for those new to the system 
• To give in-depth knowledge to the more intricate aspects of the system such as the case list, standard procedures, scheduling, multi-stage invoicing 
• To provide an overview of the supplements such as the tablet workflow app, advanced backup protocols, email notifications.

Let us know if from your own experience you have any input on what to emphasize, what most needs clarification.

Reminders for April

To celebrate Easter, our offices will be closed on Good Friday, April 18.  

If you are using one of the desktop versions of QuickBooks such as Pro, Premier or Enterprise, take note and plan for the changes coming for the QB Shipping Manager.  

The current version of the Shipping Manager will be retired May 31, 2025 and will be replaced by a new version with many added benefits.   If you have a QB subscription for 2024 (or later), the crossover will be automatic.   If not, contact Intuit to discuss your options.   

To assure privacy and security, consider a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

When you add a VPN to your system, you will be using special software to make the internet act like a private, safe network, just as if you were sitting in the same office or at home, with a lot of built-in protections to keep things secure.  Choosing software nstead of physical equipment to do this will make it more flexible and easier to manage connections and communications between locations.  

Here at Mainstreet, we have honored requests from several labs to achieve this capability and created very capable VPN software that we are now offering as a supplement to DentaLab for QuickBooks and to custom systems. If interested, we can send a technical overview and/or schedule a session to discuss your goals.    Here are some of its highlights:

• Easy to establish both remote-access and site-to-site VPN: This means it’s simple to set up a connection that lets you work from home or any other location securely or connect different office locations together.
  
• It uses a secure way (SSL) to make sure your data can pass through routers and security systems like firewalls without being blocked.
• It uses very strong encryption methods (AES and RSA) to make sure your data is safe from hackers.
• There are tools that keep track of activity (logging) and added protection to secure the connection.
• The system is very fast and doesn’t require a lot of computer power to run smoothly.
• The system can be used in different languages for better accessibility.
• It’s made to run for a long time without stopping or slowing down because of memory issues.
• It keeps detailed logs of data for security, which can help track and understand any issues.
• You can limit who can connect to the system by checking their IP address.

To answer your questions....

Q: Now that we are on our way with smooth case workflow, what are the most useful supplements to add? 

A: We would vote that the two most requested supplements are also the most useful.   These are the DQB Images/Digital Files and the Advanced Backup Protocol.  To learn more about the features and benefits that make these so worthwhile, you can request that we email you a copy of their overviews.

Q:  We want to reactivate a customer we had marked as inactive but cannot find him in QuickBooks or DQB.  Are his records still available? 

A: Yes, the records in QuickBooks and DQB would still be available.   To find the QuickBooks customer record, go to the Customer Center, make sure the top selection is for All Customers so that inactives are included in the list.  Select the inactive customer and then in the first frame, set the indicator to Active.   The next time you synchronize to DQB, the customer and their set of records will be available. 

Note also that in DQB, many of the screens involving customers provide a button to show the inactives.

Q: When we receive a case that needs special attention, is there a way we can use DQB to help assure this gets honored in the workflow?

A: First, when entering the case into DQB, be sure to set up a case alert and also add what needs special attention to the case notes.

We also recommend that you set up in Options/Custom Fields one of the 10 custom fields available for cases as your standard to designate and make entries for these.  Give it an appropriate name such as Attention or Urgent.  You can request that it be shown in case entry.    Then in the action menu for the Case List, you can use the Customize Columns to display the custom field.  Combined with a selected date range in the criteria section, you can click on the column header for the custom field to find the cases with entries needing attention.  

In DQB the Case List is most often used to search for and then select a case for further review and/or editing.    It can, however, be a powerful tool for pinpointing issues, improving your workflow, providing superb customer service and many other management functions.  You can request a copy of our white paper Mastering the Case List for guidance and examples.

What is involved in offering a web portal to your customers

There are two web portals for DQB that you can offer to your customers:  DentalRx and Lab Lookup.  You can offer one or both.  You will need to honor these commitments:

• To provide reliable internet service
• To authorize who can access each customer's records
  
• To determine which fields of case information will be available, which will require entry
• To encourage and guide your customers on use of the system (we provide a written template for you to adapt and follow)
  

The DentalRx web portal has been one of those proven winners for everyone involved. Lab Lookup was derived from DentalRx and is limited to looking up cases and their history/status. It also provides for looking up a number of doctors in a group practice in the soruame session. 

DentalRx is a win for your customers because it provides an easy convenient way to submit prescriptions as well as the digital files and documents for the case.  The services requested are already part of your DQB tables for standard procedures and items specific to your lab.   The prescriptions are typically easier to read, more accurate and complete.  The dental office can easily add communications specific to the case, instructions for standing preferences and/or enter pickup and other requests.   Then they can conveniently look up the status of current cases as well as review history cases.    

It is also a win for the lab because it is primarily a single entry of the case details directly into your DQB case records.   The lab can specify which entries are required for each case submittal.  Typically more than 95% of the case entry process has been performed at the dental office.  Having complete, accurate, easy-to-read prescriptions reduces the possibility of having to do remakes and adjustments. If the dentist is registered with one of the digital dental providers, the lab can be alerted that a digital file has been transmitted.   Accompanying digital files and documents are automatically named and identified as part of the case record and can easily be retrieved/accessed in the same variety of ways the basic case record can.   They are also easily backed up properly for extra safeguarding.  

In addition, being able to quickly schedule and/or pre-book time for the case adds to the professional stature and premier customer service for the lab. For the standard version, there is a small fee for the work involved in the initial setup to assure adequate security measures to meet HIPAA compliance, but then the ongoing service is included in your DQB subscriptions and service agreements. 

If you would like to have us create a custom version to coordinate with your website and marketing goals, we can also work with you to get this done. 

Assuring the accuracy of your customer and item records

The customer and item records originate in QuickBooks and then are further fine-tuned in DQB.  They are the essential components of your case management and accounting.  From time to time in our support requests, we encounter issues with these records indicating that better control is needed in the lab.   Here are some of our insights and recommendations to achieve this:  

• Limit the number of staff members who can enter and update the master records in both systems.  
• Set standards for these records such as how to format the name, the fields that must be entered, default values.  Document these and train personnel.  
• To prevent duplicates, first use critical fields such as names, telephone numbers, email addresses, and/or location to determine if there already is a record for them.
  
• When entering group practices, use the main billing address for the group's customer record, then enter individual doctors in the group as jobs in the QB desktop versions or sub-customers in the QB online versions.
  
• Having a DQB customer group for each group practice is not mandatory but a good idea to provide both individual and group production and sales analysis.
  
• When appropriate, also check for the possibility of an inactive status for an existing record. 
• For item prices, the default price is entered into QuickBooks.  To determine if the customer has been granted special prices, check their master record in DQB to see if they have been assigned to a DQB Price Level.  If yes, review this to determine if the prices are accurate or need adjustment. 
• If you are required to charge sales tax, check both the customer record and the item records in QuickBooks to assure that the tax indicators and rates are accurate. 
• Create alerts in DQB whenever appropriate and indicate where they are to be shown.
  

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