Activity templates are a very useful and often common part of PPS. Whether you’re simply sending out an appointment reminder letter, an e-mail mail shot to your clients or confirming a booking via SMS, you will inevitably start using templates at one point or another to save you the time involved in creating a letter for each client individually.
This guide will take you through the process of setting up an actual template, using merge fields and walk you through the differences of setting up letters, e-mails, SMS texts and Telephone calls.
- Firstly you will need to go to your PPS Menu > Tools > Activity templates (letters, emails etc).
- On the list of activity templates click the Add button.
- For this scenario, we will create a new letter template. Add the name of your template firstly at the top of the screen and also select your category. The category is an important selection so make sure that you choose the correct one. In this instance we will choose “Non-specific / General”.
Note: Everything learned within this scenario can also be used in the relevant E-mail, SMS Message and Telephone Call sections of Activity Templates.
- The above example is based on a “letter text” template setup for a marketing mail shot using the letter text section, however for this guide we will take you through creating a Microsoft Word document as your letter template.
Note: When creating a letter template using Microsoft Word document, you have the added benefit of the extra formatting options contained, so it’s perfect if you want to create a document with various colours of text and images.
- Firstly we need to give the letter a subject name – this will only show on the PPS records and the client will not see this so feel free to name as appropriate. Once done we need to then create a Word document, so the first step is to click on Create New Document.
The following message will then pop up.
- Click OK on this information message.
The following message will then appear.
- If you use Word document templates (.DOT files) then you can also select your Word Template before using the Create New Document button. If you don’t use Word templates then just click No.
You will then receive the following message.
- Simply click OK on this.
- Once your Word document is open, you can switch between Word and PPS using the Windows Task Bar along the bottom of your screen. This is so that you can insert any required "Merge" fields into the letter from PPS.
For example you can enter the <<name/fulladdress>> merge field which is used to insert an individual client name and address details onto the standard letter template. There are a wide variety of merge fields available in PPS.
- To do this you will have to click on the Merge Field button within PPS on the Template screen to select a merge field, then switch to the Word document and "paste" (Ctrl-V or right click and then Paste) the merge field to the required position in the document.
- Once the Word document is complete, Save the document (Ctrl-S) and Close MS Word.
Note: If you are not using Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer for your letters, then you can use the standard PPS Letter printing option instead. This is like a very simple Word Processor and allows you to print letters quickly and easily. Simply type your letter text and insert your merge fields as required into the letter text area under " Letters Using PPS" section. Alternatively you can use the [Edit Text] button to show a larger window to type your text into.
- The Bottom section of the template screen allows you to "follow up" this template whenever it is used with another selected template.
An example of this is if you are using an Appointment Follow Up template where you send a letter to your Client several weeks after their appointment as a matter of courtesy. When the letter is sent, PPS will prompt you to schedule the "follow-up" automatically. This could be a "second appointment follow up" template.
The second follow-up template may include some notes/merge fields about the previous appointment and may just be a "telephone call" type template. The options available for follow-ups (including combinations of letters/e-mails/SMS & telephone calls) gives you great flexibility to automate your activities and keep in contact with your clients by making PPS do the work for you.
Now that you have either created/selected your Word document, or typed your PPS letter text, click OKon the template screen. This has created the template and it is now ready to use when you send a letter.
Activities
Activities in PPS are a way of keeping a record of contacts, telephone calls, letters, etc. that you have with your Clients or Third-Party contacts. Activities can all have a specific PPS User, and Practitioner assigned to them, and can be scheduled for completion in the future or immediately. Activities appear in the Client Log for each client, as well as on the Activities List and the Task List. A System of colours is used to denote activities that are: Due – Green; Not yet due – Orange; Completed – Purple and Overdue (task list only) – Red.
See Also: Activities – Activity Types Add
Look this up under the type of new record you want to add – e.g. Client - Add or Appointment - Add Address
See: Client - Address Appointment
An Appointment is an entry in the Appointments Diary for a client. When you set up your diary, you are setting up the free appointment slots. You then book Appointments into these free slots. Each Appointment can be marked with a status, represented by a colour, to show that the client has arrived for their appointment (green), is currently being seen by the practitioner (orange) or the appointment is completed (purple). You can also mark an appointment as DNA (did not attend) and select a reason why the client has not attended – these are marked in red. When booking an appointment on the diary, this is normally done by highlight a free slot then selecting to add the new appointment. When doing this, the appointment details such as date, time, duration, diary user, treatment room, etc. are already known and you do not have to enter them. Client
Client records are the hub of your PPS database. PPS refers to these records as “Clients” rather than “Patients” because PPS is used across a variety of business and clinical disciplines, some of whom use the term “client” and others use “patient”. A client record can have either minimal details entered, such as first name and surname, or can be a comprehensive range of details including full address/contact details, alternative addresses, DOB, sex, “known as”, full profile details including “source of introduction”, occupation (plus a range of entries you can set up yourself). In addition you can associate a variety of third-parties to clients such as doctors, insurance companies, etc. The more comprehensive the details you store for each client, the greater the opportunities to use these details in your reports and mail-merge operation. For example, by recording the “source of introduction” for each client (such as yellow pages, local advert, recommendation, etc.) you can run almost any report in PPS to show a breakdown by “source of introduction”, for example “practice revenue” by “source of introduction” will show where you earn the most money from – thus where you should concentrate most on your advertising! Complete
The term “Complete” is used in PPS for both Appointments and Consultations. You can select to Complete an Appointment – where is it marked in Purple, and you can then raise the charge, book another appointment, etc., and you can Complete a Consultation – where you can decide if the Treatment Episode is completed, or how many more consultations are required, you can raise the charge, produce a Discharge Letter etc. The term “Complete” is also used for Treatment Episodes that have an “End Date” entered – see: Completed Episodes. Create
See: Add; Charge – Create Details
This is a generic term used to describe the information stored in any particular part of PPS. For example Main Client Details is the information you enter to this screen. In addition, there are several “notes” type fields that allow you to enter further “free text” details against a record – these are also sometimes referred to as Details. Images
See: Charts; Document Library. Important
You can flag information as “important” while recording your clinical notes. For more details see: Consultation – Important information. Include
This is a term used in the PPS Reports Wizard – on step 3 of the selections for your report. On most reports you can select to “include” a selection of details on the printed report. You can un-tick any items that you do not want to include. The “Include” options only apply when the report is printed or previewed – if you are exporting the report to a file or mail merge, then the “include” options do not apply. Letters
Letters are an activity type in PPS. You can select at any time to send a letter to either a client or a third-party. You can send a letter either by selecting from the PPS Menu: Activities – Send a Letter, or by selecting “Send a Letter” from the PPS Task Bar. In addition you can also select to send a letter as part of your clinical notes recording. When you send a letter, you have the choice of either selecting a standard letter from your list of standard PPS letters (see: Standard Letters), or by simply typing your letter using the PPS letter editor before printing and sending. Letters can either be sent now or scheduled to be sent in the future. If you are using Microsoft® Word to print your letters, then your list of standard letters (which can include very simple templates that simply have the client’s address/salutation details at the top) will include letters that you have set up in Word. If you are sending a letter as part of a Mail Merge output from a PPS Report, then this will be a PPS letter. To do a mail merge using a Word letter, you will have to produce a “File” output from the PPS mail merge output screen, and do the mail merge separately and completely in Word. List
List is the term used to describe information that either appears on the screen or on a report in rows and columns. The term List is also used in PPS as a list of items such as menu, or list of entries such as a look up table. See also: List style diary. Merge Field
A Merge Field is used when preparing Standard PPS Letters, or sending a one-off letter to a client or third-party. There are a variety of Merge Fields to choose from including Name, Address, Date, Practitioner, etc. When a merge field is included in a standard letter (or you insert a merge field into a one-off letter) then the merge field entry is replaced with the “real” value for the selected client. Merge Fields are shown with the field name enclosed in double chevrons thus: <<SURNAME>>. When the letter is printed, this value is replaced with the actual client’s surname. You can insert Merge Fields when you are setting up standard PPS letters – see: Standard Letters for more details. Microsoft Word
Microsoft® Word is a Word Processing application. It is supplied as part of Microsoft® Office. PPS can use Word to produce individual letters to clients or third-parties. This can be done by setting up a PPS Standard Letter which is a “Word Document”. This standard letter can then be used when sending a letter to a client or third-party. See also: Standard Letters; Letters. Notes
See: Client - Default Notes Entry Open
Some screens in PPS have an “Open” button on the toolbar, this is very similar to the Modify button as it will “open” the selected record for “modification”. Options
PPS has a screen on the PPS Tools menu called Options. This screen can be used to set up a wide variety of system settings that affect the way that PPS works. You can make your changes to these areas and press the OK or Apply button to save your changes. The Options screen has four tabs along the top: General, Custom Client Fields, Set Up Client Contacts, and Clinical Notes. See the entries under each of these sections for more details, for example Options – General. PPS
PPS is the acronym for “Private Practice Software”. PrintYou can print various types of information in PPS including client details, clinical notes, Invoices, letters, and a wide variety of reports. All printing in PPS is done using your standard Windows printer driver for your selected printer. Many screens in PPS have a <Print> button that is used to print details for that part of the system. See also: Reports – Report Output. Printing
See: Print Save
PPS Uses a <Save> button on many screens. This will save the updates that you have made to this screen and store them permanently in your database. One some screens the <Save> button will also close the screen. Select
A term used when you choose something on the screen. Some PPS screens have a <Select> button, this normally means that you pick an option, or entry in a list, then click the <Select> button. This will “select” your chosen entry and proceed to the next screen, or return to the previous screen with your chosen entry selected. Send a Letter
See: Letter SMS Message
PPS has the option to send an SMS message (or schedule one to be sent) as part of the PPS Activities system. SMS Messages are sent either by directly posting the message to an internet web site, or by sending a specially formatted e-mail to a preconfigured e-mail account; the provider of this e-mail account simply converts your e-mail message into an SMS message and sends it to the required recipient’s mobile phone. This facility requires that you have an account with a third-party SMS messaging provider – this option is available on the Tools menu in PPS. There is a small charge per message sent (the charge is similar or less than sending an SMS from your phone). Task Bar
The PPS Task Bar is a tool bar that is positioned down the left hand side of the main PPS screen. It contains a calendar that can be used to navigate the Diary and the Daily List, and has quick access to various parts of PPS via Icons, headings and Prompts that can be clicked with the mouse. If your screen resolution is too small, then the icons are removed and just the Headings and prompts remain. You can switch the task bar on and off by selecting from the PPS menu: View – Task Bar. Time
See: Activities – Time; Appointments – Time Word
See: Microsoft® Word
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