Products and Services

Add New Product

Adding from an External Catalogue

From the Vet-One main menu, click on "Products and Services":

Click on "External Catalogues":

Select the most recent catalogue relating to the supplier who supplies the product:
 

Select how you wish to search for the product to be added, e.g. "Find product by name":

Type the name of the product you want to find into the text field.  Remember that a few letters followed by an asterisk will return all results starting with those letters:

Check the box next to the product(s) you wish to add and click "Update/Add to master products list":
Note: All products added have a mark-up of 100% applied to prevent them being sold at cost
 

Repeat the above steps as necessary.

Configuring a New or Existing Product

When you have added the desired products from the External Catalogue, return to the "Products and Services" page and select one of the "Find product or service by ______" options. Search for the new product and click on its name to bring up the "Product Overview (Product Perspective)". Click the "Edit Product Overview" button at the bottom of the page to start customising this product:

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The product will start with the defaults set by your practice, so you will first need to choose a Product Category appropriate to the product. Both the initial defaults, and category settings can be edited and maintained in the "Product module setup".

See below for more information on Product categories, and some of the other fields which may cause question.

Product Name

It can often be beneficial to edit the Internal and Invoice Product names to include a volume/strength for the product,
eg "15kg" for a bag of dog food, "150ml" for a bottle of oral medication.
Alternatively, if a product is to be sold in different quantities, this can be noted here, eg "per tablet" or "100 tablet bottle".

Supplier Code

Supplied by the catalogue, will link the product to any changes made by the wholesaler,
and automatically update prices when a new external catalogue is received.

Supplier

The wholesaler the item was purchased from. Supplied by the catalogue, but can be selected from a drop down list as well.

Pack cost

The cost of the product when purchased from the wholesaler.

Units per pack

Designates whether the item is one of multiple in a pack, or a single item for sale,
and how the price should be divided accordingly. eg a bottle of 100 tablets could be listed twice on the system and sold as "1" or "100" units, depending on the need.

Product category

Product categories allow administrators to define a pre-specified set of rules for a product, such as tax rate, mark-up and whether the product is a dangerous drug.  Product categories also allow the fine-tuning of discount packages, for example: A 20% discount might be offered on diet but only a 10% discount offered on POM-V medications.

1. To set product categories, navigate to the "Product module setup" screen within the "Products and Services" menu:

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2. Click "Create Category":
   
   

    

3. Input your chosen category name, select a category group from the drop down menu (if applicable, e.g. Dog food and cat food might both be placed in category group "Diet") and choose whether the category is exclusively for use with Cascade. Click "Create New Category":
   
   

    

4. Your Product Category will now appear in the category list. Note the "Members" column on the right hand side, which informs you how many products have been placed in that category:
   
   

    

5. Complete this action as many times / as often as necessary.  You can now set some Product Category Defaults.

Analysis category

Allows reports to group products (eg flea treatments) together.

Pricing

Selling Price Rules

Sets whether the product should be sold at a set, percentage markup on the unit price (pack cost divided by units per pack) or whether the product should be sold at a fixed price (regardless of its unit cost).

Percentage mark-ups can be changed on product categories globally by using the "Global Price Change" feature.

Unit Selling Price

Shows the unit price, calculated by dividing the pack cost by the number of units per pack.

Minimum Price

The lowest price at which the product can ever be sold.  Utilisation of this feature can ensure a margin is preserved on small or inexpensive items, in order to cover overheads.

PLEASE NOTE: If both a minimum and additional sale amount are set for a product or service, Vet-One will calculate the price as follows:

((Quantity x Unit Price) + Additional selling amount)+VAT

If a minimum selling amount has been set and the value of the above comes to less than the figure specified, then the minimum selling amount is applied.

Additional

An additional amount (ex. VAT) can be set to cover peripheral costs, such as a syringe, needle and staff time.  It is often used to add a dispensing fee to a product.

Both the "Minimum Price" and "Additional sale amount" features can be updated via Vet-One's "Global Price Change" feature.  For example, if all injectable drugs have been organised into a product category of "Injectables", then the minimum or additional sale amount on all products in that category can be altered with one action:

Price Override

Dictates which users will be able to override the product or service's pricing when editing invoice lines (either all user, only those users with permission or no users [regardless of permission group]).

Adding without an External Catalogue

You may want to add a product which is not supplied by your wholesaler. In this case, simply go to "Add new product" from the "Products and Services" menu, and you will be presented with an empty version of the table we used above. Fill in the required details, using the above information as a guide, selecting a Product category first.

Fields named in red must be filled out, so in the case of Supplier code, please input a 0 rather than leaving blank.

Stock Batches

Branch-Specific Pricing

When a practice has more than one branch then it may be necessary to set branch-specific prices for some products or services.

1. First, ensure that your permissions permit you to view and manage branch specific products and services (System > Permission Group Management > Group Setup > Products and Services):

   Note:  You will need to logout and back in for new permissions to take effect.
   
   

2. Locate the product you wish to set a branch specific price for and proceed to its pricing perspective.  Note the text beneath and above the red outline that states "Using the default pricing":

    

3. From the branch drop-down (at the top of the page) select the branch you wish to set a specific price for (in this example it will be "Site 2") and then click "Edit Product Overview":

    

4. Make your pricing changes (in this instance the percentage markup is being increased from 50% to 70%) and click "Save Changes":
   
   

    

5. The product will now display one price if "All branches" or any branch (other than Site 2) is selected from the drop-down and another price if "Site 2" is selected.

Add New Service

Manage Composite Products/Services

Composite Products and Services are items that can be added to invoices and contain several components, each of which is a product or service in its own right. They are designed to allow a single charge to be made for a set group of products (or "package"), calculated either by the sum of their components or priced in their own right.  
An example would be the addition of a composite service such as "Canine Passport" to an invoice; though it shows and is billed as one item, the service could contain products and services such as a health check, rabies vaccination, microchip, blood test and passport.  Due to their inclusion in the composite service, the stock levels for these products can be decremented without having to add them to an invoice one at a time.

Creating a Composite Product or Service

1. From the main Vet-One page, select the Products and Services module and "Manage Composite Products/Services":

    

2. From the Composite Products/Services screen, click on "Create Composite Product/Service":
   
   

    

3. Complete the fields to create your new composite product / service:

   1. Decide whether your composite will be a product or a service

   2. Input an internal product name (this will be used for searches within Vet-One) and an invoice product name (this will be displayed on customer invoices)

   3. Set the product / service and analysis categories (if necessary / required)

   4. If your composite will not be priced by the sum of its components then set its base price, tax and selling rules.  If your composite product's price will be the sum of its components then this these fields will disappear when the "Price by sum of components" drop down is switched from "no" to "yes".

   5. Select whether the composite will be priced by the sum of its components or not (fixed price, regardless of the cumulative value).

   6. Input any relevant instructions or description

   7. Click "Add new product"

    

4. You will now arrive at the Composite Overview screen, where products and / or services can be added to your composite item by clicking on "Add Product or Service":
   
   

    

5. From this screen you can search for, and add, component products or services:

   1. Input your search criteria

   2. Click search (or press enter)

   3. Click on the item you wish to add

    

6. The component product will now appear on the composite product overview screen.  Click on the product name if you wish to amend the quantity, otherwise repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have added all of the products and / or services you require:

    

7. Your composite product (or service) is now ready to be sold and can be edited or deleted at any time by returning to the "Manage composite products/services" screen.

External Catalogues

Adding an External Catalogue

Vet-One's interface allows users with sufficient privileges to add supplier catalogues either manually (by uploading a file from the local drive, obtained from the supplier in question) or by "fetching" the catalogue from a supplier for which the system has appropriate credentials (e.g. NVS, Centaur, etc.).

Manually Adding a Supplier Catalogue

Navigate to the "Add External Catalogue" screen via the Products and Services module:

1. Select the supplier that the catalogue relates to (in this example, we've selected Axiom)

2. Give the catalogue a distinct name (the upload date is often a good choice for identification purposes)

3. Select the catalogue format (if an appropriate option isn't displayed then you must contact Vet-One support)

4. Browse your local hard drive to select the file to be uploaded (this process is identical to adding a clinical history attachment and very similar to adding email attachments etc.)

5. Finally, click "Add Catalogue"
    

6. The new catalogue will now appear in the listings:
   

Fetch a Supplier Catalogue

Vet-One is able to obtain and upload supplier catalogues in some instances (primarily for major wholesalers), providing account credentials are logged on that supplier's system entry.  For example:

Navigate to the "Add External Catalogue" screen via the Products and Services module:

Select the supplier for which the catalogue is to be added and set "Fetch Catalogue from Supplier" drop-down to "Yes" (selecting no will prompt a manual catalogue addition - see previous section):

When ready, click "Add Catalogue" and the catalogue will be fetched from the supplier and then appear in the listings:

Updating Product Prices

Every month, we will distribute a copy of your supplier's new catalogue, containing new products and price updates. 

From the main Vet-One page, go to Products and Services and External Catalogues. Click the latest external catalogue, and Analyse Catalogue.

The next screen will show you an analysis of the new catalogue, comparing it to the Master Catalogue and highlighting discrepancies between the two. Use the appropriate buttons to update all of the increased prices or decreased prices.

Below will be a list of all the current price discrepancies. If you would rather update products individually, use the tick boxes and button at the bottom of the list to do so.

Find Product or Service

To search for products or services within the Master Products list, either select one of the following options from the Products and Services section of Vet-One, or from beneath the "Animals" section of the navigation bar (found to the left of product-related Vet-One pages). You can also choose to search by any of these criteria by selecting it from the drop down menu when performing a search.

In any of these searches, inserting an asterisk ( * ) will provide a wild card to broaden your search criteria, e.g. searching for "*melox" will return results for all animals with "melox" somewhere in their name, regardless of what comes before it, or "melox*cam" will return results for all animals with "cam" in their name, but only if "melox" comes somewhere before hand.

Reports

Product Events

Product events allow a user to program specific, automatic events that occur when a product or service is added to an invoice, e.g. The administration of a dog vaccine might set a reminder for 365 days' time or the addition of a lab test to an invoice could create a lab request to be sent to an in-house analyser.

Adding a Product Event

1. In order to set a product event, navigate to the price perspective for the product or service in question:

    

2. At the bottom of the price perspective, click "Event Actions":

    

3. Presuming no event actions already exist for the product, a message will be displayed stating "The sale of this product currently triggers no events".  However, it is possible for more than one event action to be associated with a product or service, e.g. Adding a euthanasia to an invoice might mark the animal in question as deceased and remove the animal from any Practice Discount Plans.  Click "Add Event":

    

4. Make a selection from the available drop-down menu.  In this example, a product event is being created that will set a reminder and as a result a further, second drop-down menu will appear and ask for a Reminder Type to be selected (to read more about reminder types, please click here).  When the necessary selections have been made, click "Add Product Event":

    

5. Returning to the Product/Service Events screen, the new event will now be listed:

Deleting a Product Event

1. To delete a product event, navigate to the price perspective for the product or service in question:

    

2. At the bottom of the price perspective, click "Event Actions":

    

3. Select the event action to be deleted by clicking the radio button to the left of the action and clicking "Delete Event":

    

Product and Service Details

Active Substances

This feature only applies to Products. It is useful when dispensing off-license products to know what the active substances are. Services like Vet Formulary that can provide data sheets use the active substance(s) to determine the correct data sheet to supply for printing. For any Product, it's active substance list can be create or amended suject to the user having permission to do so.

Product Identification

This allows the configuration and activation of actions associated with a product or service.

For example, when a Prescription is raised, it is possible to automatically add a product or service to an invoice. Vet-One > Products and Services > Products Module Setup > Product Identification shows what has been set up. In the event of a Prescription being raised you can configure which product or service to place on the invoice and switch this feature on or off.

To change the setting or active/deactivate the feature, edit the appropriate entry.

Product and Service Module

Product Identifications

Product Module Setup

Analysis Categories

Suppliers

A supplier can be any company that offers products or services to the veterinary practice. These include:

1. Drugs or product wholesalers

2. Laboratories

3. Cremation services

4. Information services i.e. NOAH, VetFormulary etc.

Access the Suppliers screen via:

Supplier information includes the name, address and contact details for the supplier:

New suppliers can be added to this list by clicking on the  button at the foot of the page and existing supplier details can be edited by clicking on the relevant supplier name.  Depending on whether you are adding or editing a supplier, the system will take you to either the create supplier or supplier overview screen, which both look the same:

It is beneficial to input as much information as you have available relating to the supplier.

Additionally the supplier may provide a service (such as online ordering) which requires a password or some authentication to be used. An account username and password can be added to the supplier overview and this will be used to authenticate the request.  If you are adding account details for any of the following:

• Centaur

• Dunlops (Henry Schein)

• NVS

• VetEnvoy

Then you will need to select them from the "Order system type" drop-down:

When your changes are saved the "Order system type" will display some supplier-specific code, e.g. for NVS:

If you require guidance about what account information to place in which field, then please contact support@vet-one.co.uk for guidance.

Editing an Existing Supplier

Existing supplier details can be easily edited via the Supplier Overview screen.  A few examples of when you might want to edit a supplier's details would be if they:

• Change address

• Change name (any changes made here will echo in other parts of Vet-One, e.g. ordering)

• Change your account details for online ordering

Navigate to Vet-One's Product Module Setup screen and click "Suppliers":

Select the supplier you wish to edit from the Suppliers list:

On the relevant supplier overview, click "Edit Supplier Details":

Update any of the available fields (e.g. Supplier name) and, when you're finished, click "Save Changes":

User level accounts

Some suppliers (e.g. VetFormulary) require the individual user to hold a user-level account name / password to access their system. If this is the case, the supplier should have "User level accounts" set to "Yes" in the supplier overview page.  Once you have updated the drop-down menu, click "Save Changes":

A new button will now have appeared at the foot of the Supplier Overview screen, labelled "Edit User Accounts":

After clicking on "Edit User Accounts" you will be taken to the User Accounts screen.  Click on "Create User Account" to add user-specific log-in credentials.  Select the user to whom the credentials belong from the Vet-One user name drop-down list and then input the username and password for that individual.  When complete, click "Save Changes":

The user account will now appear in the User Accounts screen.  Existing user accounts can be updated by clicking on the user name (green circle) or deleted by clicking in the circle to the left of the username and clicking on "Delete User Account" (red circles):

Undertaking the above steps will assure that the account name / password submitted are those belonging to the specific, logged in user.

Note: If a user is required to have an account to log in to supplier's system and their credentials are not logged in Vet-One, then they will not be able to gain access.  If the user has no access credentials then please contact the relevant supplier or service provider to obtain them.

Manufacturers

Product Defaults

Service Defaults

Product Category Defaults

Setting product category defaults can save significant amounts of time and avoid variations within one category that might be caused by human error or miscommunication.  Before setting defaults, it is necessary to define your product categories.

1. Navigate to the "Product Category Defaults Overview" via the "Product and Service module setup" within "Products and Services".
   
   
   
   

2. Select the product category you wish to edit at the top of the screen and then click "Edit Category Defaults" at the foot of the screen:
   
   

   
   
   
   

3. Now define your chosen defaults.
   A red circle has been placed around what most administrators would consider the most critical options!  Note that the default selections made here are not concrete and the goal is simply to increase efficiency and consistency, they are simply the default choice when a product is placed in a category. Users can amend the options when adding products.
   Click "Save Category Defaults" when you have finished. 
   
   

   
   
   
   

4. Now, when adding a product, when a product category is selected the default choices will be automatically applied:
   
   

Analysis Category Defaults

Only applicable if your practice exports financial information into Sage.  Please contact support@vet-one.co.uk if this is the case so that the feature can be activated.

Product Reminders

It is possible to select products and services to trigger reminders when they are added to invoices.

Creating Reminders

Before you can assign a reminder to a product or service, you will need to create it. From the main Vet-One page, go to Products and Services, then the Product Module Setup and Product Reminder Types.

You will be presented with a list of reminder types; click a reminder's name to edit it, or the radio button beside it and the "Delete Reminder Type" button to removed it. Click the "Create Reminder Type" button to create a new reminder.

Adding Reminders to Products or Services

From the Products and Services section of Vet-One, search for your desired Product or Service and select it to view its Overview. At the bottom of the page, click the "Product Events" or "Service Events" button.

You will be presented with a list of events already set for the product or service. You can select an event using the radio button beside it, and delete it using the "Delete Event" button. Click the "Add Event" button to begin setting a reminder for this product or service.

Setting Reminders

On the Add Product Event page, select the "set reminder for animal" option from the "Action" drop-down menu. A second drop-down menu will appear, allowing you to select from the reminder types that have been created. Use the "Add Product Event" or "Add Service Event" button to set this reminder to trigger whenever this product or service is added to an invoice.

Setting a reminder does two functions: it automatically completes/deletes all reminders of that type and then sets a future reminder for that type. There can only be one currently active reminder per reminder type.

Completing Reminders

It is possible to select reminders to be completed when a product or service is added to an invoice (eg when a feline booster vaccination is invoiced, the animal's old reminder will no longer be needed, and will be marked as completed). Follow the same steps as above, but select "complete reminder" from the Action drop-down, to set this event for the product or service.

Completing a reminder cancels all reminders of that type. It is often useful in Equine when you with to set one type of reminder but cancel a different type of reminder.

If you are simply wishing to replace a reminder with a new future reminder of the same type you should choose set reminder and do not use complete reminder as it will set the future reminder correctly but then complete/cancel it.

You can read about generating reminders here.

Editing Existing Reminders

You can alter the delay period, name or any other aspect of a reminder by navigating to Product Reminder Types:

Once there, click on the reminder you wish to edit (let's presume it will be Puppy’s first year full booster):
 

Update the element of the reminder you wish to change, in the example below an edit is being made to the reminder delay.  Click Save Changes:
 

The reminder has now been updated.

Category Discounts

Scanners

How to set up a scanner

Many modern scanners are "plug and play", meaning they require little setup and can be plugged into a computer and used. However, there are two major considerations when setting up a scanner, accessibility and compatibility:

1. Ensure you have a suitable USB port available into which you can plug the scanner. The scanner will be powered by and communicate via your computer's USB interface.

2. Please note: Not all scanners are compatible with all computers. Be sure to confirm compatibility with your existing hardware before making a purchase. If in any doubt, contact support@vet-one.co.uk and we will provide any guidance we can.

How to use the scanner

1. Ensure that the scanner is connected to your computer, receiving power and that any required drivers and / or software have been installed.

2. Select the relevant field within Vet-One so that the information is recorded.

3. Align the scanner with the barcode , but before you do this, make sure that a field is selected beforehand.

Note: If you are using a "freehand" scanner it may be necessary to depress a trigger in order to activate it. Permanently mounted scanners (e.g. on a counter) will scan automatically.

Types of barcode

There are two common types of barcode: "1D" and "2D".

Pharmaceutical companies will generally only use 1D codes on their products, these are the same type of barcode seen on everyday products in shops and supermarkets.  1D codes can be read by a laser scanner.

2D codes are often referred to as "QR" (Quick Response) codes and a more commonly associated with advertising campaigns in print media and allow companies to track consumer behaviour.  They cannot be read by a laser scanner and usually scanned using a mobile phone application such as Google Goggles.
QR codes are public domain and free to use and you might want to consider including them on practice posters or in customer literature.  Try scanning the QR code below with your mobile phone, where did it take you?

Finding a product

1. To find a product using a bar-code scanner, first navigate to the Vet-One Main Menu.
    

2. Select "Products and Services" and then "Find product or service by barcode":
   
   
   
   

3. Ensure that the "Search by" drop-down menu is set to "Barcode" (1) and then place your cursor in the "Search" field by left clicking on it. 
   
   
   
   

4. Scan the barcode and the ID number will be entered into the "Search" field.

Adding a product

1. To add a new product using its barcode go back to the "Products and Services" page and click on "Add new product".
   
   
   
   

2. Place your cursor in the "GTIN/Barcode" field (1) by left clicking on it and then scan the product's barcode.  Vet-One will populate all of the fields it can, you will need to enter information into any remaining fields, e.g. Analysis category, Selling price rules etc.
   When you have finished, click

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Lab updates

When updating the axiom and finn catalogues, uncommon symbols will appear. such as œ and an elongated hyphen (-). make sure you check for these symbols before converting them.