The DentaLab System... serving dental laboratories since 1979
 
 
Support :: Newsletters

November 2015

DentaLab NewsNovember 2015
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

In this month of giving thanks...

In this month of Thanksgiving, we want to send many thanks on behalf of the entire user group to all of you who participate in some way, by providing ideas and suggestions, by performing the first level of beta-testing, by spreading the word to others in the industry.  You have been the strongest, most responsive voice in this industry to create software to support efficient workflow, cost savings, excellent customer service and compliance that flows into accurate and complete accounting.

November reminders

As we write this newsletter, there has not been even a flurry of snow here in Pennsylvania but just in case, here are our reminders.  We have our computers setup to service you from our homes should snow and ice make it very dangerous to travel to our offices.  As long as we have electricity, we can check for email and phone messages and log in to our computers (or yours if needed).   If you send a message, be sure to include who you are, why you have been in touch, and details on how to reach you.

For the USA Thanksgiving holiday, our offices will be closed on Thursday November 26 and Friday November 27.  For those in other countries, we will check voicemail and email to see if there are any urgent messages.   

We also need to remind you to soon setup your holiday schedules in DQB for the upcoming 2016 year, as these can vary from year to year and country to country.

It has become common practice for a number of labs to implement new systems or new features at the start of the new calendar year.   To avoid a stressful jam at the end of this year during the holiday season, we ask that you begin your project now.   

The trends we have seen in 2015

As the end of the calendar year approaches, we take a look back at the trends we have seen this year.  We will share our findings with you.

  • A significant number of the new labs are either owned by dental groups or closely aligned with one or more dental offices.
  • Not only for dental labs but across many industries, the concept of hybrid clouds has become strong.  These combine strong measures of privacy and protection for certain aspects such as customer information, payment codes and methods and intellectual property, while opening up web-based portals for customers and vendors to provide convenience for submittals, marketing information, feedback and problem resolution. 
  • Labs that have been outsourcing to other countries due to lower costs are gradually implementing more in-house digital technology to reduce costs. 
  • Labs of all sizes are recognizing the value of storing digital images and documents so that they are readily available with the rest of the case information.  The digital files can be sent via email  or a web portal from the dental office or captured via scanners or cameras in the lab.
 

  Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

To answer your questions...

Q:  We are planning to take advantage of Microsoft's offer to update to Windows 10 at no charge.  Are here any things we should do to prepare for this?

A:  Yes, it would be best to have your DQB software up to date.   The latest release is 1.44.   We updated and tested for Windows 10 starting with release 1.43.   You can check your current version by going to the Home menu and then the About box.

When you request Windows 10, Microsoft will check your computer to make certain it meets the minimum technical requirements.   We recommend that you start the download and installation at a time when your production is not active.   You will need to answer a few questions such as establishing your sign-on.   If the download is intrerrupted by any internet issues, you can just restart.   Once the download is successful, installation can proceed.   Once installation and all setups are complete. we recommend that you restart your computer before launching DQB to assure that all associated components are running.  If you would like to schedule a tech support session, please let us know.  

Take the time to learn about the capabilities of the new features such as the Edge browser, Cortana to answer your questions, the  enhanced security features.   You can do this working with the guides built into the system or via internet searches.   Know that if you encounter software that has not yet been adapted for Windows 10,  you can revert to using Internet Explorer (or Chrome or Firefox) for your task, then go back to Edge. 

Windows 10 is getting very high marks in the industry.   We have all elected to upgrade our stations and are liking it very much. 

Q:  My boss asked me to give him a report showing which items each of our customers has been ordering.   Which report should I use?

A:  In DQB, you can go to Reports, then Sales Analysis.  Reports in this set are based on invoiced items.  If you wish to review customer by customer, choose the report by Customer Group, then the default customer group that includes all customers.  You will need to select a date range for your report.   If you wish to review item by item and see which customers have ordered each item, choose the report by Item and select all items.  

In DQB, you can also go to Reports, then Production Analysis, then Customer Group if you wish to see the units and dollars for both scheduled and invoiced items in the date range you select. 

You also have available QuickBooks reports by Sales, then Item Detail.  The advantages of using the DQB reports are that they also provide statistics on units and dollars for remakes (revenue lost due to remakes) and let you limit the report to a specific group of items or customers. 

We recommend that you try each of the various criteria in each report set to determine which of these will work best for your needs.   For example, if you assign a rep/salesperson to customers, you can also generate reports by rep to show the statistics for their customers and items.

      With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

Learn from the best...

The labs that have chosen DentaLab for QuickBooks (DQB) are not one homogenous group….they come in all sizes, specialties and business models.  The three things they all have in common are these:

  1. They create custom dental prostheses as specified by dental prescriptions.
  2. They value the reliability and versatility of QuickBooks for their accounting and financial management.
  3. They want to synchronize their case management with QuickBooks and have chosen Mainstreet  Systems to provide the synchronized software and support to accomplish this.

While some of the other companies marketing dental lab software limit their offerings to only large labs or only web-based with monthly subscriptions, the  synchronized  software provides a wealth of choices such as:

  • Two levels of scheduling, one for critical dates, the other at task-level
  • Providing for both traditional and the newer computer-aided  digital methods
  • Desktop, web-hosted or hybrid systems to provide both
  • Local and/or remote access
  • Tracking cases by tablet, barcode scanning, and/or manual methods
  • Providing a variety of payment methods to assure good cash flow
  • Case and shipment notifications via email, fax or online portals
  • Receiving digital files and images via email, online portal or in-house scanning
  • Shipment tracking via multiple services
  • Automatic or manual backup methods to local and/or online resources

And many more.

From the many stories told to us in our support calls, we have chosen seven that represent a broad view within this industry.  We have included 2 small, 2 mid-sized, 2 large and 1 corporate group of labs.   If you wish to learn from the best, you can go to our website http://www.mainstreetsystems.net.  Then choose Blog to see this topic.

If you are one of the seven, we invite you to tell us more details.  For the others, we invite you to tell us your own stories of challenges and success.   We will continue to add to this series. 

Adding DentalRx to your website

If you have taken the steps to develop your own custom website, adding DentalRx can add a number of worthwhile benefits.  Some of these include:

  • An easy convenient way for the dental office to submit not only prescriptions but also digital files.
  • Most of the DQB case entry work is completed at the dental office, providng cost savings and greater accuracy.  . 
  • Digital files are automatically associated with the case and readily available by the same criteria used for finding the case.
  • Other communications such as pickup requests and preferences can be made via the web portal.
  • The dental office can easily look up the status of their cases.
  • Easy to read prescriptions can be printed to accompany case materials being sent to the lab.
  • Navigation to the web portal can include marketing messages. 
  • Transmittals between the dental office and the lab are encrypted to meet security and privacy compliance.
  • If you wish, you can customize DentalRx for your special needs.
  • There is an up-front license fee but no per case, per customer or monthly subscription fees that can add up substantially. 

Because of the need to coordinate with your website and to implement security measures, the installation and setup typically takes about 4 hours of tech support, which is included in the license fee.   But once this is done, we have found that DentalRx runs like a top month after month, year after year.

If you wish to be removed, reply to this email with the subject "unsubscribe".

     

Customization is available for all products.

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

"I hope the suggestions are helpful. I know they are things that would definitely make my experience with an already great product an even better one! Keep up the good work and I look forward to future improvements!"

Katherine Hopkins
Crown Dental Laboratory
Michigan, USA


See samples of what customers have to say

Microsoft Partner

NADL Membership





 
 
 Menu Cache
2019 Mainstreet Systems & Software, Inc.