September 2008

Come to Pennsylvania

On Saturday, October 18, there will be training, workshops, and an idea exchange for DentaLab for QuickBooks at our new offices in the Village of Lederach beginning at 9 AM. Here is the agenda:

Morning: Basic Training plus Supplements (Image Scanning, Email Notifications, Barcoding, Technician Productivity)

Lunch: We will provide lunch.

Afternoon: Workshops on Materials Disclosures, DentalRx, Product Costing

Followed By: Idea Exchange and Mini User Group Meeting

Fees: With support agreement $150 per person. Without support agreement $220 per person.

This is typically a beautiful time of year in Pennsylvania. If you would like to do extra sight-seeing, we are midway between historic Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Dutch country and in easy travel distance to Valley Forge, Bucks County, Lancaster and Gettysburg. The closest airport is Philadelphia International, but Allentown PA, Harrisburg PA and Newark NJ are just a little further.

This session will be limited to 10 persons. Please contact us to reserve a spot.

For Those Still Using Legacy Systems

There are still quite a few labs using our legacy DOS-based and early Windows-based DentaLab systems. We particularly urge you to consider coming on October 18 to see more about DentaLab for QuickBooks. When we first offered this system, we thought it would be a side product but it very quickly became the #1 selling system in the industry due to its simplicity, reliability, flexbility and now, through a lot of user group input, a very comprehensive system rivaling those costing tens of thousands of dollars more.

Although our old Novell network that supported these legacy systems died (after 19 years!), we managed to salvage one single station to move to our new offices. How long this will last we can not predict, but we do know a reliable replacement can no longer be bought. To assure good continuity and the ability to convert your critical datafiles, we urge you to come in and see just how easy the transition can be. You can also see a preview at our website: www.mainstreet-systems.com.

If your schedule does not allow you to come to the group session on October 18, we can also arrange for private training at another time.

No Matter How Good It Is

They say no matter how good your health is, how well you watch your diet, exercise and do things right, the statistics are that something will try to do you in: a fall, an auto accident, someone else's actions, a natural disaster, time and change. The same is true for your computer system. No matter how well everything is running right now, you need to be prepared for both disaster and for change.

One measure that is very important is to have your computer records as complete as possible, reflecting all that is known about your customers, your services and your transactions. A second measure it to have really good reliable backups, preferably with one copy kept locally and one at a distance, and know the steps needed to restore your programs and data.

And most importantly, you should be keeping your system up-to-date and well-supported, knowing who you can contact to help you get past any problems that can occur. In the course of our work here, we help labs in a great variety of ways: when they need to replace or update their equipment, when their personnel change, when they forget to do what is needed or simply goof up, when natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and even roof leaks occur, when the person who usually runs the computer becomes disabled or needs to be away, when their business changes, when technology moves on, when government compliance is needed, and much more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: If I want to learn more about a specific DQB topic, what is the best way to do this?

A: One of the best ways is to use the Help features built into DQB, which are available by clicking Help from the top taskbar or from Options (in the lower right quadrant). Most topics will be in the Table of Contents near the front of the Help manual. If you find your topic here, you can just click the blue link to it. Another way is to click Edit and then Search from the top task bar of the manual. Enter your topic such as Case Type and then click Search to find all the instances of this in the manual. You can also select options for Whole Words only and Case-Sensitive (must match upper/lower case in your entry). Clicking Advanced Search will lead to more options such as Exact Word or Phrase, Any of the Words. Other options include calling your support team and/or coming in for one of our training/workshop sessions, where you can also ask your questions in person.

Q: Your earlier systems had "tasks" to cover the work to be done by technicians. Is this still available in DQB?

A: Yes, of course. Because we are synchronizing with QuickBooks, these are called items. In DQB, you can designate which items are technician (labor-related), which are billable, and which have schedule factors. Typically a "task" will be designated as technician and have a non-zero schedule factor. If you wish, it can also be billable. We recommend you set up standard procedures for all your commonly requested work so that the pattern of work centers and tasks/items provides a good starting point for case entry, saving time and assuring completeness and accuracy.

Q: What is the best way to handle group practices and organizations that have multiple doctors?

A: There are now two ways to do this: One is to set up a customer in QuickBooks for each doctor and then setup a QB Type that designates the group or organization of which they are a part, such as Family Dental or Columbia University. You can then request reports and statements by Type in QuickBooks, as well as by individual customers. A second way, which works if there is just one bill-to account for all the doctors in the group, is to setup one QuickBooks customer for the bill-to and then separate jobs within the customer for each doctor. To use this method with DQB, each job must then be assigned a ship-to address in QuickBooks. See the documentation on release 1.16 for further details on this method.

Online Prescriptions

One of the hot topics that has garnered a lot of interest has been online prescriptions that can be entered via the internet at the dental office and transmitted to the lab. When we consulted with dentists on these possibilities, they told us it would be ideal to choose from the services available at a lab and have the case entered directly into the lab's computer for both speed and accuracy. They also told us that they are most familiar with the dental procedure codes they use for insurance purposes, which in the USA would be the ADA codes, and would like to select from these if possible.

The dentists also told us that they did not want to have to repeat again and again to a lab the preferences for how they like their work done and it would save time not to have to play telephone tag to request case pickups.

We looked at other attempts in the industry to satisfy some of these needs. One computer system provided for the doctor to fill out a prescription online that looked just like the paper ones they have traditionally used. This provided for typed directions which were easier to read than hand-written ones. Some labs created PDF prescriptions outlining their services and choices that could be downloaded and printed at the dental office for easier entry and check-off. These were definitely a step in the right direction toward accuracy and readability, but still required re-entry into the lab's computer system.

All of this research and observation led to the development of DentalRx so that a dentist could not only enter a prescription online, but also select from the lab's standard procedures to have it transferred directly into DQB case records. A printed prescription can also be generated to be signed and sent with case materials to the lab. At any time, the dental office can check on their cases sent to the lab by request date, ship date, patient name or status.

In addition, the dental office can review and edit their preferences, request pickups and send messages. We've had lots of further questions on this topic, including ones on digital signatures, sending graphic images, security and privacy, setting up procedures and lots more. Call us with your questions and/or come to the October 18 training and workshops, where this will be covered.

The October Release

The October release known as 1.16 is in its final stages of completion. We thank these user group members for their excellent suggestions: Crane Dental Lab in New York; Killian Dental Lab in California, Metal Craft Lab in New York, Orthoplant in New South Wales, Australia; Rogers Dental Lab in Tennessee. Here's the list:

• Items Report
• New format
• Expanded to include new fields associated with item
• Total count of items at end of report

Product Costing
Knowing the cost of producing a product or service is essential to any business. This knowledge can become critical if faced with competitive pricing or with opportunities for new business based on meeting price requirements. Cost analysis is an important part of maximizing profits. At times it may uncover ways to reduce costs.

• Estimate production costs
• Allows for price experimentation, potential profits
• Easy to understand samples included to get you started
• Clear and comprehensive reports
• Integrate with QuickBooks, DentaLab for QuickBooks, or create your own entries

Available now at a special introductory price.

Call 1-800-257-4535 or visit www.mainstreet-systems.com to learn more about Mainstreet Systems and our software designed specifically for dental laboratories.