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October 2014

DentaLab NewsOctober 2014
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

For those who like to photograph their work

We have been told that photographing completed cases has become very popular, particularly for those who take pride in their expert workmanship.  It is also a good idea to capture these images for future advertisement, for coordination with the dental office, for comparison of old to new, to honor requests.   Now there is a more convenient way to do this and have the images automatically become part of the case record.   Below in the list for the DQB 1.40 release are more details.  Even greater details can be found in the new white paper titled Image Supplement.  This can be sent to you via email upon request or found on our website in Support/Knowledge Base/Dental Lab Software Blog.

If you have an up-to-date service agreement, you can call when ready to download the release. 

Inch by inch, it's a cinch

We find that a definite portion of our user group eagerly await each release and call quickly to get the download codes.  Another portion will update once or twice a year.  Some, however, despite our heeding tend to neglect their software and just roll along month after month, year after year, until some external force such as having to acquire new equipment with a new operating system causes them to have to update.  

In terms of adjustment, training, and time,  progress is best taken in small steps.   This is particularly true in dental labs where personnel tend to have busy active days.  It is definitely true in terms of technology and the software that supports it.    

In DQB, you can go to the About option to check your current version.  For both the standard and starter versions, the current DQB release is now 1.40.   If your version is more than one or two versions behind this, be sure to call for the download codes if you are covered by a service agreement.

For those not covered by a service agreement, we are offering a very limited open period from November 3 through 14, 2014 before the end-of-year and holiday rushes.  This will involve an update fee that will depend on your level of licensing and how many releases you have missed.

Early autumn specials are still in effect

For our early autumn specials, we are offering a 20% discount on the two supplements that can be used by the dental offices to check on the status of their cases sent to your lab.   These are Notifications (standard fee of $400 reduces to $320) and DentalRx (standard fee of $1600 reduces to $1280).  These specials will remain in effect until October 24, 2014.

 

    Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

To answer your questions...

Q:  We want to track how we are doing with new customers.  What is the best way to do  this?

AFirst of all, you will need to define which customers you want to consider new...such as 2 months or 3 or  6 since they came on board or were reactivated.  Next go to Basic Lists to create a customer group for these and give it an appropriate name such as New Customers.  Just check those customers who correspond to your definition of new.  As they continue to send in cases, you can run both Production Analysis and Sales Reports by this customer group.    As customers become established and no longer considered new, you can simply uncheck them from the group.  

In DQB 1.40, we have added a number of additional fields to the Customize Columns action in the Customer List.  One of these is First Active.  If you request this column, you can then click its column heading to sort up or down by the first active date. If you also select Last Active, you can quickly see if they are continuing to use your services. 

You may also want to assign a Rep in QuickBooks if you wish to monitor and give credit to a particular sales or business development person.   Other resources to use for your communications with the new customer are the Customer Activity Logs, Case Communications and Alerts, Preferences by Item and by Work Center.  In the Customer Center of the standard version of DQB are a host of reports and queries where you can focus on one specific customer at a time.

Q:  Are the number of licenses we should have determined by the number of computers we have or the number of users?

AFor DentaLab for QuickBooks, licensing is determined by the number of concurrent users.   Each lab can review its personnel requirements and determine the best count to have.  If you find you need more at any time, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to upgrade.

      With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

DQB 1.40 Release

Here is the official list.  Our hearty thanks to all of you who contributed your suggestions.

More Choices to Customize Columns for Customer List

This expands the number of fields in the selection list to customize columns for the customer list.  This will be particularly helpful if a lab needs to make changes, check which customers are new, which use a specific ship method, when purchase orders are expiring.

  • First Active Date
  • Last Active Date
  • Purchase Order
  • P.O. Expiration Date
  • Price Level
  • Ship Method
  • Time Zone

Synchronized from QuickBooks:

  • Type
  • Active/Not Active

Close All Windows

This is a new button to close all windows. It is located at the bottom of the left menu frame in the standard version.

For Images Supplement:  Digital Photos from USB Camera or Webcam

In addition to scanning case documents and browsing to add digital images sent by the dental offices, you can now use a USB camera or webcam to capture case-related photos and have them stored with the case.  This new feature was developed using the IPEVO Point 2 View USB camera, due to its affordability and resolution, as well as with standard webcams.

From the screen, you can also adjust camera features such as brightness and resolution. In conjunction with the introduction of this new feature, we have moved the Images selections within Options/Case Settings to a separate tab.

Available upon request with further details is a new white paper titled Images Supplement.

For Images Supplement:  Ability to Crop Images

The WIA scanning feature has provided for auto cropping.  For those who prefer to do their own cropping, a new feature has been added to select, then crop and save an image. To select, you first focus your mouse on the starting point and then hold it down while you move it to the end point.  You can choose whether to retain or delete the original image.

Master Schedule Guidance to Change Daily Limits

Although the Help guide says the limits per day can be edited from the master schedule screen, this was not obvious to a number of users.  We have added text near the bottom left to let the user know how to not only view/edit the cases but also how to change the daily limits.

Menu Limited by User Roles

This new feature is the next step for the user roles we had introduced in an earlier release of the standard version of DQB.  The menu will now be limited to correspond to the roles available to the logged-in user.

Custom Fields Analysis

There are three types of records—cases, customers and items-- that provide for up to 10 custom fields each.  From Reports/Custom Fields Analysis, the user can select:

  •  One of three tables – cases, customers or case items
  •  If cases or case items, a range of case entered dates from 2 calendars.

The program will create a record for each unique entry in each selected custom field as it reviews the selected records to tally a count of its occurrences.  Empty entries will be bypassed.  It will also calculate and show the percentage of the total for each unique entry.  The custom fields provide a way for you to track unique features or offerings in your business and now with the analysis, provide further support for your business development activities. 

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Customization is available for all products.

Contact us at 1-800-257-4535 or www.mainstreet-systems.com.

"I was amazed how easy Dental Lab for QuickBooks was. I have been looking for new software for our dental lab for quite some time but most dental lab software is either too complicated or requires you to buy modules that you may not need but also must purchase to get to the level you want. Dental Lab gives you everything you need in one package at a reasonable price. The support from Mainstreet has been great with them answering all my questions?.I highly recommend this software to any dental lab wanting one system that works well and works with QuickBooks so easily."

Mary Brown
Brazos Laboratories
TX


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