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PPS Sync Server is an additional application of PPS for users with more than one PPS Site Licence. “Syncing” in PPS terms is the process of running two or more individual PPS systems which keeps each and every one of the PPS systems databases up-to-date by synchronising their data via the internet.
PPS Sync Server does not require an internet connection 100% of the time, and as such is very flexible for users that operate PPS on a part time or ad-hoc basis, as they system will simply update itself once it is next ran on a system with an internet connection.
This has a variety of uses including taking a laptop computer away from the practice which may not have a mobile internet connection, making updates to the laptop whilst the main copy of PPS at the practice is still being updated, then synchronising both systems together so that both are up-to-date at a later point in the day or week when there is internet access available.
Similarly, you may have multiple clinics in different towns or city’s that need to stay constantly synchronised as you will need to have a separate diary per clinic, but may also take bookings for other clinics when they are out of operating hours. Furthermore as all accounts can be synchronised, you may have your ‘head office’ solely take care of your weekly and monthly accounts whilst still allowing daily inputting of charges, invoices and payments. Optionally each account may have a ‘location’ assigned so that you can provide reports based on each clinic and/or an overview of your full accounts or entire appointment diary within a certain period.
Please note: PPS Sync uses a transaction database and as such will only hold information that has been uploaded to the database whilst awaiting for other Sync Server Users to download that information. PPS Sync does not backup any of your information, nor can it re-upload or re-download specific information automatically.
PPS Sync Server is an application that is firstly opened and then minimized so that it can continually run silently in the Windows task tray (in the bottom right hand corner) – PPS Sync Server will ask you run the software when you login to PPS and it is not running. Optionally you can set PPS Sync Server to start in your Windows operating system “Start up” folder so that when the PC or laptop is turned on and the Windows user has logged in, it will then start automatically and download any PPS Database updates even without PPS itself needing to run.
You can optionally view PPS Sync Server to view the current status of your syncing and database connection and how often you want to synchronise with your other sites (5 minutes is default) alongside viewing details of the other clinics you are currently synchronising with and more importantly what data you are synchronising with them (for example you may be synchronising your client and diary information, but not synchronising accounts or custom forms information)
For PPS to run you will need to ensure the following criteria is met and is maintained:
1. You have a healthy PPS database that is re-indexed often.
2. Your PC hardware is reliable.
3. You have a reliable internet connection.
4. You will need to ensure that PPS Sync Server is not interrupted by any anti-virus or firewall software, as the Sync application will need to send and receive information solely via the internet. 5. Each site will have its own copy of PPS Sync Server - All sites need to be maintained by following the guidelines above. If Sync is not running correctly at one site then this may disrupt all other clinics that rely on the constantly updated data provided by that clinic. If you would like further information about PPS Sync then please feel free to contact us on 0845 0680 777 and choose option 1 for the Sales Dept. Alternatively you can e-mail sales@rushcliff.com.
If you are an existing user then you can contact the Support Team on 0845 0680 777 and choose option 2. Alternatively you can e-mail support@rushcliff.com Accounts
The PPS Accounts system includes facilities for you to bill your clients, or third parties, record payments received, and manage all invoices that are overdue for payment. In addition, PPS also offers an additional module called PPS Expense that can be used to record details of practice expenditure. The Accounts system in PPS is not designed to be a full accounts system with ledgers, balance sheets, etc. but it can be used to supply revenue and expenditure information directly to another accounts system by way of exporting the information through reports.
PPS Accounts billing is structured into three areas: Charges, Invoices and Payments. Firstly Charges must be created, then an invoice produced, then a payment recorded. A Charge, or charges simply become “line items” on an invoice, and a payment recorded is “allocated” to the invoice. PPS is flexible enough to accommodate all requirements for practice billing including third-party billing, split billing (between client and third party), recording several payments against one invoice, or recording one payment against several invoices. There are various points throughout PPS that enable charges to be quickly created and “paid off” in one step. This single step still produces the correct Charge, Invoice and Payment records. 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. Backup
A Back up is a simply a copy of your data. It is very important to back up your data. PPS provides you with an option to make a back up copy of your data. The back up of your data can be used in conjunction with the “Restore” option if your data ever needs to be restore after a computer failure. It is quick and easy to make a back up copy of your data. It is your responsibility to make a back up copy regularly – at least EVERY DAY - and store this AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER. To run the back up option in PPS, select from the PPS Menu: Tools – Back up. This screen has options to include data from the various folders as part of your PPS database. These include the main DATA folder, your Letters folder, Charts folder, etc. You can select to back up all of these folders, or as many as you want for each back up copy. Running the Back up option produces a single file – this is a ZIP file which is a common type of “compressed” file. You can select to encrypt the file which automatically issues a password with the file, so that the data contained within the file cannot be accessed except by the PPS restore program (this password is also specific to your own PPS system). You can select to copy the back up file to an external disk or drive. You can copy the back up directly to a CD provided that you have formatted the CD correctly first. To copy to a CD, you must use your CD Writer software to format the CD in such a way that you are able to simply “drag and drop” files in windows explorer (or my computer) directly onto the CD. 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! Copy
When entering text into any field, you can highlight the text and use the standard Windows™ “Copy” option to place the text on the Windows clipboard. You can then paste the text back into any similar field. See also: Appointment – Copy. Criteria
See: Report Wizard - Criteria Custom Forms
See: Custom Form Data
Data is a general term that refers to all your records. In computer terms, data is any piece of information that you can change, so this includes your normal records (client records, billing, appointments, etc.) and other information such as letter layouts, invoice templates and so on. PPS allows you to “back up” your data, which means to make a second copy of all your data. See: Back Up; Database for more details. Database
The PPS Database can be stored in a separate location on your computer/network from the main PPS application files. This would apply to a PPS installation on a network where the PPS Application files are installed onto each computer, and the database is located centrally on the network. There is the option to change the database location as part of the initial installation of PPS, and there is also a separate “database only” installation available if the database is to be installed onto a computer such as a server where PPS will not be used on that computer – servers often reside in a “back office” and are not used as a desktop computer. 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. Diary
See: Appointments Diary Location
A Location in PPS is a physical clinic location. Older versions of PPS referred to treatment rooms as locations. Now Treatment Rooms are an additional field of information. You can set up locations to use in your PPS Appointments Diary. You can set up your diary for diary users/practitioners to be scheduled to work either in specific treatment rooms and/or locations on various days during the week. You do not have to use “Location” if you only work from one location. To set up locations, select from the PPS Menu: Tools – Look Up Tables, and select Location from the Appointments Diary Tables section. Here you can set up your various locations, and nominate a colour to each location to make each location clearly identifiable in the diary. PPS
PPS is the acronym for “Private Practice Software”. Reports
PPS includes many different reports that you can run that present information accumulated from various parts of the system. There are two main reports options: Summaries and Statistics, and PPS Reports and Mail Merge. In addition to these two main options, there is a variety of other print-outs that you can produce from PPS that are not included in the category of reports. These include: Printing the Diary, Client Details, Medical History and Clinical Notes. You can access the PPS reports options from the PPS Menu: Reports. For more details about the Statistics & Summaries type reports, see: Statistics & Summaries. When you select the PPS Reports & Mail Merge option, a reports selection screen appears – this screen is divided into the various categories of reports that you can run. Most reports (certainly client-based reports) can also be used for mail merge purposes. Select a report from any of the categories and use either the Run option (see: Reports – Run) or the Open option (see: reports – Open). When you select Open, you will be guided through the Report Wizard (see: Report Wizard) to allow you to make your specific selections for the report before choosing a report output option (see: Reports – Report Output). See also: various entries in this reference guide under Reports for further details. For details of individual reports, see: the entry under the report name, for example Charges Report or Aged Debtors Report. Status
See: Client Status Sync
See: PPS Sync Time
See: Activities – Time; Appointments – Time Week
See: Appointments Diary – Setting Up
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