May 2020

May activity

We have had an increase in activity this month as the CDC issues new guidelines and safety measures for the dental offices to reopen. Also on the increase are FDA compliance requirements specifically targeted for CAD/CAM procedures.   Hopefully science and technology efforts will help to open new possibilities for risk mitigation and a return to the dynamics of business. 

It was also interesting to note that in our international base, the countries that took the virus seriously and took measures immediately were able to avoid a long lockdown and were back to school and business very quickly. 

A number of labs remained open and have successfully downloaded the DQB 1.62 release.   For those labs that were closed these past weeks, we are repeating our notice on the release below.

We want to remind you that our offices will be closed on Monday, May 25 in honor of the USA Memorial Day.

When updating the surrounding environment

We have been pleased that a number of labs took advantage of the slowdown caused by the pandemic to review and update their computer information systems.  Sometimes this was a whole new computer, sometimes an update to the operating system or to QuickBooks.  Some cardinal rules for this are:  

Keep in mind that compatibilities are very important.  Do not assume that everything will match.  It is a good idea to check with us or have your local hardware/network service call us to make sure everything will work well together.  You can also arrange to have our tech support on hand to guide you through.

You should make sure daily backups of your information are taking place and verify that they are successful.  It is even more important that you have a good backup immediately prior to making any changes to your system.  

There is typically a sequence in which updates and restoration of backups should take place.    Again, coordinate with us to make sure this sequence is followed carefully. 

Having DQB and DentalRx up to date and having a service agreement in place are proven ways to assure that these transitions are smooth and easy.

To answer your questions...

Q: Our submission for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was accepted.  How do we handle this in our QuickBooks records?

A: On the date you receive funding for PPP, you will use journal entries for your Chart of Accounts, adding the funds to your bank account and recording the loan in a liability account.   You will need to keep track of expenditures for 8 weeks to apply for the forgiveness.  Your bank and SBA will compare this request to your submittal.   If you applied only for payroll, you can use your QB and bank records plus your submittals to the government such as the 941.   

If you have a more complicated submittal, you can setup a class in QB to track PPP expenditures and use this in your transactions.  Then you can request reports by class. 

Q: We are in a quandary on what we should include in our QuickBooks item descriptions and what to have in DQB lab notes?

A: The item descriptions you enter in QuickBooks are the standard or default descriptions that you want to appear on the work tickets, invoices, packing lists.   Keep in mind that when creating forms for the dental office, you can edit or append the description for a specific transaction.  

The lab notes feature in DQB is essentially a dictionary you create for your commonly used text or specifications. They are then available for you to conveniently use (or add to your lab notes) in many spots within DQB for text and descriptive entries.   They can be used to guide the work being done, to record notes to document issues, to build plans.   

Also remember that you can establish up to 10 custom fields for the items.  These can be used for whatever purpose you need such as safety registrations, to establish your lab standards, to provide extra customer service.

As your digital files increase

If you use the DQB Images Supplement, the digital files sent by the dental office and the scanned Rx can be stored as part of the case record. 

If you also use DentalRx for online submittals of prescriptions and digital files, both the basic case information and the digital files are stored as part of the case record.  This means that the scans and digital files can be accessed in the same variety of ways as the case.  If you are registered with one of the providers of digital dental technology for automatic transmission of the digital file, there is a case alert identifying the digital file and its transmission. 

If you are setup for the Automatic Backup Protocol, the case record along with scanned and digital files are automatically backed up on whatever schedule and media/location you choose in a highly secured way. 

There ae a number of options in each of these for you to personalize your system.   If ever you want customization beyond the options already provided, you can request this. 

The April Release 1.62

The DQB Release 1.62 has been posted on our website in the Support/Quarterly Releases tab.  Here are some of the new features for you.

1) In Case Entry, you will be able add to Basic Lists/Doctor Materials while entering a case in the same way you have been able to add to Basic Lists-Tooth Shades.    

2) In Cases/Completions is a new menu option to Mark Vendor Returns for cases outsourced with a purchase order.  You can request a range of planned returned dates to see the cases in a grid, indicate whether you want to see only cases with a specific status, mark the Actual Vendor Return Date and, if you wish, set the status to Finished for specific cases. From the action menu for the Case List, you can Customize Columns to see the Actual Vendor Return Date.

3) In Reports/Purchase Orders a new summary report has been added.  Both the detailed and summary reports have added the new Actual Vendor Return date.

4) In Basic Lists/Customers, an indicator has been added to request pickups every work day.   You can set this ON if you want to have the customer added to the Pickup/Delivery report every work day.   Next to the Office Closed field will be a notice:  CUSTOMER HAS REQUESTED PICKUP EVERY WORK DAY. 

Call or email when you are ready to download this release so that we can provide the authorization codes.  If you are new to this and would like tech support, just let us know.  There is a short guide just above the link.   The process takes just a few minutes.  

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