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June 2017

DentaLab NewsJune 2017
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

Planning for the summer months

We checked the calendar and learned that July 4th falls on a Tuesday this year for observance of the USA Independence Day.  We will close the offices on July 4 but will check email and voicemail for those from other countries. 

For those using the web-based features of QuickBooks such as payment processing, payroll and transaction documents, Intuit has become stern in its requirement that you keep your software relatively up-to-date.   Those with versions at 2014 and earlier have had to update to 2017 to continue to use the web-based features.  This past month we have helped a number of labs make the transition to QuickBooks 2017.

Those who have had experience with computer hardware and software know that it is very wise to keep their systems up-to-date.   This assures the availability of knowledgeable technical support and avoids major learning curves by taking progress in small easy steps.  Because of the increased need for security measures for internet transmissions, it also assures a higher level of protection.    We encourage anyone who has neglected their software and equipment to take advantage of the slower summer months to review and then install the updates.   For those who would like our technical support, we urge you to schedule your session in advance.

Trends we are seeing this year

Because software needs to be dynamic and able to adjust to changes, we are continually mindful of the ways labs and information systems are adapting.   Here is what we are seeing so far in 2017:

Labs owned by dentists:  Dental offices are increasing their ownership in labs.   Some want to control the quality and cost of the lab work  Others see an opportunity to take advantage of digital technology to increase their revenue.   We see that they are mostly eager to serve their own dentists and not grow into a large corporate entity.

Web portals:  The interest in having a web portal between the lab and the dental office is increasing.  This has been primarily for submitting prescriptions and digital files and then looking up the status of cases. Our offering for this has been DentalRx either in the lab's existing website or a newly developed site.  

Hybrid IT:   A number of labs have become concerned about having the availability of their information controlled by a software-as-a-service company, of having to rely totally on the availability and speed of internet service.  After increasingly slow transmissions, one lab found that the information they could extract to transfer to another software was very limited.    This has been true not only for dental labs but for businesses in general and has resulted in the growth of hybrid systems in which the core data remains in the control of the business but certain functions and information are made available via the internet to their customers.  Our  internet offerings include:

  • MyQuickCloud for secured remote access
  • Teamviewer for tech support
  • DentalRx for dental office-lab communication, digital transfers
  • Email Notifications
  • Storing emails by case or customer
  • Shipment tracking 
  • Amazon Web Services for hosting
  • From QuickBooks:  Payment processing, payroll, bank transfers, transaction document storage

Use of tablets:   Tablets provide a handy size device for limited entry of information and reviewing reports and content.   The touch technology adds to the ease of using a tablet.   Our offering for this has been the DQBT Tablet Workflow App.   Currently this includes case item assignments by technician and/or work center, marking starts, pauses, restarts and finishes for case items by technician, the ability to work with auxiliary information such as case communications, case plans, preferences, images, tech notes, action required messages.   For managers, there is analysis of case item counts and timings.  

We plan on further development in these areas and are open to your suggestions.

Digital Dentistry:    We have been receiving more requests from labs on how to deal with storage and access of the digital files that are part of this new trend in dentistry.  Within the DQB offerings, we have DentalRx for transmitting digital files and the Images Supplement to store, index and access them by case.  See below for our special offers for these.

Dealing with digital files

As digital dentistry grows, the dental offices are creating photographs and CAD/CAM files to be used in the design and development of each prosthetic.

The solution for those with DentaLab for QuickBooks is to add  the very affordable Images Supplement along with a scanner and/or USB camera to revolutionize their entire document storage and retrieval processes.  In addition, having DentalRx included in your website provides a very convenient way for the dental office to transmit digital documents and files for each case.

With this digital document management solution, images and documents are automatically indexed and stored  so that you can access them within seconds. You can rapidly respond to queries and provide better customer service while streamlining the lab’s operations and saving costs.

To help you ease your way into digital dentistry, we are offering a 20% discount on the DQB Images Supplement, bringing the license fee down from $400 to $320, and DentalRx for your own website, reducing the $1600 fee to $1280.   These special offers will be in effect until July 31, 2017.

 

  Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

To answer your questions....

Q: We accidentally setup two QuickBooks records for one of our customers.  We now have their cases in the lab and it is not clear which of the two records has been used.  How do we untangle this?

A:  In QuickBooks, make one of customer names slightly different to distinguish the two records.  After your next synchronization with DQB the changed QB information will be transferred to DQB.  Determine which customer record you want to continue.  Then from the case list or the customer center, lookup the cases for each customer name. For the cases that used the customer name you do not want to continue, go into the case record and at the top of the screen, change the doctor to the one you want to continue.   When finished, go to QB and set the customer record that is not to continue to inactive.   The next synchronization will let DQB know not to include this name in the customer selection lists.

Q: We are now using the DQBT tablet workflow app to track the technician and timing on each step in our case production.   We can check each case to see this information but would like more statistics on the items completed by each technician.   We have not licensed Technician Productivity so we cannot access this set of reports.   Is there any other way to get this information?

A:  Yes, from the Cases menu, you can choose Case Items Completed, then select a date range, one or all technicians, detailed or summary to generate reports with this information. 

   With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

DQB additions that quickly pay for themselves

Images supplement

We have stuck with original name of Images for this supplement but if we were creating it today it would likely be called Digital Documents.   This has been the most popular of all the DQB supplements.   With it, you can scan documents associated with a case and then easily and quickly access them in all the ways you can access a case.  You can also use it to access and store digital files sent by the dental offices via the internet for the case and you can use a camera to capture and store photographs.

The standard license fee for this supplement is $400.  See above for a special limited time offer on this.  

Website with portal for dental offices

Having your own website with your own marketing messages is one of the most cost-effective investments you can make.  It can be viewed as a very low-cost employee that works 7/24 for your business.

Now as this industry gradually marches into more and more digital technology, your website can do double duty also serving as a web portal for your customers to submit their prescriptions, send digital documents, look up the status of their cases, request pickups and let you know their preferences.  Here are more details on the fundamental features:

  • Home Page with main message and photos and navigation to other pages
  • About Us for background information on the lab
  • Our Services to list lab's offerings and capabilities with online portal to submit and lookup case information
  • Contact Information including Google map/directions, ability to send message

The upfront fee will be $360 to cover the costs to setup each lab's individual site.  A monthly fee of $70 will cover the cost of licensing of the web portals and the hosting of the website.  If a lab wishes to go beyond the standard template to add more pages, customization or dynamic features such as events and blogs, Mainstreet would be open to providing these expansions for additional fees.

Notifications supplement

This provides for establishing schedules and then assigning them to customers to send email notification reports on cases received and recently shipped.  It also provides for including shipment tracking numbers and marketing messages.  This provides a very worthwhile service for your customers that costs very little to setup and maintain.  It can reduce the number of phone inquiries to the lab on the status of cases and shipments.   It will involve requesting email addresses from your customers.

The license fee for this supplement is $400. 

 

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Customization is available for all products.

Contact us at 1-800-257-4535 or www.mainstreet-systems.com.

"I really love working with QuickBooks. Won't you consider adding lab production to this?

Ed Riccobono
NuLife/Brooklyn
New York, USA


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