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December 2022

DentaLab NewsDecember 2022
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

Our warm wishes for a relaxing enjoyable holiday season!

We all hope you will be able to take a relaxing break from your work and celebrate this special season.  For us, we will be closing the tech support office on these workdays: 

  • Friday December 23 
  • Monday December 26
  • Friday December 30
  • Monday January 2   

Some important reminders this month

If you have not done this already, remember to enter your dates for holidays and other non-workdays for 2023 in DQB Options/Holidays.  

Western Pennsylvania has already had heavy snowfalls, reminding us to become mindful of the possibility of heavy snow and ice on the roads and power outages.  We are set up to work from home and also have a standby generator for one of our offices so that we can continue to provide support via the phone and Internet.  When looking at the national weather maps, we are located in southeast Pennsylvania, northwest of Philadelphia.   Should you need support during severe conditions, it is always wise to leave both a phone and email message that includes your full contact information and your issue. 

If you encounter an error message for which you need support and the message includes a button at the bottom to Send to Mainstreet, be sure to click this.  This sends the technical details to our weblog. If you wish to have support, call or email in addition to sending the technical details to the weblog. 

Although other accounting and case management software systems often require year-end closings and other procedures, both QuickBooks and DentaLab for QuickBooks do not. This is essentially because both are date driven, allowing you to specify the date range you want to see in your queries and reports. 

Some of the DQB service agreement levels, not having had an increase for a number of years, will be bumped up for 2023.  With your invoice this month will be the 2023 flyer that outlines the support agreements and our contact information. It is a good idea to post this where it is easily accessible for your computer users.        

A review of QuickBooks versions and pricing

DentaLab for QuickBooks (DQB) and its connector program have traditionally been compatible with all versions of QuickBooks.  Each time there is a new version, our programmers make whatever adaptations are needed. 

As most of you are aware, Intuit like most of the major providers has moved to a business model of subscription only licensing.  Starting in 2022, the traditional desktop licenses were no longer available.   Because so many businesses prefer the desktop versions, there was a run on whatever inventory of prior year versions was available and these sold out quickly.   In 2022, Intuit handed over distribution of the 2022 Pro Plus and Premier Plus to major vendors such as Amazon and Staples.   In 2023, recognizing that a large percentage of its customer base prefers the desktop, Intuit now has on its website Desktop Premier Plus and Enterprise versions.   Here are the currently advertised starting prices for one-year subscriptions to these.   Note that currently the QB website is offering a 30% discount on these.   

  • QB Desktop Premier Plus  $799/year, $300/year additional user up to 5.   Note that in monthly costs, this equates to about $66/month, $25 per additional user
  • QB Enterprise Gold $1392/year, $300/year additional user up to 30.   Note that in monthly costs, this equates to about $116/month, $25 per additional user   

Note that if you purchased QB Pro Plus 2022 from another vendor, the 2023 annual fee is $599.  This equates to about $50/month. 

The QB fees include many additional services (see the charts on Intuit's website) such as online backups, priority service, customer support, custom security roles (like those in DQB standard), payroll services.  Remote options are also available.  The longtime reliability and excellence of this software makes either choice a bargain. 

For those who prefer an online version,  Intuit offers two choices that are compatible with DQB.  

  • QBOE Plus base price is $25.50/month  Maximum number of users is 5.   
  • QBOE Advanced base price is $65.00/month.  Maximum number of users is 25. 

Several things to note:  

  • Intuit often offers specials with discounted pricing.  It is best to check their website for up-to-date information.  
  • The customer support Intuit is including in its fees includes ongoing educational resources for your staff.
  • The number of users you need for QuickBooks is typically not the same as those needed for case management in DQB (unless the count is 1).  For example, one of our largest labs managing over 500 cases/day needs only 2 QB users.
  • The number of case fields you can transfer to the QB invoice varies by version. DQB provides for choosing up to 7 in coordination with QB Pro.  The versions of QBOE below Advanced are limited to 3.
  • Whenever you are working with software subscriptions, it is wise to generate and store on a timely basis the reports you may need for reporting to the government, taxing authorities and other financial institutions.
  • Intuit offers more generous options than most other vendors for access to your history records should you cancel your subscription.  Be sure to review the rules and terms for this possibility. 
  • Having worked with many versions for both DQB and our custom development projects, our favorite is QB Enterprise, second choice QBOE Advanced.

 

 

    Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

To answer your questions....

Q:  Do we need to start automatic scheduling for a case on the day we receive it? 

A: No, in DQB Options/Case Settings in the Dates tab, you can specify that you want to have the Start Date set to the next working day.   The program will check your Holidays and Saturday/Sunday settings when determining the next workday.   The program will set the Start Date, but you can also select another one whenever you wish. 

Q: How much extra effort is involved on our part if we offer Lab Lookup to our customers? 

A: Initially, the administrator for your lab will need to review the settings and determine the choices.   During the installation process, our tech support provides guidance on this.   If you wish to have a link for Lab Lookup added to your website, you can request coordination for this.

Next, for each customer to be authorized for this service, you can offer a guide on the capabilities and how to register.  We provide a template for you to customize this for your lab. 

To complete the registration for each customer, your administrator will need to select and confirm the QB/DQB customer record to be used for case lookups. 

Should you wish to remove authorization for a customer, this can be accomplished by the administrator.

Q: We have been using the case alerts to enter notes on cases needing special attention.  Is there a way to also search for these in the Case List? 

A: We would recommend that you set up in Options/Custom Fields one of the 10 custom fields available for cases as your standard to designate and make entries for these.  Give it an appropriate name such as Attention.  You can request that it be shown in case entry.    Then in the action menu for the Case List, you can use the Customize Columns to display the custom field.  Combined with a selected date range in the criteria section, you can click on the column header for the custom field to find the cases with entries needing attention.  

In DQB the Case List is most often used to search for and then select a case for further review and/or editing.    It can, however, be a powerful tool for pinpointing issues, improving your workflow, providing superb customer service and many other management functions.  You can request a copy of our white paper Mastering the Case List for guidance and examples.


      With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

Web-based services included in your DQB support agreement

For each of these web-based services, the initial security setup requires an additional fee but the ongoing service is included in your DQB service agreement:

Advanced Backup Protocol

This provides for a variety of automatic backup methods both local and online with a choice of encryption methods for security, your choice of schedules and backup media and sites. 

DentalRx Direct

This provides for a secure web portal for your customers to submit prescriptions, transmit digital files, lookup cases, request pickups, record preferences and other communications. 

Lab Lookup

This provides for a secure web portal for your customers to lookup current and history cases, send messages.  For group practices, you can provide for lookups by staff members for all doctors in the same session. 

You can request customization for each of these services.  Call or email if you have questions or would like further details.

Customization vs. Personalization

In software systems that serve a wide audience and a variety of business models such as QuickBooks and DentaLab for QuickBooks (DQB), there are typically ways to personalize and adapt the software for your specific business.   In the desktop versions of QuickBooks you can edit a variety of preferences and create selection lists for your entries.   In online versions designed for remote and mobile use, it is typically an icon resembling a gear that leads you to the settings.

In addition, DQB provides many ways to personalize your software such as:

  • In Options, then Settings by category where you can indicate your choices.  Many of these have a default or startup setting for the most popular choice but you can select another. 
  • In Options/Custom Fields you can add up to 10 custom fields each for cases, customers and items. 
  • In Options/Invoice Settings you can indicate which case fields you want transferred as custom fields for the QB invoice.   
  • In Basic Lists that you create your personalized selection lists for various fields related to case management.   The basic customer and item information already set up in QuickBooks is synchronized into DQB, where you can add more specific information for your case management.  For a number of these there are sample entries already available when you first install the software to help get you started.  You can choose to use these samples, overwrite them or delete them. 

In addition to these personalization features already built into DQB, you can also request customizations for your unique needs. The most frequent customization requests we receive are for the forms such as invoices, labels and work tickets.  Next in frequency have been for the requests for customizing the DentalRx web portal.  

It is wise to review from time to time all of the features in both QuickBooks and DQB that provide for personalizing your business.   Because many of the options provide for additional convenience and automatic time-saving actions based on requests by those using the software, it is also a good idea to review the documentation that comes with each new release.   You may find some very worthwhile new features for yourself.

If you wish to be removed, reply to this email with the subject "unsubscribe".

     

Customization is available for all products.

Contact us at 1-800-257-4535 or www.mainstreetsystems.net

"You are doing a really great thing, working with QuickBooks."

Kimberly Vasquez
Vision Dental Arts
Montana, USA


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