manual conversion from dialog dental software

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ddc
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Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:32 pm

manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by ddc » Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:40 pm

I am using a very old dental software called Dialog. I have found out that its data cannot be exported so I cannot convert the data to Open Dental. I will have to manually enter everything in. Does anyone have experience manually entering this data and can offer any tips or tricks? I have about 600 patients to transfer over. Would it be best to do this over our summer closure? Thanks, any insight would be much appreciated.

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jsalmon
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Re: manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by jsalmon » Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:11 pm

Is slowly transitioning over to Open Dental a possibility? Meaning, can you continue to use Dialog and when the patient shows up for their appointment, enter them into Open Dental (double entry) as well?
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.

Jason Salmon
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com

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cmcgehee
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Location: Salem, Oregon

Re: manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by cmcgehee » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:31 am

What I've heard other dentists recommend in a situation like this to start with a fresh Open Dental database and manually enter the patients as they call in, schedule an appointment, etc. It's not worth entering every single patient from your old software when some patients haven't come to the office in 5+ years. With this system, you would enter new data only into Open Dental.
Chris McGehee
Open Dental Software
http://www.opendental.com

ddc
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Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2018 3:32 pm

Re: manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by ddc » Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:18 pm

Thanks for your suggestions. I suppose I could enter gradually as patients come in or book. That would mean I would be doing double entries for about a year and won't be able to take advantage of open dental's recall system. Would I bill in dialog or opendental? Would it be important to have support from both opendental and dialog for the duration of the transition?

rhaber123
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Re: manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by rhaber123 » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:52 pm

I am not sure if this will work for you.

I had to do that when I purchased a practice (over 20 years ago) and I purchased the account receivables too.
We used 2 computers, a separate laptop had the old accounts/database, and a regular desktop/ for the new services/database OD

1-Laptop for the OLD software that has all the account receivables.
2- Desktop that has Open Dental, but this database will have all accounts receivables set at 0, (just zero all the balances),
it will be used for services done after a specific date that everyone in the office will follow, the date that you started using OD (for example March 1st))

and my receptionist worked on both computers.
for anything done before march 1st, she will use the laptop
for anything done after March 1st, she will use the desktop

1- When you receive payments for services done by the old software , (before March 1st) post the payment in the old database, on the laptop.
2- When a patient comes, enter the patient in OD only, and post the NEW services only on the desktop, in Open Dental, and set your recalls accordingly,
and when you receive payments for services done after March 1st, post the payments in OD, on the desktop

When you mail your statements, ad a small notice, inform your patients that you have just updated your software, and that they will receive 2 statements,
one for services rendered before March 1st and billed using the old software, and another statement for services rendered after March 1st using the NEW software, and they owe the combined balances.

Slowly, there will be no need for the old database, probably 5- 6 months or less,
but sooner or later you have to make a decision about the bad debts...

rhaber123
Posts: 415
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2009 12:09 pm

Re: manual conversion from dialog dental software

Post by rhaber123 » Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:09 pm

- Open Dental can convert any data that you have if you can provide it to them in a Microsoft Excel Format.
Please contact OD conversion team and check with them, they may accept other formats too.
- Contact Dialogue support team, if they can assist you to provide such reports in Excel formats

- Or in your old Dialog software, If you can print reports (in a pdf format) that can include your patients names, addresses, telephones, emails, balances, etc.....
in Adobe, you can use OCR text recognition, copy and paste that info, and organize it in an excel file, and give it to OD team, and they will be able to enter it for you in the OD database super fast. You may not be able to convert ALL the data, it will be limited to what you can provide in that excel file.

- if you can not print to pdf, after you print to paper, scan these reports in high resolution to pdf and use OCR text recognition after.

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