Monthly Archives: January 2014

Straightforward Payments and Refunds

Using the feedback that we’ve received from you, we are planning to optimise how the Payments section is organised. You will still be able to do all the things you did before, only now, it’s going to be a lot simpler. Here’s a peek:

Settling Advances and Invoices: All on the same page now.

We’re putting all your payment options in one place. From the Add Payments screen, you can accept advances, settle them and settle invoices.

This is what you’ll see when you click on Add Payment.Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray- Advance payment2Once you’ve entered the Advance amount in the text box, the date will show in the bottom of the screen, where you can change it if needed.

Payment Date

Hit Save Payment when you’re done. The payment is now recorded. To see the help articles for making advance payments, click here.

If you click on the pending Invoice on the right instead, you’ll see this:  Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray settling an advance from an invoiceYou can settle the Invoice from here. You can see that we’ve already filled in most of the details, as usual. You just need to hit Save Payment and you’re done. 

To see how you can settle a pending Invoice, click here.
Using an Advance to pay an Invoice is here

Refunds in under 20 seconds (Yes, we timed it):

Refunds have now moved out of the Add Payment option and now come under the Payments Tab.  It’s just a two-step process, once you click on Refund.Billing - Sunshine Center _ Practo Ray Refund1

We’ve got detailed articles on Refunds here.

Three minor updates for Ray

Sometimes it’s the small things that make a big difference. Here are three such updates to make your practice management a little easier.

1. Appointment Confirmation SMS with the year mentioned.

When your patients/clients book an appointment with you, they get a confirmation SMS. Now, if they book an appointment that falls in the next year, the confirmation SMS will mention the year as well.

SMS Template

2. Sorting Inventory list Alphabetically:

This update applies only to customers in the Practo Basic and Advanced subscription plans.

INVENT SORT

By default, the inventory is sorted according to the item with low stock. Now, you can sort the Name column in the Inventory alphabetically.

  • When you click on Sort A-Z, it sorts the items in the ascending order. The sort option then changes to Sort Z-A.
  • Once you click Sort Z-A, the inventory gets sorted in descending order.
  • The sort option then changes to sort by stock, which will sort the list by stock again.

3. See who’s calling, even if they call from their Secondary mobile number.

This update applies only to customers using Practo Hello service.

These days everyone has two phones (or probably more). That’s why we have a Secondary Mobile Number provision in Practo Ray Contact Profile. Now when patients/clients call your Hello number from their secondary mobile, their names show up in Hello Calls Log, as you can see below.hello idEven though James Joyce has called the practice from two different mobile numbers, you can see that he is recognized in Hello Call Logs for both, his primary and the secondary mobile numbers.

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Hello Outgoing Calls to DND numbers blocked

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has introduced stiff penalties for violating Do-not-disturb (DND) norms. This has caused the 12th amendment of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) where all outgoing calls to DND numbers from IVR services will be blocked.

Excerpts from the 12th Amendment
1. Disconnection of number the first time it violates DND norm.
(The earlier process included sending a warning letter to the customer and disconnect in case of a repeat complaint.)
2. All resources in the same name and address, also to be disconnected.
3. Name and address of such DND norms violating subscribers will be uploaded on the TRAI portal.
4. All other operators will download this list and within 24hrs disconnect resources from their end as well, if allotted under that customer’s name and address.
(Which means every other telecom service provider will be forced to discontinue their service to you)

Click here to read the Complete Amendment

Given these harsh punitive actions, we have adjusted Hello to avoid such a situation altogether.

What changes in Hello?

Effective Friday, 17 January, 2014
1. Hello will not allow you to make outgoing calls to DND numbers and you will see an error message when you try to call a DND number
2. You will still continue to receive calls from DND numbers.
3. You can also continue to make calls to non-DND numbers as usual

In case your number itself is a DND number, you have two options:
1. Use a non-DND number to make outbound calls using Hello OR
2. Remove your DND number from the DND registry

UPDATE: As per another TRAI regulation enacted in December 2010, calls to non-DND numbers can only be made between 09:00 AM to 09:00 PM. 

We’ve made these changes to adhere to the DND norms and provide you a smooth calling experience. If you have any feedback or questions email us at support@practo.com or call us on +91 88805 88999.