Running the month-end update is a crucial management routine. It is recommended that you perform this update each month. The month-end update completes many maintenance tasks important to getting accurate patient data quickly:
Aging account balances - Close each month so that account balances will not remain current on your aging reports.
Moving procedures to history - All procedures posted during the month being closed will be moved into history, locking out changes and deletions.
Creating totals records - To speed report generation, Dentrix Enterprise creates a monthly totals record each time a month is closed. Without this monthly record, Dentrix Enterprise must calculate analysis information each time a report is generated, which can greatly slow the report generation process.
Resetting insurance benefits (optional) - For all patients who have dental insurance coverage that resets during the month being updated, the benefits used and deductible applied amounts will be reset.
You cannot close out the current month. You must wait until the first day of the next month before Dentrix Enterprise will allow you to close out that month (for example, you cannot close out the month of June until the first day of July).
Note: Running the month-end update requires the "Month End - Update" security right.
To run the month-end update
With only Office Manager open on a computer, and while logged in to the Central clinic, close all Dentrix Enterprise modules on all other computers, and then back up your Dentrix Enterprise database.
On the same computer, enable single-user mode.
On the same computer, open Ledger.
On the Month End menu, click Update.
The Close Out Month dialog box appears.
Note: Dentrix Enterprise requires that months be closed out in chronological order. Dentrix Enterprise will display the correct month to be closed out in the Close Out Month box. This date cannot be edited.
To reset all dental insurance plans whose benefit renewal month is the month following the Close Out Month, leave the Reset Insurance Benefits for [month] checkbox selected. However, if you do not want to reset insurance benefits, clear this checkbox.
To speed up the month end process, select the Disable Audit Triggers During Month End Proc. checkbox.
Click OK.
The amount of time required to run the update depends on many factors, including the processor speed of your server. However, a very important factor in the speed of the utility is the amount of information already in history. If you wait to close out the month, leaving two to three months current at a time, the update has more data to process and will take more time to run. Running the update monthly will reduce the time required considerably, as Dentrix Enterprise has less data to sort through.
Turn off single-user mode in Office Manager.