February 2016

Not quite yet...

Our Pennsylvania groundhog known as Punxatawney Phil has predicted an early spring for us.  In the meantime, however, we are still experiencing frigid temperatures along with snow and ice....hopefully winter's last hurrah. We have had to work from our home computers on a number of days when the roads were icy, but so far this winter we have had heat and electrical power throughout.   Hopefully this will be our last reminder to be sure to leave complete voice and/or email messages with your contact information and your reason for calling. 

If we are working from home, we take turns checking on voicemails and emails throughout the day. We have been happy to be indoors kept busy with several custom projects plus our usual steady beat of new customers and upgrades for existing customers.       

Another story of success

We are always on the lookout for stories of success from our dental labs.  Here is one that we will be adding to our website (www.mainstreetsystems.net) blog topic "Learn from the best" and we hope you like it too.

The lab was experiencing a steady decline in business losing out to competition from labs in other countries and from corporate labs.   The owner decided to dedicate a portion of each week to  request visits and then call upon local dental offices.   Almost immediately, there was an upswing in business.  The dentists liked him, liked his expertise, liked the possibilities of more personalized servicee.   This continued, increasing their revenue and allowing the lab to begin taking steps toward introducing more technology into their operation.

They began with an inexpensive scanner plus the DQB images supplement to store digital images and documents with their cases.  Next, they begam introducing tablet technology to improve workflow with the DQBT workflow app.  

This was all accomplished with determined effort but very little expense. It reinforces the concepts that offering local personal service and expertise remains very important and that digital technology can also enhance both service and efficiency.  

Looking ahead to March

Easter comes early this year on Sunday March 27.   Our offices will be closed on Good Friday, March 25.  

We have chosen two of the most popular choices for our March specials: 

If you would like to store scanned images and electronic documents sent by the dental offices as part of the case record to save both time and money,  the license fee for the DQB Image Supplement will be reduced from $400 to $320, a 20% saving. 

If you have been wanting to add another user to DQB for greater efficiency, the license for each additional user will be reduced from $300 to $240, a 20% savings.

These special savings will be in effect from now until March 31, 2016.

To answer your questions...

Q:  What is virtualization?

A:  Virtualization is a term that has become widely used in the world of computers.   It essentially means the same as.  For services such as MyQuickCloud virtualization provides the same environment as being at the host computer without physically being at that computer.  For Parallels Desktop on Mac computers, virtualization provides for a Microsoft Windows environment within the Apple environment so that you can easilly run Windows-based software on your Mac.  In computer environments where multiple operating systems are needed, virtualization provides for these to correspond to what is needed to run a wide variety of software applications.

Virtualization has helped to make access to Windows programs available on a wide range of computers.

Q:  We are trying to decide between adding another user for DQB or trying out the DQBT workflow app on a tablet.  What are the main differences?

A:  DQBT by its very definition as an app is more limited, focusing on the workflow in the lab with touch technology for cases.   It has the advantages of being less expensive for both hardware and software, use of touch technology, and being lightweight and handy to carry.   It provides features for both the technician and the manager. You can review these in the article below.  You can also visit our website (www.mainstreetsystems.net), go to the Products section and then Tablet Workflow App to see the details and sample screens.

DQB is a more comprehensive program covering not only case management but also business development and analysis.   Within this, the user/security settings can be used to limit the access to specific functions for each user.  Details on this can also be found on our website.  

Both of these use the same database and update the same case records.  You can mix and match as you please within your lab.

New choices for the DentalRx web portal

One of the advantages of  providing a  DentalRx web portal from your website has been that you can have it customized for your own special look and features. The majority of labs using DentalRx have asked us to customize it.   When working with the requests of our latest customer, we decided to provide the major funding for the project by making some of the more common requests available in the standard version as choices the lab could easily make through settings and entries.   Here they are:

In the settings screen, as the administrator you can further make choices on how you want DentalRx to work for your lab:

Screen Color:    The default color for the screen banners is a deep green.  You can select a different color from the chart provided.

Screen Font:    The default screen font is Times New Roman.  You can select a different font from the list provided.

Screen Logo:    In the upper left of the main entry screen for the prescription will be a spot to replace the default image with your logo.  The logo can be up to 150 pixels high and 350 wide. 

Minimum Workdays for Return:   You can establish the minimum number of workdays needed for return of the case and enter a screen message to convey to the user the earliest return date that can be requested.   The default number is 1.  The DentaLab for QucikBooks settings for holidays and Saturday/Sunday work scheduling will be used when determining workdays.

Preferences:   The default setting is to include the capability of creating, editing and viewing standing preferences for the doctor. You can choose to exclude this.

Pickup Requests:   The default setting is to include the capability of entering pickup requests. You can choose to exclude this.

Selection of Case Items:   The default setting is to enter case items by selecting from DQB standard procedures designated as available for DentalRx.   You can choose to enter case items by selecting from DQB product groups designated as available for DentalRx.  The product group names will establish categories such as Fxed, Removable, Orthodontic.

Required Fields:   The default setting will be to require all of the case-related fields.  You can uncheck those not required.  The case fields are Patient Name, Patient Age, Patient Sex, Shade, Tooth Number(s), Case Memo, Case Type, Case Item (minimum 1), Requested Return Date. 

Search Results:   The search results will always include these fields:  Case Number, Patient Name, Received Date, Requested Return Date, Case Status.   You can choose to also include any of these fields: Patient Age, Patient Sex, Shade, Tooth Number(s), Case Memo, Case Type. 

Your Custom Message:

In the home screen you can set a custom message for the DentalRx home screen. This is the screen every one of your DentalRx users will see when they first login. You can change font, color and alignment.   You can add bullet lists and insert horizontal lines.  

We have also developed two new guides, one for your internal use in the lab and another to give to your customers who will be using the portal to submit prescriptions and lookup their cases. 

How the tablet workflow app works

The DQBT tablet workflow app uses the case information stored in the DQB database.  Here is how it works:

For those who need to search for cases

• The tablet can be used to search for cases by customer, patient, pan and entry date.  
  
• This can provide for very rapid response to inquiries on the status of cases.

 For lab technicians with access to a tablet

• Typically each technician will be assigned a login in DQB by the administrator.  When each one logs in to the tablet app, they can see their assigned case items as well as the unassigned items for each work center.
• They can elect to search by date range or for a specific case by doctor, patient, pan and then view the case details plus its available records for case enclosures, doctor preferences, case plans, case communications, images and documents.
• With a simple touch, the technician can signal that she/he is starting work on an item.  If work is paused, restarted or completed, again all it takes is a simple touch to indicate this.  Each of these actions is recorded with a date and time. 
• Whenever appropriate, the technician can easily add in technical notes and review the related case records.

For the manager with a tablet in hand or at a DQB station

• The manager can view cases and  case items by work center, master schedule, and weekly schedule.
• Working from the case lists or the schedules, the manager can review the items scheduled for each date, whether they have been started, their progress and completions and which technician is doing the work.
• The manager can request to see the records for one specific technician or all technicians. 
  
• Whenever needed, the manager can adjust the case, its critical dates, its status, the work time, whether it has been completed or not.
• From all of the above entries, a case item analysis can be generated to provide quantities, total and average timings by item and date range.
• If the lab is using technician productivity, this provides an alternate way to enter these records.
  

Call us if you would like to explore the possibility of using tablets in your lab.

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