March 2021

Finally time to say goodbye to some concerns

Although much of the USA is still experiencing severe winter conditions, we are enjoying the transition to spring here in Pennsylvania.  We still need to be cautious about staying safe from covid, but our daily checks on black ice and other unsafe road conditions are over.   We still may see a light snowfall on the spring flowers but that is usually a very pretty sight.  

We have had two reports from our user group of lab owners contracting the virus and are happy to report that both have recovered.  The head of our programming in Europe also was overcome with the virus and had to be hospitalized but we hope to have him back in action soon.   Charlie who has been with us for many years taking care of our landscaping and snow removal here in Pennsylvania was hospitalized for eight weeks, his doctors at one point did not think he would make it, but we are happy to report he did and is home again hoping to be back in action by late spring. 

We will and hope that all of you will remain diligent in your safety measures in the months ahead.  

Getting to know the capabilities of your system

For both those who work directly with DentaLab and QuickBooks and those who manage the business, it is wise to get to know the capabilities of your computer software and hardware.   These can provide the information you need to support the continued success of your business.   Although keeping track of dates and creating invoices for cases are the starting points for dental lab software, there are many more capabilities available to help you:

• provide great customer service

• create a brand identity
  

• customize for your unique goals
  

• establish a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness 

• add conveniences for your customers

• improve efficiency in workflow

• eliminate waste of resources 
  

• adapt to changing technologies

• ....and many more

In these monthly newsletters and on our website, we let you know what is available but you can also call upon us for guidance in how it all works, what is possible, what it takes to implement these capabilities.  In addition to communicating with you via telephone and email, we can also provide interactive webinars to guide you. 

If there are members of your staff who should be kept up to date on the capabilities of your system but are not yet on our newsletter list, just let us know and we will add them. 

Looking ahead to April

In honor of Good Friday, we will be closed on April 2.  

With the April release of DQB 1.66, we will be introducing a new menu for the standard DQB version.    There are many added features and benefits that include:

• easier navigation
• more sub-categories with guides
• an easy way to set up a Favorites menu for your most frequently used options
• simple check-offs to exclude from the full menu those options you do not plan to use 

If you would like to prepare in advance, just call or email to request a copy of the documentation.  

To answer your questions....

Q: Do we have to set up items that are not billable? 

A: No, this is not required but non-billable items can be very useful. In DQB, the items synchronized from QuickBooks are all initially set to billable.   If you wish to track tasks that are not billable for measuring technician productivity, analyzing costs or for monitoring work flow in the development of a case, you can set up items for this purpose and mark them as not billable in Basic Lists-Items.  Some labs also include fulfillment items such as case boxes and labels in their item list and mark them as not billable.  

Only those items that are marked as billable will be automatically transferred from the case to the invoice.  Typically, cases that are outsourced to other labs will include only billable items.   This is also often true for cases that are developed by one person with no others involved.

Q: We are planning to move to more detailed scheduling and will be setting up more standard procedures for this.  Some of these have a very similar workflow.  Do we have to enter each one individually? 

A: You would first setup one standard procedure, then for subsequent ones with a similar workflow, you can go the action menu button at the bottom of the screen to create a new standard procedure by copying from another one.  Then you just edit the steps as needed.  This definitely speeds up the process.

Q: For our backups, we have been using the backup option in the DQB menu, then directing this to a portable hard drive.  Is this sufficient or should we consider the advanced backup protocol? 

A: The ABP protocol is a major step forward in capabilities and choices for securing your vital information.   Some of the features that would be most beneficial to labs are these:

• You can set up multiple backups for protection against a variety of vulnerabilities.  
• You can choose any combination of local, offsite and/or web-based services.  
• Backups can be automatic, on any schedules you choose, so you do not have to remember to do them.
  
• Various security measures such as encryption are available.  
• You can monitor the success of the backups, as well as the statistics such as the amount of space, the timings.
• You can have expert tech support to make sure your backups are set up properly, to take care of restoration if ever needed.
• You can use your service agreement time to make any adjustments as time goes by.
  
• There is only one fee for licensing, installation and setup.   There are no monthly or annual fees unless you request additional online storage space.

ABP involves technical security setups so there is a small charge to cover the work involved, but then the ongoing support is covered by your service agreement.  So yes, we would say this new protocol is worth the small amount of time and money involved.  The older backup methods will remain available.

Q: Can we come to your offices to meet you and discuss the DentaLab software? 

A: Yes, we very much welcome visitors.  Because of the covid pandemic, we have had only 3 visitors this past year, all of us wearing masks and taking safety precautions.  Our training room is always ready for personal as well as online visits. Just let us know when you plan to be here.

For those new to DQB and DentalRx

Sadly there are some labs that still think the only reason for having a service agreement is trouble-shooting.  In reality, this is only one small part of having a strong support system for the software that is vital to your business and case management.   Information and communication technology are among the most dynamic, ever-advancing industries in the world. It becomes very important that the various components of your system are compatible with one another.  It is also very important to for your software to support compliance with government regulations and industry standards for patient safety, privacy and security. 

Hitting close to home and an everyday occurrence here is ongoing education and guidance.  There are many resources within our support system to provide for this. For those willing to read and learn, there are white papers on a variety of topics, the knowledge base, blog and newsletters posted on our website, the help guide available from the DQB menu.   For those who learn more easily by seeing things in action, we offer personal interactive webinars as well as tutorials on our website and YouTube and the trial/demo versions.   We also give guidance via the telephone and emails.  

Each time we are in touch with you, we record notes to update your profile, history, and/or support logs in a database we call our License Manager.   The program includes advanced search capabilities so that we easily find solutions to issues and note your interests.   

What it takes to implement DentalRx

Not having ever provided a web portal for their dental offices, some labs convey that they think this is a Herculean task.   It is not.  You already have the basic information in your DQB records.  Here are the few things you will need to do:   

Indicate which of your standard procedures you want to make available to the dental office in DentalRx.   

If you choose to present product groups for selection when creating a prescription, you will indicate which ones are to be available in DentalRx. 

You will notify your customers that the DentalRx service is available and cover its many benefits such as:

• Clear accurate and complete prescription submittals
• Real-time creation of the case record in DQB
  
• Automatic transmission and naming of digital files
• Alerts to your lab when digital files have been transmitted from providers such as Itero and 3Shape
• The prescription can also be printed and sent with any physical components for the case.
• The ability to pre-book or secure time in the lab schedule
  
• Real-time case status and history reports
• Very high security measures to meet industry and HIPAA requirements 
• Communications between the dental office and lab are sent to the lab and recorded in DQB 
• Ability to enter preferences, request pickups

When your customer indicates they want to make use of this service, you can provide them with a short guide to become an authorized user.  Note that you can start off with a limited number of customers, perhaps those who have expressed an interest in having a web portal, and gradually increase to more.  

DentalRx can be hosted locally or on a remote web server such as Amazon Web Services. We take care of setting up the server and handling secured internet transmissions between you lab and the dental office.  We also provide written guides for the lab administrator and the authorized dental offices that can be printed or sent electronically.  If you wish to have customization, we can take care of this too.  The DentalRx link can be set up on an existing website, a new website or as a direct link.  

The cost for the ongoing service is included in your service agreements.  Those labs that have already implemented DentalRx have found this service to be very reliable and trustworthy, saving time and money for the lab as well.

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