ClienTrax Veterinary Practice Management Software

When is a Time Clock more than just a Time Clock?

When it lets you track paid hours other than only hours actually worked! With version 6.0b4, you can also enter time records for Vacation, Sick, Holiday and Personal time as records in the Time Clock.

Have you wanted a place to track when you also need to pay employees for hours NOT worked? Now you can go into the Time Records window and manually enter records to show as vacation, sick, holiday, or personal time.

To enter these records, simply open the Time Record window and enter a time record the same as you would for an employee who forgot to clock in. Notice that the time record now has a square button on it to the right of the field that shows you the total hours for the record you are entering.

The square defaults to displaying an “R” for regular time. When in Insert or Edit mode, you can click on the square and select the type of hours this time record is for. The options are (R) Regular Time, (O) Over Time, (D) Double Time, (V) Vacation, (S) Sick, (H) Holiday, and (P) Personal.

When printing the Time Clock Records report from the Time Records window, you will see the “type” of record listed at the end of each record for easy reference.

If you are also using the payroll module, when you post your time records, the appropriate hours will be filled in on the Enter Hours window for each type of record (i.e. 24 hours of vacation time records will post to show 24 hours in the Vacation field on the Enter Hours window for the same employee). No need to manually transfer the information!

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Upcoming Events...

During the 1st quarter of 2003, we will be exhibiting at the following veterinary conferences:

North American Veterinary Conference
Orlando, FL
January 18th-22nd
Booth #507

Western States Conference
Las Vegas, NV
February 17th–20th
Booth #1252

Midwest Veterinary Conference
Columbus, OH
February 20th–23rd
Booth #745

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Custom Documents

We have received several calls lately on the new and improved way to create custom documents. Not everyone saw the update note on the 6.0b4 e-mail, and even some who did would like more detailed information (sort of a step- by-step on getting started). So we are happy to oblige.

Custom Documents is a feature to link your ClienTrax information to Microsoft Word documents. If you have already been using Custom Documents, this is old news. But the way it works to create new documents is much easier, and even allows Macintosh users to link your ClienTrax information to Microsoft Word documents.

If you have updated to 6.0b4, you now have two new files in the Documents folder that is in the Omnis7 folder. Before making use of them, open Microsoft Word. In Word, go to the Tools menu, go down to Macros, and click on Security. Make sure the security is set to Medium. Word will not allow you make use of the easier way to set up links if the security is set to High. Close Word.

Double click on My Computer, then double click on your C:\ drive, the Omnis7 folder, then finally double click on the Documents folder. In here, you will see two documents for utilizing the new Custom Documents method. Double click on the file called ClienTraxSetup.doc. At this point, you may get a message cautioning about enabling macros. Click on Enable Macros. (But remember that message exists as good advice if you don’t know who or where a macro has come from.)

Once the document opens, don’t be confused that it says “Lifelearn macros”. These are the same macros that custom documents use. Double click on in the middle of the document. Click Yes on the message to copy the macros, then OK when it is finished. Close the ClienTraxSetup document.

Next, double click on the file called MailMerge.doc. This document is an example of a custom document with the text explaining how to create custom documents. After reading this document (or printing it out for reference), close back to your desktop, then open ClienTrax.

In ClienTrax, decide what information you would want a document to include. This determines where you want to be in ClienTrax when creating a new document. For example, a collection letter or payment agreement may only need client information, so it can be created from the Client Card. A document that will include information specific to a patient, such as a surgery release, will need to be created from the Patient Card. Creating a customized payment receipt would be done from the client’s transaction history. If you wanted to print a batch of custom documents from Query search results, you could create the document from the query window, but for this one, you could also create the document from the patient card, depending on what information you want to link to.

Once you know where you want to create the document from, go to the Print menu from that card and click on Custom Docs. The Custom Documents print menu for that window pops up. Click on Start New Document at the bottom of the menu. This will open Microsoft Word with some basic layout that you can edit to create your document. Delete anything you don’t want on your document, and begin designing your new document. For the body of the document (anything that will remain the same for every printing), simply type and format your document as you would if it were going to have blanks to be filled in were you to print it out to be customized with handwritten information.

To link information from ClienTrax, place your cursor where you would have had to put a “blank”, then click on the Insert Merge Field button on your Mail Merge tool bar, and select the field for the information you want to be linked to that position on your document. Continue setting all links in as necessary. If your Mail Merge tool bar does not show up at the top of your Word window, go to the View menu, then down to Tool Bars, and click on Mail Merge.

Once you have finished creating your document, go to the File menu and click on Save As. Make sure you save the new document in the Documents folder inside the Omnis7 folder on the C:\ drive. Copy the document to the Documents folder inside the Omnis7 folder on each computer you want to be able to use it from. Remember that since the document is a Word document, each computer you want to print it from must also have Microsoft Word installed on it.

You can then attach the document to a button on the Custom Documents print menu by clicking on a blank button, then selecting the document you want to attach to it. This makes the document easy to access when you need it.

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Christmas Card Mailings

Have you created your Christmas card labels or envelopes yet? Do you only want to send them to people who you know have spent money with you this year, but haven’t gotten around to sorting them out yet because it seemed like a big job? Let ClienTrax help.

If you want a list of people who have spent over $XXX with you this year, when you are at a client card, click on the Query button on the tool bar. At the Query window, click on QBE, then click the cursor into the Sales TY field at the bottom of the Client Data section. Go to the Operator button at the left end of the tool bar (currently displaying BEG for “begins with”), and click on it one time to get the >= symbol. Type in the dollar amount that you want to use as your cutoff amount in the Sales TY field where your cursor should still be flashing. Press the <Tab> key on the keyboard, then press <Enter> or click on OK. This starts the search.

If you are running ClienTrax Basic, you do not have access to the Query Window. You can still perform this same search from the More Info window. When you are at a client card, click on the More Info button on the tool bar. At the More Info window, click on QBE, then click the cursor into the YTD 02 field at the middle right of the More Info window. Go to the operator button at the left end of the tool bar (currently displaying BEG for “begins with”), and click on it one time to get the >= symbol. Type in the dollar amount that you want to use as your cutoff amount in the Sales TY field where your cursor should still be flashing. Press the <Tab> key on the keyboard, then press <Enter> or click on OK. This starts the search.

Once the search is complete, the status bar at the lower left corner of your ClienTrax window will say Displaying 1 of XXX. This tells you how many clients match the search results you entered. You can now print labels by making sure your printer is ready, then going to the print menu and selecting Print Labels. If you would like to use a word processor to print directly onto envelopes or to change the font to print more festive labels, you can click on the Print button, then select Mail Merge from the Print menu. Click Cancel when the Mail Merge Document window comes up. A comma delimited file that you can use with the mail merge feature of your word processor will then be created and saved in the Documents folder in your Omnis7 folder called mailmerge.csv.

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Lifelearn – Worth Repeating...

We have had a lot of interest in the Lifelearn files. Understandably, many of you have wanted to see samples of the files. We do not have handouts to fax since faxes are black & white and often distorted. We know most of you have color inkjet printers that will give you great looking printouts, so that is what we want you to see.

If you go to our website (clientrax.com), and go to the New Features section under News, you can click on links to take you directly to the pages of Lifelearn’s website that lists the topics for the CD you select and offers samples to view.

Remember, there are six different sets of Lifelearn Handouts: Canine, Feline, Behavior, Exotics (including birds), Equine and Pharmacy. Each set is priced at a one-time cost of $79.95 in US Dollars.

Features include:
- Automatic install of your clinic letterhead or logo
- Search feature built-in
- Fully editable and customizable articles
- You can even add your own to the mix!

Topics include:

Canine (126 topics)
Feline (84 topics)
Behavior (62 topics)
Exotics and Pet Birds (120 topics)
Pharmacy (111 topics)
Equine (47 topics - no images)

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Humor Is Healthy…

This month’s chuckle

Two snakes were crawling along when one snake asked the other, "Are we poisonous snakes?"

The other replied, "You're darn right we are! We're rattlesnakes. Why do you ask?"

To which the first replied, "I just bit my tongue."

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