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December 2011

DentaLab NewsDecember 2011
from Mainstreet Systems & Software

FAQ  DentaLab News

 

A Month of Good Tidings

We are pleased to report to you that the new connector between QuickBooks and DentaLab for QuickBooks has produced wonderful results in several ways:

  • The speed of synchronization is about 400% faster on the first synchronization after installation of DQB 1.28, but then on subsequent rounds even speedier.
  • This connector provides for synchronizing more QuickBooks fields than the set provided by the IBIZ connector we had previously been using.
  • We have been able to take care of some data quirks that QuickBooks had been allowing such as an empty customer name.

This enhancement was a major in-house development project that had an effect on many aspects of DQB.  For our in-house test and training systems, synchronization is now just a blink of the eye.   On behalf of everyone in the user group, we thank those who were the brave pioneers and beta testers in these labs:   Dental Effects, Elite, Hennessy, Mesa.

Our next development project slated for the January release has also been a major one and is nearing completion of the alpha-testing stage.   This is for an enhanced Customer Center that will give you an option to focus on one customer at a time to review all aspects of their relationship with you and another option to focus on a small date range to review activity logs, alerts, cases and case communications for all customers.

We are hoping to have this work mostly done before the holidays and the end-of-year flurry of new implementations.   We have asked those who have told us they want to  be up and running with a new system or new modules by the start of the new year to not wait until the last week of the year and we hope they will remember to do this amidst the busy holiday season.

Here is our holiday schedule when our offices will be closed:

A long Christmas weekend:  December 23 through December 26

New Year's Day celebrated: January 2, Monday

We will be checking voicemail and email when closed but hope that you all will be taking a much-needed break too.   Here's wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season!

 

  Easy, versatile software for the modern dental laboratory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  Are there year-end procedures we have to be doing?

A:  This question comes up every December, particularly from those who have converted from a legacy system during the year.   The answer is:  No, there are no longer year-end procedures that must be done as there is a continuum in the system and you can at any time request whatever date range you wish to review.    There are no data files to be reinitialized for a new calendar year.

You may want, however, for  your own analysis, to generate financial reports from QuickBooks for the year such as Profit and Loss, a Balance Sheet or any from the Sales Analysis sets in both DentaLab and QuickBooks.   If your fiscal year is the same as the calendar year, your accountant may be requesting that you provide the records needed for your government tax reporting forms once the year ends. 

Q:  Do you have a list of the most common operational errors that other labs commit so that we can avoid them?

A:  We do not have an all-encompassing list, but here are some of the ones we see from our support calls:

  • Failing to pay attention to data backups, forgetting to do them, not checking to see that they are working.
  • Not setting up or not abiding by security precautions regarding administrative rights, logins and passwords.
  • Not taking the time to tackle and/or being afraid of even small learning curves to handle case management and accounting properly.
  • Letting their software and hardware become very out-of-date and difficult to support and maintain or coordinate with newer offerings.
   With the same look and feel of QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Drilldowns

One of the reasons QuickBooks has been and continues to be the #1 software for accounting and financial management in the world is that it can be used in very simple ways by novices but then as users learn and become more expert, it also provides more capabilities and the support they need.

One of the expert facilities that is available is called the drilldown.   This means when there is information in a query or report about a specific table or transaction, you can highlight that piece of information and do a drilldown to see more details.   As a sample, if working with the customer balance detail report on your screen, you can select one of the payments, double-click it and then see exactly how that payment was applied with exact details on the dates, invoice numbers, amounts.

There are many more of these drilldowns through the system.   Whenever you need to research the details, to retrace your steps, to see the history, give the drilldowns a try.


Business Process Consultation

Our standard software offerings help many labs of all sizes to run their production processes more accurately and efficiently as well as their accounting, information and financial systems.   But we know that some of you have unique outlooks and approaches to running your labs.   Whenever software is needed to support your activities, we can offer our consultation services to:

>>Help you  with utilizing DQB in the best and most efficient possible way

>>If your needs go beyond on DQB, we can help to design and develop software customization for your individual needs

Through the years, we have helped many labs of all sizes to run their businesses more successfully, sometimes in small ways, others times in a more comprehensive way.  Give us a call if you would like to begin a discussion of the possibilities.

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.mainstreet-systems.com.

"Your software and support have been great through the years. I have nothing but great things to say about you guys!"

Jeff Thomas, CDT
Aesthetic Arts
Louisiana


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