June 2010

Trends We Like to See

Is the recession finally ending?  This latest recession seemed longer and deeper than any we remember.  Although we were able to keep a steady beat of new installations and projects, we also saw quite a bit of procrastination as labs became unsure about the future. These past three months, however, labs both here in the USA and around the world have started to move forward again and we have experienced a return to pre-recession levels of new installations, new conversions and custom projects. 

We are also hearing from more labs who have developed specialties within the industry and are now experiencing the success that comes from the expertise they can offer.  One of the labs requested a customization to DentalRx that would provide one of their major customers with the ability to directly view and edit certain case information via the Internet and this gave the lab a revenue boost of over $25,000 per month that will continue in the years ahead. 

Another very large international lab has invested in special features they want to offer their customers that will give them a tremendous edge in their marketing efforts as well as in the retention of their existing customers. 

As the dental lab journals continue to promote compliance with FDA, DAMAS and state/province regulations aimed at assuring quality and patient safety, there has been a steady beat of interest in implementing software that can make this task much easier and well-organized. 

In the month of June....

We have had a couple of  requests for group training during the summer months.   Let us know if more of you would be interested in coming to Pennsylvania to do this and the date(s) you would like and we will try to schedule one more session before fall.

In between the new installations and custom projects, we are working on a number of user group projects for the standard release of DentaLab for QuickBooks (DQB).   One will involve new techniques that will make report generation much faster.  Another will provide a way to have your SQL logs come directly to us should you experience any unusual issues related to your SQL database. 

We would also like to have feedback from a number of you on some new possibilities for DQB:

1) For several custom versions of the system, we have been able to bring the QuickBooks (QB) invoices back into DQB so that they can be further viewed, edited, displayed and printed in DQB.   This capability can then minimize the movement back and forth between QB and DQB and also resolve any security concerns that some labs have about access to the financials within QuickBooks.  So our question to you is this:  Would you like to see this feature implemented in the standard version of DQB?

2) We have had a steady beat of suggestions for DQB that have been implemented in the quarterly releases of the standard version.   As a result, we are thinking that the Home Page could use a facelift and some improvements in organization.  So we would like to hear your suggestions and ask:

• Do you use the left yellow Navigation frame to access various options?  Are the small icons in this frame useful to you?
• The Reports Center has grown by leaps and bounds and now requires scrolling to the right to see all of the tabs and options.  Would you like to see a new Reports Center with access to this from the main part of the Home Page?
• We think in terms of the four quadrants of the Home Page and often refer to these:  Basic Lists, Options & Settings, Case Entry, Frequent Case-Related Reports.   We are considering changing the lower left quadrant to include links to the full Reports Center, Barcoded Case Tracking and Technician Productivity, Notifications, Spreading the News, Utilities, Help, Login/Logout.  Do you have any suggestions for this design?
• Any other comments?
  

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Can DQB help us meet compliance requirements?

A: Yes, compliance requirements to assure quality and safety are coming from a number of directions and inspections are increasing along with major fines for non-compliance.   Here are some of ways your system can help:

• Standard Procedures not only add speed and accuracy to Case Entry, but also provide a way to document your standards for case production.
• Materials Disclosure provides an easy way to record for each case the material items, manufacturer, part number, batch/lot identifiers and dates.   These become part of case history, can be printed to provide to the the dental office, and can be used to quickly find applicable cases if recalls are ever required.
• Technicians Assignments and Completions can be recorded via the keyboard and via scanning of barcodes for the technicians and work tickets so that issues can be traced to the person(s) who performed the work.
• Remakes/Quality Control issues can be tracked by customer, case, work center, item, technician, date toward the goals of correction and resolution.
• Activity Logs can be used to record and track issues reported by customers or internally by your staff along with their resolutions.
• Case Histories provide a complete picture of all that is involved in production, completion and quality control of the work involved with dental prescriptions.

Q:  How many versions of DQB do you offer?

A:  Essentially, there are two versions of DQB:  the Starter and the Standard.  The Starter is a subset of the Standard and is limited to one station but can be upgraded.  Within the Standard version, there are options for number of users and then the supplements for applications such as image scanning and barcoded tracking. 

For several very large labs and corporate groups, we have created custom versions due to their special requirements such as around-the-clock production, shorter intervals for scheduling, language and currency requirements, work guarantees, production standards, multiple locations, labor payment, commissions, communication between multiple locations, marketing features.  

Letting the Doctors Know the Status of Their Cases

Within the broad range of DQB users, there are a variety of ways that labs let the doctors know the status of their cases.   Here are some of them, with their pros and cons:

Some simply respond to calls from the dental offices.  In some of the larger labs, the task of responding to calls is assigned to a specific person.   In the smaller labs, this is done at intervals in between getting the work done.  The Find features of DentaLab provide for very fast lookups in a myriad of ways.  The pros of this method involve having the opportunity to speak directly to the doctors and/or their staffs, have them get to know you and hopefully like what you have to say.   The cons involve the expensiveness and interruptions to other work that must get done.

Some print and fax or email case-related reports for the doctor in response to specific requests such as cases shipped yesterday or today.   These involve some time and labor-related expenses, but can be generated quickly.

Automated email notifications provide a way to setup specific intervals such as times and days of the week for specific customers to have the system generate and send via email a report on cases received and in progress plus cases recently shipped.   This method involves licensing the Notifications supplement, some up-front work to collect email addresses and setup the schedules, but then it runs automatically with minimal time and expense via your Internet connections.

DentalRx provides a way to not only have the dental offices do the majority of the case entry work by submitting their prescriptions, but also a way for them to check on the status of their cases whenever they wish via the Internet.  This method involved licensing DentalRx, having your system setup to be web host with security certification, and working with your customers to setup authorization codes along with a small amount of training to use the system.  

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