G5 – Page 5 – SOS Resources

Datasets, and Switching from One Dataset to Another

Posted on July 17, 2019 | by SOS Blog

Datasets, also known as sublicenses, are used to segregate data for two or more business entities within the same SOS database. From the user’s perspective, each dataset has its own list of patients, providers, suppliers, and referral sources. Other lists, such as service codes, insurance carriers, diagnoses, and so on, are common to all datasets.

Note: Adding a data set requires that you obtain a license key for the specific dataset name from SOS. There is a small additional charge to cover the administrative costs of creating and tracking the additional dataset. You will receive new licensing information, which must be entered into your system to enable any new data sets.

To change from one dataset to another, close all SOS tabs, so that all you see is the main OM screen and Navigation bar, as shown below:

Select Tools > Change to Another Dataset.

In this form you can select the desired dataset from a drop-list. In addition, after choosing a dataset, you can make it the default dataset. In the future, it will be automatically opened for you as soon as you log into SOS.

SOS G5 Backup and Recovery

Posted on April 20, 2019 | by SOS Blog

Most SOS G5 organizations will be using Microsoft SQL Server to store their data. This database engine is available in a wide range of versions. Most SOS users probably will be using the free SQL Server Express edition, SQL Server Standard, or perhaps, SQL Server Enterprise. All three of these editions share the same core functionality and may be managed using Microsoft’s user interface known as SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Assuming that you have the rights to do so, you will be able to use SSMS to manage the database, including backing up and restoring the SOS G5 database. Again assuming that you have the necessary rights, if you are on a network, you will be able use SMSS to do these tasks from any workstation.

Typically, when you install SQL Server on your computer or server, you will also install a copy of SSMS. If you cannot locate a copy, want a copy on another computer, or want to update a copy you previously installed, you can download the installer for the current SSMS software at this Microsoft page: Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

Using SSMS to create a full backup of your database manually

Once you have installed your SOS G5 software and you have begun to enter data or have imported data from the previous version of SOS, you should backup that data as soon as you have the opportunity. As a start, let’s use SSMS to create a manual backup. We will then make a copy on external media as well.

Start by opening SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

Once you have logged in, click the plus to the left of “Databases” to expand that node. Right-click the SOSSuite database, then click “Tasks”, then click “Back Up…”.

The dialog for the backup task includes three panels. Go from one to the other using the navigation panel on the left:

Automating database backups using SQLCMD and Windows Scheduled Tasks

Thankfully, it is not necessary to manually go through the steps above every day (or more often). Instead, you can use Windows’ Task Scheduler to automatically run commands to create backups of the database and the transaction log in any desired location on the computer running SQL Server. For example, you could put the following two command lines in a file named BACKUP_SOSSUITE.CMD, and configure Task Scheduler to run this CMD file every night at 1:00 AM. Here are the two commands. The portions that would have to be changed to match your particular installation are in bold.

(all on one line) SQLCMD -E -S .\SQLEXPRESS -Q “BACKUP DATABASE[SOSSUITE] TO DISK=’C:\BACKUPS\SOSSUITE-DATABASE.BAK‘” > C:\BACKUPS\BackupDatabaseResults.txt

(all on one line) SQLCMD -E -S .\SQLEXPRESS -Q “BACKUP LOG[SOSSUITE] TO DISK=’C:\BACKUPS\SOSSUITE-TRANLOG.BAK‘” > C:\BACKUPS\BackupDBLogResults.txt

In this example, .SQLEXPRESS is the name of the SQL Server instance that is running the SOSSuite database. After DISK= is the desired full path and filename of the database or transaction log backup file, and after “>” is the name of the file that is used to capture the results of each of the commands so that you can check to be sure that the backups ran successfully.

Creation of these BAK files IS NOT A SUFFICIENT BACKUP. By definition, these files will be created on a local drive, perhaps even the same drive as your database is running. In addition, every time the commands are run, these files will be replaced by the latest ones. That means that an equipment failure, fire, or theft could wipe out both your data and your only backup!

For that reason it is essential that you include these BAK files in your daily computer or server backups to external media, using third-party backup software such as NovaStor’s NovaBackup or Cloudberry Lab’s Cloudberry Backup products, among many others. High-end server backup software often includes the ability to backup SQL Server databases directly, without the intermediate steps described above, which would certainly be an excellent option. Your backup software will have options to encrypt your backups, which is absolutely essential, and to compress them to minimize the amount of space consumed on your backup media.

How to Record a Refund

Posted on April 1, 2019 | by SOS Blog | 2 Comments

You may refund undistributed amounts to any payer.

Start by checking to see if the amount you want to refund is available in the system as undistributed funds — that is, funds that have not been distributed to specific patient accounts in the form of a credit entry and have not been applied to any specific charges. If the amount that you want to refund has already been applied, you can reverse the payment to convert the amount to undistributed, making it refundable. See How to Reverse a Credit Entry, Bounced Check, or Over-Payment for the details.

In the Navigation Bar on the left side of the screen, click the type of payer (Insurance Carrier, Private Payer, or Patient (Self) Payer) you want to review. Look for non-zero amounts in the Total Undistributed Amount column. (Tip: Use the filter row just beneath the Undistributed column heading to change the column filter to “>”, then and type in a zero. Remember to clear the filter when you are done, using the same drop list.)
When you find the desired payer in the appropriate Payer list, confirm that the undistributed amount is at least as much as you intend to refund.
Open the Payer by double-clicking or by selecting the row and clicking the Edit (pencil) button on the tool bar.
Now look through the various Voucher tabs to locate the undistributed amount(s) that you want to refund.
To do the refund, open the detail view (Edit) the Voucher, and select the Refunds tab in the list box at the bottom.
Click the New button to record the amount to be refunded and the date, then save and exit on this screen as well as on the Voucher.
Notice that the undistributed amount on the Voucher and the Payer will now be reduced by the amount of your refund.

Start by checking to see if the amount you want to refund is available in the system as undistributed funds — that is, funds that have not been distributed to specific patient accounts in the form of a credit entry and have not been applied to any specific charges.
- In the Navigation Bar on the left side of the screen, click the type of payer (Insurance Carrier, Private Payer, or Patient (Self) Payer) you want to review. Look for non-zero amounts in the Undistributed column. (Tip: Use the filter row just beneath the Undistributed column heading to change the column filter to “>”, then and type in a zero. Remember to clear the filter when you are done.)