Closing the Month?

[asanders]

I've read where other people close a month out using other software. This is closely related to my other post, but what's the point and can we do that in OD?

[jordansparks]

Believe me, be glad you do not have that "feature" in Open Dental. That is a relic from pre-SQL database days. In old databases, there is a monthly table that summarizes daily values. The only way to update the monthly table is through the monthly closeout process. This might sound good on the surface, but what it does is to lock all procedures before that date. That means no changes ever of any kind to old procedures. Imagine if you have the wrong tooth surfaces. You would be required to create a second procedure rather than editing the old procedure. You would not be able to change the procedure note either. This "feature" is so annoying that you will find a lot of users on those systems never run the monthly closeout because they don't want to lock their old procedures.

In OD, we instead use security features to block users from editing historical procedures based on either relative or absolute dates. And instead of a monthly table, SQL is powerful enough to extract the data on the fly. So you never have to worry about your monthly table being out of synch with your real data. In those other systems, it is common to have to spend an hour on the phone with support running a utility to repair the monthly table when it gets out of synch.

[alexei]

Amen to that first sentence!