To answer your questions.... Q: When we request changes to a form or report, you sometimes ask us to send an example. What is the best way to do this?
A: The easiest way is to generate a display of the form or report and then request that it be saved to a PDF format. PDF is short for Portable Data Format. This has developed into an industry standard. Our reporting tool provides for saving to this format. Typically on your screen to the right of the Print button will be Save. Click Save and then choose PDF. If you need to mark it up to show changes, first print, then draw/write your changes. If you have a multi-function printer/scanner or image scanner, you can scan this and save to a PDF. If you want to send us an example of your report to show us the contents, you can send it to your printer and choose to save to PDF rather than actually printing. Note that if you have keeping your Windows 10 up to date, the latest printer controls include a choice of Save to PDF. You can then attach the PDF to your email. We also continue to have fax capabilities. The number is 215-256-1594. Also worth knowing are these other widely accepted formats that have become industry standards for compatibility: - JPG/JPEG for the best capture of visual components, developed for photographers
- DOC/DOCX for text/word processing, developed for Microsoft Word
- HTML/XML/STL are mark-up languages for precision in creating information transfers, graphics, products
Q: How do you determine which requests will be considered custom and billable and which will be funded by the service agreements?
A: Most of the time it is clear when a request is specifically for one lab and to be considered custom work. If it is not, we work it out with the lab. We have a standard policy that if the custom request will involve less than 4 hours of work, it will be covered by the provisions within the service agreement. If 4 or more hours, typically a work authorization with specifications will be required.
We do keep notes in our release planning documents when ideas and suggestions come our way. Sometimes there are a number of requests along the same line, others indicate trends in the industry that should be addressed. Some of the suggestions come from our staff, based on advances in computer technology, security measures and compliance requirements. Sometimes we see the need such as the new menu design coming in the April release.
It is important to note that if a lab wants to keep within our standard releases as opposed to having a completely custom system, some of the features developed as custom will be incorporated into the standard release. Q: Is there a way to copy and paste to an email from Case List? We have a client who wants a weekly list of return dates and it takes too much time to retype the info into an email.
A: There are several possible solutions for this within DQB. - One would be to set the criteria and columns in Case List for the report you want, then transfer to Excel.
- If you would like reports generated for a number of your customers, consider implementing the DQB Notifications supplement. Reports on their cases received and recently shipped are automatically emailed to the customers you specify on the schedules you specify. You can also include marketing messages and shipment tracking information.
- Providing a DentalRx web portal for your customers to submit prescriptions, digital files and other communications also includes reporting on the status of cases in process and history cases.
For both DQB Notifications and DentalRx, you can request customization of your reports. Before you take on a time-consuming task, we recommend that you check with us to see what might already be available and/or what can be easily customized in your software. |