October 2019

In October...

The quarterly DQB release for October is ready and has been posted in the Support/Quarterly Releases section of our website:  www.mainstreetsystems.net

This release includes a number of enhancements for DQB and DentalRx based on requests from our users.  Our thanks to all of you for helping to keep this software dynamic and responsive. The full list is available adjacent to the download link for the update.   Those who have an up-to-date service agreement can call for the current authorization codes when ready to download the release.

Our development work this quarter also included completion of the DQB version that synchronizes with the QuickBooks Online editions (QBOE).

Saving in a number of ways

The DQB Notifications supplement has been a proven way to provide a great customer service at a very affordable cost.  What's more, it can save time and money by having less telephone interruptions for you and your staff.   Essentially there are two reports sent to your designated customers, one with cases received and underway in the lab and another with cases recently shipped. These are sent via email on one or more schedules that you assign to specific customers. 

You can also include shipment tracking if you use one or more of the services such as FedEx and UPS that provide online links. You can setup your own message format and add any marketing messages that you would like.  

This supplement also has a feature for internal emails for yourself and/or your management with case related reports such as work in progress and shipments.  Again, you set up the schedules, the email addresses to receive the reports, which reports you want to be sent. You can also request that Mainstreet develop custom reports for your special requirements. 

Those receiving the reports can use any devices capable of receiving emails such as smartphones, which can come in handy when there is not ready access to a computer. This month we are offering a 20% saving on this supplement, which reduces the standard one-time license fee of $400 to $320 USD.  This offer will remain in effect until October 31, 2019.

Looking ahead to November

In November we will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 28 and 29, to celebrate the USA Thanksgiving. 

Since the holidays vary from year to year, you will need to start entering your 2020 non-workdays in your holiday table soon in anticipation for cases that will be scheduled into the new year. 

Be mindful also that a number of Microsoft products and services will no longer have support as of January 2020.  When support is deprecated, this means no further updates for security and reliability as well as the end of tech support.   We recommend that you work with us and your local IT service to assure that all the components of your computer information system continue to have support.

To answer your questions....

Q: We sometimes want to add a long specification to the item description in an invoice or packing slip.  How long can it be?

A: You have up to 4095 characters for the item description.   This is the maximum set by QuickBooks so it is also the maximum in DQB.   

Q: Occasionally we get a requested return date for a case that is a day we are closed.  Is this checked against our holiday table?

A: No, the holiday table is one of the factors used in the algorithms for automatic scheduling of cases but it is not used to monitor the request date.  If the dental office has requested a date that you are closed, consider the way the case is being shipped and also the request time.  If the delivery service operates on the request date, it is possible to meet the request date if the requested time can also be met.  Also consider having it delivered one or two days earlier.

We now have in DentalRx an option to place a reminder message adjacent to the doctor's request date that provides your work schedule. 

If you provide a local delivery service, it is also a good idea to enter into the DQB customer record the work schedule for the dental office.   This information is included in the pickup/delivery reports and the local driver app.

Q: We want to start tracking inventory in QuickBooks for some of our items, but do not see Inventory listed in the features.  Can you help with this?

A: All of the QuickBooks desktop versions provide for inventory but you need to go to Edit/Preferences for Inventory and Purchase Orders and check it on.  If you want to use Unit of Measure (UM), you need to enable this.   

When entering the items you want to track, set the Type field to Inventory or Inventory Part.  Whenever one of these inventory items is included in a case invoice, it will deplete the quantity on hand.  You can use the Purchase Order features to track the quantities ordered and received as well as the costs.

In the progression from QuickBooks Pro to Premier to Enterprise, the number of inventory features and capabilities increases.  The online editions of QuickBooks recently added basic inventory features.

Working with digital files

From a number of labs in our user group we are hearing about the progressive stages of working with digital files and documents.  The combination of DQB and DentalRx provides many choices for you:

The DentalRx web portal that is provided as part of your service agreements is one of the easiest ways to receive these and store them as part of the case record. 

The search capabilities for finding a case provide a myriad of ways to locate a case with all of its information and associated digital files.  The automatic backup protocols can provide extra security for storing and retrieving these.

Some of those who do not yet have digital capabilities have created alliances with those who do.   Each of these outsource locations can be setup as a work center for tracking case production.   DQB provides a simplified outsource order entry process, special work tickets and an easy way to mark completions for outsourced work.

The Images supplement began as a way to scan prescriptions, charts and other case documents and then was expanded to include camera work and digital files and documents sent by the dental office as this technology grew.  It has been the most popular of all the DQB supplements and has been very well liked and useful in the transition to greater use of digital technology.

Standard procedures have always been available in DQB.   They are versatile and flexible for designing cases and have adapted well to scheduling and monitoring the digital workflow. They can be used in conjunction with DentalRx for providing the transition from the doctor's script to workflow in the lab. 

We have worked with many web designers and have also designed websites with custom versions of DentalRx that emphasize the special expertise and capabilities of labs that work with one or more of the digital dental technologies.  If your vendor provides for even further integration with case management, communication, customer service and accounting/financial software such as DentaLab for QuickBooks and DentalRx, you can have their representative contact us to discuss possibilities for you.

For those who count on you

When we hear success stories from our customers, ongoing trust and reliability are some of most important components.  We are pleased that many of them share the credit with us for our part in providing reliable and trustworthy software support for their endeavors.  

This means keeping software up to date with industry standards for internet security, in compliance with government and industry standards for patient privacy and safety, and responsive to changes in dental and dental lab technology.  

We are pleased that we have a strong core of people who use our software and keep us on our toes so that our software, our expertise and our support continue to be top notch. 

We recognize that both traditional and new methods continue to be strong in this industry and provide a variety of choices for handling workflow, productivity, customer service, accounting and other aspects of managing a laboratory.   We want you to count on us to help provide great service to those who count on you.

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