Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

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ray5100
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:32 pm

Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by ray5100 » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:27 pm

Hello again,

I have a question about starting with OD in a scratch practice. We will have marketing mail pieces delivered to homes, two weeks before we open the new office. Telephone will start ringing, and we want to book patients in open dental directly.

We will have a VOIP phone and one workstation computer ready at the house, while we will not have occupancy approval for the office for about one week or so.

Is it okay to start training and booking patients on one desktop workstation only? Can we then transfer the data to the server and network? Will we be losing any data? Any issues to transfer these patients onto the network in our office as soon as inspection clears as we are getting ready to open the practice and start actually see those already booked patients?

Thank you from Ray

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savvy
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:25 pm
Location: Berkeley, California

Re: Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by savvy » Sun Feb 27, 2011 9:40 pm

Hi Ray,
Welcome!
You have chosen a practice management program wisely.
If I understand you correctly, you are basically asking if you can restore your data on another machine.
Absolutely!
When you are ready to run your office network, just backup your "home office" computer using a flash drive and "restore" it on your office server.
Once that has been done, you should only add new info onto your office server.
Then backup your office server daily....or so...and restore onto your "home office" computer.
All in all total backup/restore time for a start-up should be no more than a few minutes.

Cheers!!!
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

ray5100
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:32 pm

Re: Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by ray5100 » Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:19 pm

Hi savvy,

Thank you so much for your reply. Just so I make sure I understand correctly. So we can schedule patients for say a few days or a week on the home computer, and then back that up and restore onto the server in the new office, with maybe a portable hard drive or such; and then back up the office data on the home computer daily.

Sounds good, indeed. Or maybe I can just back up daily on a NAS plugged into the router that can do that. I understand I should take that with me, because in the office it is not safe in case of burglary, fire, water damage, etc.

Why do you say I have chosen the PM program wisely? We are considering OD since December, and now it is time to just do it.

Great news, thank you again from Ray

It sounds OD has a very helpful community :!: very nice

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Rickliftig
Posts: 764
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:50 pm
Location: West Hartford, CT
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Re: Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by Rickliftig » Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:08 am

Ray -

On being a wise dentist: You'll find in your dental journeys (if you haven't already), that there are hundreds of salespeople waiting to make you their best customer. A lot of our dental dollar goes to advertising of new products. The only problem is, there are very few "new" products - most are re-hashes and re-packages of old ideas.

Some of the most interesting dental companies have been started by dentists. Jordan's is one of them. I think that their commonality is that their founders were not happy with the way they were treated by the marketing people and felt that they had a better idea and model.

So you are wise that you have tied a central part of your new office to a stable PM program that will eventually become 'the standard'. Jordan's patience and guerilla marketing is taking hold at a steady pace and by not exploiting traditional advertising, his company is far more profitable than the stalwarts. It would not surprise me if they were sending him buyout offers right and left.

Ultimately, the new gadget will not make you any more profitable than the old gadget. It's your staff, location, communication skills, your willingness to work many hours (don't believe the bs that you can earn a million in two days a week) and the constant honing of your technical skills that will do it. Ultimately, your goal as a dentist should not be to earn more and more, but to have the resources to enjoy both life and work. (IMHO) When your dentistry becomes more 'hobby like' , you are doing well indeed - or you have found an alternate path to monetary wealth! And btw, it's never truly a hobby - working with people who are apprehensive (white knuckled, even) in an area of less than 6 cubic cm. and getting them to pay you for your expertise will always be a challenge!

Best of luck in your new digs.
Another Happy Open Dental User!

Rick Liftig, DMD FAGD
University of CT 1979
West Hartford, CT 06110
srick@snet.net

ray5100
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:32 pm

Re: Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by ray5100 » Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:21 am

Thank you very much for the great post. You are sooo right.

Looking forward to be part of the OD family

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savvy
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 9:25 pm
Location: Berkeley, California

Re: Starting with OD, can we book patients on one computer only?

Post by savvy » Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:41 pm

We're all glad, too.
'Cause the new guy/gal buys drinks! :P
Candy is dandy, but sex won't rot your teeth.

Cheers!!!
Go Bears!!!!!
Savvy

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