which management system?

Re: which management system?

Bob Russell — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:14:35 GMT

I seem to remember data conversion and first years licence for ezVetpro was a couple of thousand - all hardware was reused but a new Dell 'server'. About £300 per q for support (all off the top of my head). A very cheap conversion (and a good one). If you are used to a computer system then a few minutes will be all you need to get up and running.

Contact a few companies - letting them know how many workstations etc and they should give some idea of the costs involved.

Re: which management system?

Tim Mainland — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:17:21 GMT

Anthony I don't think we are avoiding the cost issue, just not immediately to hand! Off the top of my head I think I'm paying just under £300 pcm ex VAT to Ezvet for 6 workstations across 2 locations. Installation 3yrs ago I think was approx 11K which included around 2/3rds of the hardware (rest reused from previous system) and that was for 16 workstations across 4 locations. After 2 yrs I'd recouped outlay from monthly savings on previous system (Vetcom NVS) and monthly outgoings thereafter left me in pocket longterm. The system improvement was dramatic.

Re: which management system?

Mark Hedberg — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:55:32 GMT

Maybe confidentiality is an issue?

Re: which management system?

Anthony Todd — Thu, 19 May 2011 23:44:11 GMT

[quote user="Julian Earl"]expensive upgrade[/quote]

Why won't anyone quote costs?

Are you all so embarrassed or disappointed in the cost of yours?

Costs are important, particularly as there appear to be plenty of systems that do an adequate job and more money doesn't always mean a better system!

Re: which management system?

Julian Earl — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:31:06 GMT

What, nobody using a Verifac system? Is it just us? We had a lot of problems initially but now it works fine - mostly! Apart from having to consider a very expensive upgrade, I wouldn't like to change my whole system (and certainly not go through several different systems like some say they have done) due to the massive disruption and cost involved.

Re: which management system?

Anthony Todd — Mon, 16 May 2011 19:54:02 GMT

I note that no one seems to quote actual costs which are an important factor surely?

Just cost per workstation and support per workstation will do.

I've quoted mine, let's have the expensive and horrendously expensive ones.

Re: which management system?

Colin Cameron — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:06:45 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

We have tried a number of them over the years and opinions may be based on outdated versions. Not tried Rx works but seemed expensive and complicated when it was demonstrated. AT systems was horrendously expensive IMO. Jupiter was fine but I deeply resented paying for support and then paying again if there were problems. Robovet seemed to crash often so we were often on the phone but they always got us up and running again.

We have EzVetPro now - boring but capable, rock steady. Support is good if not overly chatty! Inexpensive to install but fees seem q high especially as we rarely have any contact with them. We understood it regularly evolved but have seen little sign of this! I have to say it has been the least hassle of any we have had. No idea about Teleos.

If you want a system that you will hardly notice get a demonstration of EzeVetPro.

[/quote]This must have been sopme time ago as I have used Jupiter for years and only pay annual licence which includes all support an upgrades. The only additional charges are a flat rate engineer visit fee and any carriage charges. Currently on the Voyager system and almost all problems sorted online. I'm still happy with both the system and the company, so can highly recommend them. Also this system just looks better than most on-screen. Still with all the new ones appearing it must be a very difficult choice to make. Best advice is to demo a selection and then phone current users after that.... then plump for 1 and pay your money!!

Re: which management system?

Bob Russell — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:35:13 GMT

It is such a major decision that I would recommend you make a provisional decision and perhaps go and see it in action at another practice if possible. You are spending thousands and will have to live with your decision potentially for years.

In ten years we have gone through a number of systems, probably because I am not particularly tolerant of what I consider bad service or unreliability. We were all using ezVetPro unsupervised the next working day (and fairly comfortably on the day of installation). It caused little or no disruption. I don't know how it works for mixed practice but I expect it will perform the tasks you want very effectively.

The Dell hardware we have comes out of the ark but soldiers on without problems!

Re: which management system?

Anthony Todd — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:00:46 GMT

Clientrax has an enormous pop-up if, for instance, a client owes money or hates, and won't see, me....... [often]

Re: which management system?

Bob Russell — Mon, 16 May 2011 11:15:09 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

Not sure about the practice led bit. The message icon for internal communication is so small that it is almost useless (internal 'emails') - they have not changed this for us! However still would recommend it highly for total reliability.

[/quote]

Bob - thought you were a 1 man practice? Wouldn't it be easier to talk to staff rather than email them?

[/quote]

It is a one man practice but I get easily distracted so emails are a good way for me to communicate before my brain gets addled! We also have part-time staff so it can be easier to send a note to everyone so nobody gets missed. No one remembers to look at the tiny icon in the corner of the screen so we don't use it!

If this is the only complaint about a system it has to be pretty good!

Re: which management system?

Jenny Smith — Sun, 15 May 2011 23:25:11 GMT

The practice I worked part-time reception in as a student used EZVetPro, I found it really simple to use - if you can work windows you can work EZVet! I found the support from them was good at the weekend. As I only ever worked saturdays, if things went wrong we had to get in touch with them. Usually got a call back from them within 10-15mins if no answer straight away, and they can use remote access to sort things out from their end if it's all a bit complicated. Great if you are trying to deal with clients whilst worrying about the computer system.

Jenny

Re: which management system?

Anthony Todd — Sun, 15 May 2011 15:03:13 GMT

We've been using Clientrax from the US for 10 years. Reliable, good support [dedicated forum] and only £360 plus VAT to buy outright per workstation or system and support at £575 + VAT annually which entitles you to all the upgrades and fixes.

And remember that "support" on a Saturday afternoon is going to be no use at all so you carry spares of everything and cheaper than the support cost.

Be interested in comparative costs, per workstation, of the other recommended systems in this topic.

At the end of the day, as my old accountant said re partnerships, "practice management systems are like marriage, only a hundred times harder to get out of"

Re: which management system?

Mark Hedberg — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:27:33 GMT

Argos has a sale on mirrors! :)

Re: which management system?

Michael Woodhouse — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:18:19 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]

[/quote]

Bob - thought you were a 1 man practice? Wouldn't it be easier to talk to staff rather than email them?

Re: which management system?

Robert Wilson — Sun, 15 May 2011 00:20:52 GMT

We use Teleos for a 2 centre practice and find it good. It does have it's foibles but support is good and another good thing is you can buy your own hardware!

Re: which management system?

Tim Mainland — Sat, 14 May 2011 12:21:25 GMT

Another definite vote for Ezvetpro. Saved us around 25K at installation compared to Rx quote, and ongoing annual support significantly cheaper too. Rx seenmed to be promises for tomorrow whereas Ezvetpro already covered all our required bases. Stable, sensible, cost effective. Have had a few systems over many years and this is best by far.

Re: which management system?

Bob Russell — Sat, 14 May 2011 09:53:00 GMT

Re: which management system?

Andrew Henfrey — Sat, 14 May 2011 09:19:13 GMT

we have had ezVetPro for 6 years now. Very stable and powerful system. There also wasn't a long tie-in period. It's a one year license unlike some others and updates are included. Updates seem to be about twice a year but are practice led i.e if you want something specific they will try and get the system to do it. If it is then useful on a wider basis they will sent it to other users as an update.

We've never regretted going with this system!

Andrew

Re: which management system?

Gillian Mostyn — Fri, 13 May 2011 22:40:12 GMT

Another vote for teleos, with a 2-site practice.

Re: which management system?

Bob Russell — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:51:44 GMT

If you want a system that you will hardly notice get a demonstration of EzeVetPro.

Re: which management system?

Richard Carter — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:49:09 GMT

Would second Teleos - have used a few and while it may not be as pretty/ flashy as some of the others, it seems very stable - only thing is we are a single site so don't know how well it works on a broadband link. Also management fees affordable!

Re: which management system?

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 12 May 2011 22:37:29 GMT

The problem is most of us only have experience of a single/small number of systems. SPVS do a day where many different companies get together and you can play with all the systems side by side.

We have Teleos and found it fairly straightforward to use. Being Windows based it's very intuitive.

Re: which management system?

Catherine Coen — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:58:01 GMT

I work between two branches - one uses rx works, the other robovet. I find rx works much easier to use. Can't really comment on anything other than the history/records aspect of the systems, but the management stuff (stock/reminders etc) seem like a bit of a nightmare on robovet from what I hear from the nurses/practice manager!

Re: which management system?

Mark Hedberg — Thu, 12 May 2011 17:41:58 GMT

Rxworks hands down. Robovet is VERY expensive and the licenses and data migration very expensive. Rxworks is really userfriendly and a good pick.