July 2022

The summer months 

For many this is a time for summer vacations and/or slowing down. If you would like to take some time during this slowdown to review your system, to make sure it is secure and up to date, and/or add any enhancements you've been thinking about, let us know and we will schedule a session. 

In addition to discussions, we can include a personal interactive webinar and/or a remote session to review whatever parts of your system you would like.

We have been pleased to hear from personnel in several labs that they are working toward learning more by taking advantage of our educational white papers, newsletters, and the blog and knowledge base on our website.

Important reminder of July 15 deadline for those using QuickBooks Online

Earlier this year Intuit sent notices to those using QuickBooks Online requesting app information and assessment.   This questionnaire will require a response before July 15, 2022. It ties in with Intuit's increased security measures.

We have already set up a template for those synchronizing QBOE with DentaLab for QuickBooks and responded to the questionnaire on behalf of our custom QuickBooks users and some of the dental labs.  If you have not already taken care of this, please be in touch this week if you would like our help to meet the deadline. 

The QuickBooks desktop subscriptions

QuickBooks Enterprise has required a subscription for a number of years but 2022 was the first year for the Pro and Premier versions.  We subscribed to the Pro Plus 2022 version for our own accounting and payment processing.  Its cost of $284 per year equates to about $24/month and this includes ongoing tech support and a steady beat of educational communications as well as updates. It also provides an option to be web-hosted by Right Networks. 

Because so many of their longtime users much prefer the desktop versions, Intuit has been bringing some of the QB Online features to the desktop versions such as receipt entries from mobile devices and automatic backups.   While in QB, you can press F1 to access more information on the features and updates.    There is a strong trend in the software industry toward subscription-only offerings.  There are a number of reasons for this such as: 

• When software is not kept up-to-date, it becomes difficult and expensive to resolve technical issues.  Subscriptions can automatically update the software. 
• The high level of malware and scams on the internet requires continual efforts to develop and implement security measures.  
• Novice users often do not understand the importance of keeping all the software and hardware components of a system technically compatible.  
  

To answer your questions....

Q: Is there a way to export some of our DQB price levels to an Excel worksheet so that we can plan upcoming changes? 

A: Yes, most of the reports/queries in DQB can be saved to Excel as well a number of other industry-standard formats.  When the report has been generated and displayed, at the top of the screen will be a Save button.  Click this and then choose the format you wish.   For price levels, the list report is in the Basic Lists menu under Print Lists. 

Note also that the DQB Case List has a specific button to Save to Excel.  You first choose your criteria, then generate the report and save to Excel.

Q:  On one of our stations we frequently encounter insufficient memory messages.  What causes these? 

A: Essentially this means you do not have enough computer memory resources to handle the action you are requesting.  For pinpointing this on one station, it would be good to go to the Control Panel and review your system to determine whether there is sufficient memory and if not, determine if it can be expanded. 

In addition, it would be good to review the work habits of the person or persons who most frequently use that station to see if they have a lot of open programs and/or open windows within programs.   Although the Windows operating system is designed to handle multiple open windows, it is a good idea to not have too many screens open concurrently.   Doing this can also cause timeouts when records are kept open and locked.

The Windows Task Manager, typically available by clicking the bottom task bar, can be very useful in determining what is running along with the resources it is using.

Q:  Do we need to have the same number of licenses for QuickBooks as we do for DentaLab? 

A: No.  Most labs have just one or two licenses for QuickBooks.  It can depend on how many of your applications such as accounts payable, payroll, inventory and purchases orders you are doing in QuickBooks.  Essentially it is the sales and accounts receivable applications within QuickBooks that are affected by DentaLab. 

For DentaLab for QuickBooks synchronization, QuickBooks needs to be available during invoicing and occasionally to add/edit customers, employees and items.    If generating QuickBooks purchase orders for cases sent to outsource points, also include vendors. 

Limiting permissions involving finances

Both QuickBooks and DQB provide ways for you to limit who has permission access financial records. 

With QuickBooks, the administrator can setup security measures for both general access and to specific areas within the software. 

For the QuickBooks tables involving synchronization with DQB, we recommend that you limit who can work with the customers, employees, items and prices, and vendors to one or two trusted employees. 

Within DQB, it is in Options/Users and Security that you will find indicators the administrator can set for each user to restrict access to financial analysis reports and not allow deletion of invoices.  

In DQB Options/User Roles, you can also create highly detailed user roles to limit access to specific menu options such as credit memos, invoices, invoice history, price levels, and various reports/queries.

Understanding DQB price levels

In DQB Basic Lists-Price Levels you can setup custom pricing by item or by percent and then assign the level to one or more customers.  Here are the basics:

• Each price level needs to have a unique name assigned. We recommend that the name be appropriate for easy identity. 
  
• You can edit these as needed and have the option to change by percent. 
• You can begin a new price level by copying an existing one, then editing its name and contents. 
• If creating QuickBooks purchase orders for cases, you can also assign price levels to vendors.  
• If a price level is no longer applicable, you can mark it as inactive.
  

When creating an invoice from a DQB case, the program first looks to see if the customer has been assigned a price level.  If it has, the price level will automatically determine the prices to be used.   

If the customer has not been assigned a price level or if the invoice item is not included in an assigned price level, the price set up for the item in QuickBooks is used. 

Here are some basic rules about pricing to remember:  

• The prices from QuickBooks and from DQB Price Levels will be initially transferred to the invoice screen, but can be overwritten for special circumstances.  
• When you change a price in QuickBooks or in DQB Basic Lists-Price Levels, it is applied to subsequent invoice transactions but is not retroactive to prior ones.  
• For discounts and adjustments, you can use a negative price and line amount within an invoice, but the end total must be positive.  If it is not positive, use a credit memo.
• DQB price levels are only applied to transactions created in DQB and not to those initially created in QuickBooks. 
  

In DQB Basic Lists-Print Lists, you can display/print all or selected DQB price levels.  Labs sometimes provide these lists to their customers.  They also use these as worksheets to plan price changes.  If you wish, the print list can be saved to an Excel worksheet   

This topic is covered in full in the Blog section of our website: www.mainstreetsystems.net

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