May 2013

Try a Webinar 

Webinars have become a convenient easy way to collaborate, review, interact.  We are using these more and more in the design and review of our custom software projects, as well as our software products such as DentaLab for QuickBooks and DentalRx.

For those who would like to discuss how software can benefit their lab, we are offering a personal webinar session.  These are live sessions in which we work with an internet connection from our training computer to your computer to review displays in detail while we talk together.  Typically, we keep each session relatively short in the range of 30 to 75 minutes. 

You will need to have a computer station with broadband Internet service and a nearby telephone.    We invite you to try learning and coordinating with a webinar. Please call or email if you would be interested in scheduling a time for yourself.  Let us know if there are specific topics or issues you would like to discuss.

In the Month of May

It's coming up fast.   Although spring officially lasts well into June and we have had a few overnight frosts, here on the east coast of the USA, Memorial Day marks the beginning of the summer season.  Our offices will be closed for this holiday on Monday, May 27.  

As so often happens, new ideas and suggestions keep rolling in as labs strive to be more efficient while providing more service to their customers.  Software support certainly is a major factor in achieving these goals and we are busy developing the next DQB release and custom projects.  

Add a Handy Extra Station

If you would like an extra station in the lab to keep track of case assignments, schedules, and completions, consider adding an inexpensive tablet and the DQB workflow app.  This combo provides in a small package all you need to view workloads, the flow of tasks to be done, in the works and then completed, along with doctor preferences by work center and by item, the ability to record tech notes, to track and analyze timings. 

We have a white paper that describes this app in greater detail and also can show it to you in a webinar.  

To Answer Your Questions

Q:  Does DQB work with Windows 8?

A:  As each new operating system is released by Microsoft, we do test DentaLab for QuickBooks to make certain it will continue to run smoothly.   For Windows 8, we needed to make some minor adjustments to assure that the MSSI connector would launch with DQB.  This has been accomplished and there are a number of labs who have told us they have moved up to Windows 8 and are running well.

Q:  Does the Image Scanning supplement only store the images we scan?  Is there a limit on the number of images per case?

A:  When we first introduced the image scanning supplement, it was to store scanned images of the prescriptiion.   Since that time, this supplement has added features to include electronic images and documents sent by the dental offices and to store any other case documents that either arrive electronically or that can be transformed into electronic documents.   We see also that labs have used this feature for many other formats, including photos, charts, completed work tickets, digital impressions and other documents related to the case.  There is no limit to the number of images or the types of electronic images you can associate with each case. 

When needed, these can easily be retrieved by the same criteria you use to find cases such as customer, patient, dates, pan codes, case types, who performed case entry, case status, short memo.   And then, as appropriate, you can print, display, mark up, email, transfer these documents....and no need to re-file!

Because of its convenience and savings in time and money, this has been our most popular supplement and is in everyday use in labs of all sizes. 

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Working with your Local Consultant

Most of the local consultants who work with us on your behalf are those who specialize in hardware/network support.   Occasionally, we also work the QuickBooks Pro-Advisors and general business consultants.  It is good to have these resources supporting your endeavors to run a successful business.

Particularly for those involved with medium to large computer networks, we all too often encounter certain situations we would like to bring to your attention so that you can guard against them.   Here they are:

• The consultant comes in, gets your system up and running.  For the moment all seems well.  But the consultant does not take the time to review the details with you, does not provide you with documentation on the configuration, its settings, its security procedures.   Then the day comes that you need these and the consultant is nowhere to be found.  Insist on both training and written documentation.
  
• The consultant had good luck on their last job doing things a certain way and now applies these to your system including your dental lab management system, rather than checking the documentation on installation and setups for DQB or checking in with our tech support team. It doesn't work, time is wasted.  You need to be firm on not permitting this to happen, allowing enough time in the plan for this coordination, making certain this takes place. 
  

Know that specifications and precision are important when working with computers, just as they are in your work. When excellent coordination takes place between us, your local consulant and you, the results are typically excellent, your money well spent, your system running smoothly.  

Electronic or Paper?

Recently on one of the dental lab forums, there was a discussion that tossed back and forth whether it was the paper prescriptions or an electronic image that should be kept for the projected life of each dental restoration.   The discussion begn with one lab owner who wanted to scan all of his archived prescriptions and toss out the boxes upon boxes cluttering his business space.   Most contributors to the discussion said no, it was the paper version that should be kept.

With the mandate of electronic health records, we are witnessing a time when the electronic record is becoming the primary one, the paper the secondary.   That paper is somehow the safer medium is a thought that is diminishing as we all become more proficient in ways to have the electronic media become more enduring, more secure.  As we develop software, we make provision for both paper and electronic media knowing that there will be times when one or the other is more effective.   The trend we see developing in our own workday is that paper is often best for transient needs, electronic much better for staying organized, for making rapid searches, for taking up much less space and much less need to rearrange or declutter. 

There are criteria we use in system design to make all the pieces work well and easily.   One is to have, whenever possible, a unique identifier for each type of electronic record such as a customer, a service, a case.  Next, however, is to try to determine the various ways or combinations of ways you will want to search for that unqiue record. 

As we provide the software structure for you to create electronic records, we are very much aware of the tremendous need for security to protect these from unauthorized access, from physical damage, from theft and to ensure that the information will remain accurate and available for a long duration. As you make a transition to create and rely more on electronic records, consult with your tech support team to also develop practices to keep them secure. 

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