December 2020

December and an end to 2020

The Christmas and New Year holidays this year very nicely give all of us two long weekends to celebrate.   We will be closed December 24-25 (Thursday-Friday) and again December 31 and January 1 (Thursday-Friday).  

If you are planning on any new implementations or system reconfigurations on or near the beginning of 2021, we ask that you get these underway now and not wait until the last week of the year.  If you have not already done so, be sure to update your Holiday table for 2021 non-workdays. 

We wish you all a fine relaxing holiday!

If you have a winter lull

If the pandemic lockdowns or severe winter weather cause a slowdown in your business, it can be a very good idea to make use of the extra time to work on projects that can be very beneficial and have you all the more ready when business does pick up.   Here are some no and low cost ideas for you.  

DQB provides the support for a number of ways to give your customers enhanced service.   One of these is the DQB Notifications supplement to send reports via email on case received and recently shipped.  You can also include shipment tracking codes, marketing messages, information on your schedules.  If you would like, you can also include internal lab reports to be emailed to management personnel on a regular basis. 

Another is the DentalRx web portal that provides not only for submittal of prescriptions and digital files but also a variety of other communications.   The dental office will be able to lookup their current and history cases via the portal.   The basic DentalRx Direct service is included in your service agreements. 

You can set standards and train your staff to become excellent note takers for any customer issues, promises, alerts, doctor preferences.   There are many note-taking features throughout DQB and the Lab Notes feature provides for creating a dictionary of often-used phrases and terminology for easy insertion.   Taking a few minutes to record information as soon as it is available can save a huge amount of time when it is later needed and can also help to promote excellent customer relationships.  

When it comes to assuring that automatic backups of your information are performed securely and on schedule, the Advanced Backup Protocol is definitely worth implementing.  You can choose the level of encryption, the schedules and both local and web-based locations.  Our tech support will set up the security measures for you. 

It has come to be that customers expect a business to have a website.   We can help you to set up a low-cost modern website with the DentalRx portal.  This will include guidance on how you can edit the content when needed such as a change in your hours or an announcement.

Plans for the new year

Let us know if you have plans or would like to discuss possibilities for the upcoming year that involve software support. 

Some of our plans for the continual enhancement of DQB and DentalRx are already underway:  

• A new menu design for the standard version of DQB  
• Continued focus on the digital workflow for DQB and DentalRx 
• As the capabilities of QuickBooks Online increase, adapting for these 
  

Although it has been several years since we increased our fees, we have elected to not do this due to the economic hardships caused by the pandemic.  We will continue to have the goal of providing top notch responsive software and support at affordable prices.

To answer your questions...

Q: We see the benefits of DentalRx but are not so sure our dental offices will use it.  Do some of the labs that have accomplished this have advice for us?

A: Whenever there is an advance in technology it typically takes a while to gain wide acceptance.   Some tend to cling to whatever ways have worked for them; some resist any learning curve, no matter how small and easy.   We have asked some of the labs that have been successful with gaining acceptance for their portal if they have any advice to help other labs.  

1. Through flyers and phone calls, you can cover the many benefits to the dental office such as clear complete prescriptions to minimize misunderstandings.   
2. For those who practice digital dentistry, let them know there are less steps and great accuracy for the digital workflow.  
3. To reduce telephone tag, the dental office will be able to lookup current and history cases at any time.
4. If the lab is registered to receive digital files directly from providers such as 3Shape and ITero, DentalRx can also provide alerts to the lab with the identity of the scan and patient along with the prescription.  
   
5. You can add worthwhile content to your website to encourage regular visits.  
   
6. You can offer an incentive discount if the prescription and digital files are submitted via the portal.  Most of the case entry will already be in the DQB case records so you will experience savings in time and money. 
7. It is worthwhile to stress the high level of safety and HIPAA compliance that DentalRx offers.
   

Q: Do we need to limit the number of logins for DQB user roles to the number of users we have licensed?

A: No, there is no limit to the number of logins you can set up for DQB.   There is also no limit on the number of stations on which you can install the program. To give you a better understanding, here is how the licenses work.   The user count for your licenses limits the number of logins that can be using the DQB program at the same time.  This user count is applicable to only the standard version of DQB.  The starter version is limited to one user.

When you license the supplements such as images, notifications, barcoded case tracking and technician productivity, you need just one license. 

For the DQBT tablet workflow app, you do license by the number of tablets as these involve more advanced security measures.

When setting up your login names and passwords, keep in mind these basics:   

• If you want to track who has entered cases and other significant actions in the event log, it is a good idea to assign a login to each person.   
• Initially, the codes are both admin.  These have become very universal throughout software systems so it is good to change them.  
• The administrator will need to record these in a separate secure location.  There is no "backdoor" to accessing the passwords if you do not know them.  
• When employees leave or become untrustworthy, the administrator should delete their credentials.  
• Initially, there were five standard user roles for the manager, case entry, entry, technician and technician plus with options to exclude financial information.  This was later expanded so that you could create custom user roles limiting access to specific menu options.
  
• QuickBooks has its own security system of logins and passwords.  These are separate from DQB.

A course in advertising

When a student at Drexel University, one of the courses deemed to be super easy was Advertising.   It was simply to find and evaluate a variety of advertisements.  Little did we know that this exercise would continue to have impact and value the rest of our lives.  

One of the concepts taught to us was to not only look at the benefits being told to you but also to tune into what they might not be telling you.   Another was to tune into the play on emotions that is conveyed in the ad.  Another was to have a critical eye on whether the ad was truthful. 

Most of us have become aware of this with the vacation timeshares that were widely advertised.   They captured a lot of sales by promoting vacations at wonderful destinations for many years but did not cover what happens when you are unable or unwilling to continue, when the annual maintenance costs grow to exceed the market cost of a vacation, when the destinations are continually full and you had to plan a year or two in advance to book a spot.  

Many of us have seen ads with a bunch of young friends having a jolly time cruising around town in a particular brand of automobile but no coverage at all on features, safety, reliability or price.   While advertisement of medical drugs is regulated to require inclusion of the possible side effects, there are many business and political ads that are not at all subject to any regulation on their truthfulness.   

When it comes to the software you choose for your laboratory case and financial management, we urge you to be mindful of these concepts.   Some of your research should include;   

• Do I continue to have ownership and convenient access to my data if I want for any reason to stop the service or go in another direction?   
• If I want to have customization for my own business goals, is there an opportunity for this or am I locked into one solution?   
• Is there a plan to have the software continue to be adapted as technology for computers and the lab advances?
• Will I have a voice in the direction and enhancement of the software?   
• Does the software developer/vendor offer continuing support not only for the software but also for the surrounding issues with hardware, training, compliance, security?
  

A few tips on inventory

From our work with both dental lab and custom QuickBooks synchronization, we have some tips on how to handle inventory tracking and avoid mistakes. 

It is in QuickBooks that you specify which items are to have the type Inventory.   It is important that you enter both the Income and Cost of Goods accounts for each of these.  The Unit of Measure should be coordinated with the one used in invoices. 

When you purchase  inventory items, you will be adding to the quantity and cost of stock on hand.   When an invoice is created for the sale of an inventory item, the quantity is deducted from the stock on hand.  You can set up reorder levels to be reminded to purchase more stock.   

When a case invoice is created in DQB and transferred to QuickBooks, any inventory items involved will have their quantity deducted from stock on hand.   The Income and Cost of Goods Sold accounts will be updated.  

For general items that are used in cases but not specified in invoices, you may want to treat these as overhead rather than inventory.   The choice is up to you.   These will not be depleted by invoicing.  

It is in QuickBooks that you can request analysis and reports on inventory status and control.   In DQB, you can set up one or more Product Groups for inventory items to track production and sales of inventory used in cases.    You can also use the DQB Case Materials Disclosure features to track inventory items by manufacturer, batch and lot to specific cases should recalls be needed.

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