July 2010

New in July:  Release 1.23, Automatic Backups

Our third release for 2010 is ready and is named DQB Release 1.23.   Along with new ideas that came from dental labs, this release reflects a number of technological advances.  The highlights are outlined in DentaLab News below and in full detail on our website in the Support/Releases section. 

Also new for you in response to a number of requests is the Automatic Backup and Job Scheduler supplement.  We first tried its concepts on ourselves for our own backups, fine-tuned it along the way and found it easy and successful.   So the next logical step was to adapt this for use out in the labs. 

This supplement consists of two programs.  One is a client program for you to setup the schedules you wish to have by specifying the days of the week, the time of day, the backup type and location. A Windows service program will monitor the date and time, perform the jobs according to the schedules established and then record the date and time of completion and if any issues/errors are encountered.

The introductory license fee will be $99 (USD) for each system, effective through August 20, 2010.  The programs will be distributed via the Internet and will include a written guide.  Please call or email if you wish to add this to your system.

Not new in July, but to our surprise the Annual Reviews we first offered in January 2010 have had a continual stream of requesters.  If you have not already had one done this year and would like to take care of this during the summer months, please give our Tech Support a call to setup a date and time.   We have found that just about everyone has needed a little coaching and guidance. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Since DQB runs so smoothly and reliably, why would a lab need a support agreement?

A:  The agreements provide assurance of having support in a number of ways beyond trouble-shooting.  Some of these include keeping up-to-date with government compliance requirements, ongoing guidance and education both for existing and new personnel, coordinating with the auxiliary software surrounding DQB such as Microsoft Windows, software drivers for a variety of auxiliary equipment such as printers, scanners, barcode readers, expansion of your system for new hardware, networks, software applications and a multitude of tasks that in a larger organization would be handled by in-house data processing professionals.  The support agreements provide for documenting our mutual responsibilities so that there is a clear understanding of what is covered, what is not.

Q:  Some of our doctors prefer having one invoice to cover all their cases shipped in one day.   Can this be done?

A: The standard QB invoice created by DQB covers just one case and shows the important case details you choose such as patient name, shade, tooth numbers, request date above the case item(s) description, price and amount.  Instead of sending multiple invoices with the cases, from the QB Report Center you can print a Detailed Transaction report limited to the customer and date or a Customer Transaction report by date, choosing which fields (including the case-related ones) you wish to show.  You can also generate a QB statement for the customer, requesting item details  and limiting to a specific date.  Keep in mind that once you develop the format you would like to have, you can memorize the report for future requests.   As of Release 1.23, we can now create custom formats in DQB as well.

DQB Release 1.23

The complete list of enhancements in DQB Release 1.23 can be found on our website www.mainstreet-systems.com in the Support/Releases section.   Here are the ones we think will be of most interest to you. 

Invoice Show and Print in DQB:

In each location in the system where there is provision to create a QB invoice, we have included options for showing and printing the QB invoice in DQB.  This will minimize moving the focus back and forth between QB and DQB as well as security concerns about gaining access to the financials in QB.

We will provide one standard template with the standard fields plus the case fields transferred from DQB to QB.  It will be setup to have the billing address aligned with a standard window envelope.  This format may be customized.

Single Case Labels:

Currently in the Case List, from the actions menu or a right click on a particular case, Print Case Labels is a batch application based on selecting cases by ship date.  We have changed this as follows:

If you right-click a case and select Print Case Label, just one label will print for the selected case. 

At the bottom of the Case List screen, to the left of Invoice Cases, we have moved the Print Case Labels action to a button.   This will bring up the current selection screen based on ship date.

Sales Summary by Customer- New Report:

For each customer with sales activity in the date range selected, the total value of the invoiced DQB cases will be shown. At the end of the report will be the total amount

New Controls to Assure Synchronization with Same Company:

To prevent accidental synchronization with an alternate QB company file, the system will determine if the company file is different than the one originally setup at installation and warn the user.

Price Level Reports:

Currently for Price Level Reports, the Price Levels by Percent show only the summary information.  This will expand the percentage-based price levels to include all items with both the default price and the calculated price level by % price.  Sample:

Price Level:  Hampton Group   Increase by 8%

Item Name                 Description                Default Price  Hampton Group

BRIDGE-Maryland        Maryland Bridge            200.00            216.00

Image Scanning Supplement - Document Center: 

Currently the Image Scanning Supplement provides for scanning, storage and access to documents scanned in the JPG format. The document center provides for storage of all other documents.  As a first step in a long-range project, we have added a Documents tab to the Case Entry screen.

NOTE:     If the identifying application for the file extension is not already in Windows/Tools/Folder Options/File Types, you will need to add this. 

A big thank you to those who contributed their ideas for this release!  If you have an up-to-date service agreement, you can call when ready to download Release 1.23 to receive the current authorization codes.

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