July 2007

Lucky 7 on 07/07/07!

Our congratulations to Tim Evart of Digital Ceramics Dental Lab, whose name was drawn as the winner of a free license to DentaLab for QuickBooks in our Lucky 7 drawing on 07/07/07. We tucked into this contest a little market research and were very pleased with the responses we received to our two questions. Here is a sampling:

Q: What do you value most in computer software for dental laboratories?

• The ability to know what cases are in the lab, from a dollar standpoint as well as status.
• Data filing, organization and retrieval.
• Bug free supportive software for redo cases, billing and tracking.
• The aspect of organizing the work flow and being able to track cases as they flow through the lab.
• A look at production from many aspects which enables the owner to see how his lab's performance is compared to other years and other laboratories.
• That it is catered around a dental lab and that you can track who did what to what piece.
• Most of all that it is easy to learn and use.
• Integration with QuickBooks, ability to run ProPay.
• User friendliness, expandability, security, affordability, good tech support.
• Easy operation for computer illiterate. Ability to customize charges for each dentist.
• The ease of finding cases to look up info on implant parts or attachments used. Also production tracking.
• The integration of clients, accounts in computer software and I would like to see the ease of use in these areas of integration.
• Ease of use.I don't want fancy features that I'll never use or that are not practical.
• I really like the invoice & case management that your program has.
• I think simplicity is always best when it comes to software.

 

Q: What features would you like to see in the future for dental lab software?

• I think the most helpful things would have to be a Status Board showing realtime status of cases.
• An idiots guide to customer management.
• Pop-ups to remind to call docs if no activity for X days.
• Modem/phone link for speed dial and note taking.
• Storage and retrieval of data on different heads, like monthwise billing/listing.
• Clinicwise billing/listing, multi-user/department entries.
• Case progress tracking.
• Flexible marketing aspects that may include case labels that incorporate the lab logo for case bags or boxes being sent to the doctor's office. This would expose the name of the lab with the name of the dentist to be seen by the office staff togethr, associating the lab and dentist in their mind.
• I would like to see a time clock that is compatible so that there's a nice transition into QuickBooks payroll software.
• It's obvious we want a software that is decently priced with all the bells and whistles.
• Remember, most labs are just 2-5 man labs...they need a good tracking system with ease of billing.
• I would like to see a printable sticky label to attach to all outgoing cases.
• A calendar appearance to case scheduling.
• Ability to order from vendors, client ability to view and pay account online.
• Automatic case tracking and management.
• Attachments of pictures and written notes to patient work orders.
• At the beginning of the day, I want to print a list of cases that are due for the day that have not been invoiced.
• Knows what I am thinking and does it automatically.

We are pleased to report that just about everything on the lists is already present in DentaLab for QuickBooks. We have taken note on the number of times "ease of use" was mentioned as this is a hallmark of both QuickBooks and DQB.

Here are the items not in DQB:

For incentive pay, we currently have piece rates tallied for pay calculations in the Technician Productivity supplement. We have developed the specifications for basing this on billing percentages and have placed this on our to-do list. Already developed has been the ability to change piece rates by percentage. This will be further tested and available in the next quarter.

 

For online payments by doctors, we have already been working with Intuit's Merchant Services to add this capability from within DQB. We hope to have this ready by the end of the third quarter.

 

For time reporting, there already is a feature within QuickBooks for this. In addition, there are more sophisticated systems such as biometric time and attendance available through Intuit's solutions marketplace.

 

To order online from vendors, it is up to each vendor to provide this capability. For speed-dialing, we would need to work with your specific telephone system, as requirements vary.

For the last comment, you don't really want anyone else reading your thoughts, do you?

Thanks again to all of you who participated for your very valuable input!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the fastest way to search for a case?

A: If you know the case number, enter only this in the search criteria. The case number is a unique identifier (i.e. there is only one instance of each number) and this is a primary key, which means the system can zoom right to it. In a recent test of searching across years of cases, the result was instantaneous. Sometimes users enter in many criteria such as doctor name, account code, patient name, status, date range. Having many criteria actually slows down the search as the program looks for matches on all of them.

Q: What determines whether a doctor has been active or not for the Inactive Customer Report?

A: Originally, entry of a new case set the indicator and date for activity. Along the line, this was changed to any activity with cases. For the second quarter release, this was changed back to entry of a new case.

Q: Where can we get more information on running DentaLab for QuickBooks on Intel-powered Macs?

A: Further information on the Parallels Desktop can be found at www.parallels.com

Q: Is there any way to totally bypass the numerous security measures in the Vista operating system?

A: We recognize both that whoever designed this new operating system was tremendously security-conscious and also that most dental laboratories do not want or need this level of security. Our programmers think they have found a way to have DQB take care of these without user intervention and will be testing this possibility for the next release.

Be sure to ask if you have questions!

The easiest ways are to call 215-723-7041 or send an email to support@mainstreet-systems.com.

2007 Second Quarter Release

The second quarter release numbered 1.11.009 is now available on our website. Included in this release are:

• A new Call Doctor Report is available from the lower left quadrant and from the Report Center. This is based on the Start Date and having the Call Doctor checked in case entry.
• A new Doctor Preferences Report is available for one doctor from the Customer screen or for all doctors from the Reports Center. This is formatted so that it can be sent to the doctor periodically for review and update.
• For the Parameters file PARAMS.XML, we have added code to recover this automatically if the file develops a disk error. The user will be directed to the initialization screen to reconnect, rather than being issued a system error message.
• We have improved the Case Search by Case Number performance by creating only a simple SQL query to zoom right to the case number if this is in the search criteria.
• Two new Technician Productivity Reports have been added to tally counts for completed items rather than showing individual details, one for printing one technician per page for technician review purposes and another report to provide only summary results.
• For the Inactive Customers Report, we have changed back to the original way of indicating whether a customer is active and the last active date based on new case entry only, not any case activity.

Those with up-to-date service agreements should call when ready to download this release to get the latest user-id and password.

Dental RX
We have been working with dentists on an alternate version of DentalRx that will be web-hosted and offered as an online service. The initial version will be for the USA and will include ADA insurance codes and dentist notes and preferences. Our goals for this second version remain the same:

• Easier-to-read prescriptions
• Provide accuracy and consistency
• Fewer errors due to misunderstanding between doctors and labs
• Convenient tooth chart and calendar
• Secured access
• Time and cost-saving features

And much more...look for this in 2007

Call 1-800-257-4535 or visit www.mainstreet-systems.com to learn more about Mainstreet Systems and our software designed specifically for dental laboratories.