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ASSISI VETERINARY SYSTEM

PRACTICE SETUP AND USERS

Support

Tel No: 01270 310046 (Option 2)

Email: Support@practicepoint.freshdesk.com

Contents

ASSISI DESKTOP 4

Navigation Between Options 4

Save, Quit and Delete Options 5

Add New 5

Select 5

Refresh 5

Continue 5

PRACTICE SETUP 6

Practice Details 6

Branches 6

To Create a New Branch Code: 7

Recommendations 7

Observations 7

Payment Codes 8

Value Added Tax 8

To Edit a VAT Code 8

Insurers 8

To create a new Insurance Company 8

Insurance Discounts 8

To Edit/Delete an Existing Insurance Company 8

Labwork Panels 9

Invoice Message Text 9

To Add a New Message 9

To Edit/Delete an Existing Message 9

To Set the Current Active Message 9

USERS 10

User Groups 10

To Create a New User Group 10

To Edit Permissions on an Existing User Group 10

Users 10

To Create a New User 10

History Viewing Filters 11

Bookmarks 12

CUSTOMERS SETUP 13

Customer Types 13

To Add a New Customer Type 13

To Delete an Existing Customer Type 13

Client Sources 13

To Create a New Customer Source Code 13

To Edit/Delete an Existing Customer Source Code 13

Titles 13

To Create a Customer Title 13

To Edit/Delete an Existing Customer Source Code 14

Trading Terms 14

To Create a New Terms Code 14

To Edit/Delete an Existing Terms Code 17

Insurers 17

Schemes 17

CLIENTS AND ANIMALS 18

Searching for Clients and Animals 18

Clipboard 18

Viewing History 18

Adding New Clients 19

Adding New Animals 19

BACKUP AND VIRUS PROTECTION 21

Backup Protocol 21

Off-site (Cloud) Servers 21

On-site Servers 21

Online Backup 22

Internal Hard Drive Backup 22

Portable USB Drive Backup 22

Virus Protection 24

On-site Assisi/SQL Servers 24

ASSISI DESKTOP

As you open the application, if you have more than one database set up, you will be prompted to select which database you wish to navigate to. Click the relevant option. Otherwise you will be navigated straight to the login screen.

The following login screen will then be offered:

Enter your username – and password where applicable – and click the Login button.

The Assisi desktop comprises of the following selection tiles.

Create Client – click this tile to access the option to create new clients/animals.

Find Client – click this tile to search for clients/animals.

Clipboard – click to display the clients/animals seen most recently.

Appointment Book – click this tile to access the appointment book options.

Work Flow - click this tile to access the waiting lists.

Price Enquiry – click to search for fee and stock prices.

Hospital – click this tile to access the hospital/kennel booking options.

Transactions – click this tile to access month end routines

Stock – click this tile to access all of the stock orders/stock received options.

Reporting –click this tile to access standard reports, including the Ad-hoc Reports module.

Schemes – click this tile to access the practice plan schemes option.

VetEnvoy Services – click this tile to access VetEnvoy services for insurance claims, external labwork and identity chip registration options.

Settings – click this tile to access the following maintenance options:

  • Practice Setup – (Practice Details, Branches, Recommendations, > Observations, Payment Codes, VAT, Insurers and Invoice Message > Text)

  • Users Setup – (Users and User Groups)

  • Customer Setup – (Customer Types, Client Sources, Titles, > Trading Terms, Insurers and Schemes)

  • Stock – (Stock File, Dispensing Fees, Stock Locations, Outer > Units, Inner Units, Generics, Makers, Analysis, Suppliers, Import > Wholesaler File, Fix Expiry Dates)

  • Professional Fees – (Professional Fees, Analysis, Global > Adjustment)

  • Multi-Line Routines

  • Lab Work (IVLS Panels, Suppliers, Import Reference Lab Directory > of Service)

  • Appointment Books – (Rooms, Views, Appointment Types, Special > Days, Copy Patterns)

  • Work Flow Setup – (List Group Configuration, Work Flow List)

  • Hospital – (Kennel Definitions and Ward Views)

  • Communication – (Messaging Templates and Email Template)

  • Devices > – use under the guidance of Support.

Save, Quit and Delete Options

The Back tile on any screen will take you to the previous screen display and can be used in most circumstances to quit out of the current screen.

The Save tile on any screen will save your current entries.

The Delete tile, where available, will delete the current entries that have not already been saved.

Add New

Click this tile, where available, to add a new entry but there are places in the software where this tile is not available and you click an Add New link instead.

Select

Click this tile to select an option from a search result list (and sometimes to Save).

Refresh

The Refresh tile will refresh the current display.

Continue

There are options in the software where you will be prompted to click Continue.

PRACTICE SETUP

Practice Details

The fields on the practice details screen are available as tokens on all of the report layouts. Fill in the practice name, address, telephone numbers, bank details (if required) and VAT Registration number and click Save.

Click the Back button to return to the Practice Setup desktop.

Branches

Each branch should be allocated a branch code, even if the practice is a single branch practice. For each branch created, a default stock location of the same name will also be automatically created. It is possible, however, to create additional stock locations for each branch.

To Create a New Branch Code:

  1. Click the New Branch link. This will activate the branch fields on the right-hand side of the screen.

  2. Click on the Code field and type in a branch code (maximum 10 characters).

  3. Fill in the branch details and click Save.

Markup Variation

For multi-branch practices, this field allows you to add an additional markup percentage to stock for products sold from that branch. If this field is left blank, then the usual pricing rules apply.

  • Leave it blank for single branch practices.

  • Add an additional percentage markup (eg 5.00 for a 5% increase), if required, for multi-branch practices. The Markup Variation box refers specifically to stock products and the Fee Variation box refers to professional fees.

Allow Work

For main branches, this box is normally ticked so that work can be added to the branch. If you untick this box, you can allocate stock locations to this branch but not add work.

This is particularly useful if you transfer stock to vets’ cars, for example, and do not wish these stock levels to be taken into account when generating an automatic order.

Compliance SMS

 You are able to set up automatic text reminders for products – such as wormers. The above two options relate to that feature. Contact the Support Department for full details of how to configure your software to take advantage of this facility.

Message Layout

To Edit an Existing Branch Code

Click on the branch code to be edited – this will display the existing details for that code on the right-hand side of the screen. Make the required changes and click the Save button.

Recommendations

This option allows you to set up a glossary for recall text, ie See again in one week, for quick entry when adding work. This text can be printed on a client's invoice.

Observations

This option allows you to record a clinical observation (eg temperature, weight, etc) in numeric format which will give you the ability to display entries in a graphical format.

Payment Codes

This option allows you to define your available methods of payment.

Value Added Tax

This is the maintenance screen for VAT. There are 6 VAT codes that can be applied when charging stock and fees.

  • The Discount Given is reserved for system use and should not be edited.

  • Standard rate can be edited if the VAT rate changes –bear in mind, however, that once the rate is changed, then the new rate will apply immediately for all work that is added. If you wish to backdate some work at the old VAT rate, then you should use one of the Unused codes (see below) and change the VAT code manually when adding the backdated work.

  • There are two unused codes that have been built into the system for flexible reasons should the VAT rules change in the future and/or should you wish to temporarily use two different VAT codes as outlined above.

To Edit a VAT Code

  1. Click on the VAT code to be edited – this will display the existing details for that code on the right-hand side of the screen.
  1. Make the required changes and click the Save button.

Insurers

This is the maintenance screen for insurance companies that can be added to an animal’s record.

To create a new Insurance Company

  1. Click the New Insurer link at the top of the Insurance Company Maintenance screen.

  2. On the right-hand side of the screen, type in a code for the insurance company and fill in the address, telephone and email details accordingly.

  3. Click Save.

Insurance Discounts

There are two ways of automating discounts for animals that belong to an in-house scheme. This can be configured against an insurance code and the specified discounts automatically allocated to all animals that have been given that code. A better option, though, is to set up discounts using the dedicated Schemes feature. Please refer to the user manual for further details.

To Edit/Delete an Existing Insurance Company

  1. Click on the existing insurance company.

  2. Edit the details and click Save or click Delete as appropriate.

Labwork Panels

These will be configured by our Engineering/Support Department, where appropriate.

Invoice Message Text

You are able to display a variable invoice message on your invoices/receipts. This is the where you set up your invoice messages and specify which of the messages is currently active.

To Add a New Message

  1. Click New Message in the Invoice Message Text box.

  2. On the right-hand side of the screen, type in a code for the message in the Code box and the full message in the Description box.

  3. Click Save.

To Edit/Delete an Existing Message

  1. Click on the message to be edited – this will display the existing details for that message on the right-hand side of the screen.
  1. Make the required changes and click Save, or click Delete, as appropriate.

To Set the Current Active Message

  1. Click on a message.

  2. Click the Set Current Message tile.

  1. A message confirming that the invoice message has been set will be displayed.

USERS

You will be prompted for a username – and password where applicable (this is optional) – each time that you open the application. Each person using the application should, therefore, be registered as a user in Assisi. When registering a new user, it is possible to decide which options within the application that user is allowed to access by creating user groups with the permissions specified for each group and then allocating that user to a user group.

User Groups

To Create a New User Group

  1. Click Settings on the Assisi desktop.

  2. Click Users and then User Groups.

  3. Click New Group, type in the group name, click the Save button and click OK at the save prompt.

  4. The new group name will then be displayed in the group display box. Click on this to display the all of the permissions on the right-hand side of the screen in the permissions display box.

  5. Select the relevant permissions for that group by clicking on the selection box to the left of each permission. This will add a tick alongside the permissions that you have selected to activate and automatically save the selections.

To Edit Permissions on an Existing User Group

If a permission is changed for a user group, then it is changed for all members of that group.

Click on a group and click on the box alongside a permission to toggle the tick between on and off. The changes will be automatically saved.

Using the Permissions Filter

To filter the list of permissions, type some text in the filter box and click the Display button.

Users

To Create a New User

  1. Click Settings on the Assisi desktop.

  1. Click Users and then Users again.

  2. Click the New User link. This will activate the user fields on the right-hand side of the screen.

  3. Fill in the relevant user details on the right-hand side of the screen.

  4. The User Name/Short Login should be the full name of the user – > the short login can be the user's initials. The user can log in > using either their full name or this short login.

  5. Forename/Surname should be the forename and surname of the user.

  6. The Password is optional. It can be viewed in full from this > screen so, if you are activating passwords for your users, make > sure that your general users don't have access to the permissions > Maintain Users and Maintain User Groups, otherwise they > will be able to look up other users' permissions and edit the > permissions in the user groups.

  7. User Group should be the group to which the user is to be > assigned.

  8. Branch Code – the branch code when adding work normally defaults > to system settings so this box should normally be left blank > unless you always want this user’s invoices to default to the > branch selected.

  9. The Active User box will be ticked by default and should remain > so as long as the user is an active user of the application. When > users leave, the tick can be removed by clicking on it, leaving > the user details on the system but rendering that user inactive.

By default, inactive users will not be displayed in the Users box. Click the Show Hidden/Deactivated box to display inactive users, if required.

  • Force Password Entry (Work) If this box is ticked no-one will be > able to select this user on the work entry screen without the > correct password being entered.

  • Force Password Entry (Payment) If this box is ticked no-one will > be able to select this user on the payment entry screen without > the correct password being entered.

  • Session Timeout Tick this box to activate the auto logout of the > application following a period of inactivity.

History Viewing Filters

Be aware that the following filters may affect the display.

By default, the last 50 lines only will be displayed. The system does calculate how many rows exist in total and the number of lines displayed can be edited, if required.

User Level Viewing Preferences

  • User level preferences can be set to control what elements of an > animal’s live history are displayed for that user.  You can choose > to omit specific content types when viewing the history. This > allows the user to customise the initial history display and > filter out items such as dog food, toys, consent forms or image > links etc which are considered by some to clutter up the display.

  • If items are omitted then the user is prompted with a message that this is the case and the filter can be removed at that point to view the entire history, if desired, by clicking on the message.


To set up User History Viewing Preferences:

  1. Select History Preferences in the System Users Setup Menu.

  1. Select the username and type in the password (where applicable).

  2. Read last lines of history on initial display. 0 = System Default (which is 50 lines).

This option allows the user to display a customised number of lines, different to the default 50 lines. If this is left at zero, then the default 50 lines of history will be displayed.

  1. There is an option on stock and fee Analysis Codes to Omit from History by default. If this option is selected for a specific analysis code, then all stock and services with that analysis code will not be displayed for any user by default.

If you choose to display stock and service (fee lines), then these can be still be filtered to exclude specific Stock and Fee Analysis Codes.

  1. Users can also choose to display consultation line divider in an animal’s history.

Temporary Viewing Preferences

You can also temporarily change these preferences at the point of viewing the history screen. To do so, right click on the bottom of the history display screen, to display the selection screen and tick/untick the relevant options. This will not change the default settings for that user.

Bookmarks

When viewing an animal’s history, users can add a bookmark to work displayed in the history – to committed, uncommitted and/or batched work.

Each user can choose a colour in which the bookmark symbol is displayed and a character (letter of the alphabet or numbers 0 - 9) to customise the bookmark for individual users.

To Set up Bookmarks for Individual Users

  1. From the Assisi Desktop, click Settings>Users>History Preferences.

  1. Display the Username.

  2. Select the Bookmark Character and Colour for that user from the drop-down boxes.

  3. If you wish the bookmarks to be automatically saved to the Animal Warning screen, click Show bookmarks in Warnings Panel.

  4. Click Save.

  5. Make sure that the User History Bookmarks user permission is active for the relevant group/s of users.

CUSTOMERS SETUP

Customer Types

Customer group types are used on the customer screen to define the type of client, ie it is a way of grouping your customers different types of customers for analysis purposes. This option allows you to set up your own group types.

To Add a New Customer Type

  1. Click the New Group link. This will activate the customer group fields on the right-hand side of the screen.
  1. Type in a Code and Description for the new group and click the Save button.

To Delete an Existing Customer Type

Click on the group to be deleted and click the Delete button.

You can edit the description only of an existing customer group by clicking on the group name which will display the existing description on the right-hand side of the screen. Make your changes and click the Save button.

Client Sources

There is a field on the customer details screen called Referred by which offers a choice from a drop-down list. This is the option that allows you to create and edit your own source codes.

To Create a New Customer Source Code

  1. Click the New Source link. This will activate the customer source fields on the right-hand side of the screen.
  1. Type in the details for the new code and click the Save button.

To Edit/Delete an Existing Customer Source Code

Click on the code to be edited or deleted and

  • make the changes and click the Save button – or

  • click the Delete button.

Titles

This option allows you to create/edit your own customer titles.

To Create a Customer Title

  1. Click the New Title link. This will activate the customer title fields on the right-hand side of the screen.
  1. Type in the new title and click the Save button.

To Edit/Delete an Existing Customer Source Code

Click on the code to be edited or deleted and

  • make the changes and click the Save button – or

  • click the Delete button.

Trading Terms

On the customer financial screen there is an option to define default trading terms for that customer by adding a Terms Code to the account. (It is possible to temporarily change these terms for one single transaction, if required.) This option is where those codes are configured and/or maintained.

To Create a New Terms Code

  1. Select Trading Terms from the Customer Setup Screen and click the Add button.

  1. Type in a description and a code for the new terms. As these codes need to be unique, click the Save tile button alongside the New Terms Code box to ensure that your new code is available. If it is already in use, select a different code.

  2. Click the Continue button to define the terms for the new code.

Invoice Text

Any text that's entered into this box can print automatically on every invoice for a client with this Terms Code.

Line Discounts

  • This allows you to allocate a discount to the client with a different percentage discount for stock and services. Type the required discounts into the relevant boxes.

  • Tick the Sell at Cost box if you wish to sell stock to the customer at cost price (+ VAT).

Customer Discount

There is a client discount option on the customer's financial screen that can be used to generate a discount on stock and/or services and these settings relate to that option. If you add a percentage discount to the financial screen, you can define here whether that discount applies to stock only, services only or both. If you select to apply it to both, however, the discount cannot vary, it must be the same percentage for both.

VARIABLE DISCOUNTS AND SURCHARGES

Credit Surcharge

This will allocate a surcharge, which remains in place if not paid within a specific period of time. However, the surcharge will be removed again if it is paid within that period of time.

Retrospective Discounts

This will generate a credit that will remain on the client's account and can be allocated against future invoices, provided that they pay for the current invoice within a specified period of time.

Settlement Discount 1/2

Settlement discount is usually allowed if payment is received within the specified time period and VAT is calculated on the discounted amount, even if the discount is not allowed because of late payment. There are user permissions that can be activated to prevent the discount being allowed if it is past the specified payment date.

It is possible to set up two levels of settlement with VAT being calculated on the greater discounted value. The different levels of settlement discounts can be used, for example, to allow a higher discount for payments made at the time of consultation.

For all of these variable discounts/surcharges, the percentage of surcharge/discount should be entered in the percentage discount box and the specified payment period can be entered in one of two ways. For example:

Settlement Discount 1 would allow a discount of 5% of the value of the invoice if paid within 7 days of the date of invoice.

Settlement Discount 2 would allow a discount of 2.5% of the value of the invoice if paid before the 28th day of the month following the date of the invoice.

Credit Limit

This field allows you to set a credit limit for the customer. Type in the amount of the credit limit into the credit limit box and you will be warned when the customer's balance reaches that limit. If you wish to ensure that no further work is added to the account when the limit is reached, click the Stop Work at Limit box.

Monthly Surcharge

A surcharge routine can be run at the end of each month to calculate and post surcharges to clients with outstanding accounts. If you run this routine, this field controls whether this group of clients will be included and, if so, by how much they will be surcharged.

This can be a percentage of the outstanding debt or a fixed amount. If you wish to activate this option

  • type in only the value of the surcharge if you wish it to be a percentage of the outstanding debt, or

  • type in the value and click the Fixed Amount box if you wish it to be a fixed amount.

Tax Status

Select the relevant default VAT status from the drop-down list for customers who are allocated this credit code. If you wish charity rules to apply, ie zero rated stock but standard rated fees, set the status to standard rate and click the Charity Rules check-box.

Invoice Defaults

These settings determine the default options for printing invoices when you add charges for clients with this credit code. The default settings can be overwritten when completing the work, if necessary. Select one of the printing option buttons and click the Post Invoices check-box if applicable.

Click this option if you wish to print an invoice at the time.

Click this option if you wish to print an itemised advice note, but not an invoice, at the time that the invoice is raised.

Click this option if you do not wish to print an invoice at the time but hold it for printing later. If you choose this option, the invoice will remain on the held invoice file until either the invoice is printed or a payment is taken that is allocated against the invoice.

Never Print Invoice

Click this option if you do not wish to print an invoice at the time, nor do you wish to place the invoice on the held invoice file. It does not prevent you from printing the invoice later from the client’s Financial Tab.

Post Invoice Transaction

Click this check-box if you wish to post the invoice to the account immediately. If you wish the invoice to be held for posting later, ie batch the work, leave the check-box unselected.

Payment Defaults

Click this option if you wish the receipt option, whenever you take a payment for clients with this credit code, to default to Print Receipt. This option can be overwritten at the time of taking the payment if you wish.

Layouts

This option allows you to select the default invoice, receipt, advice and statement layouts for this group of clients.

To Edit/Delete an Existing Terms Code

Click on the code to be edited or deleted and

  • make the changes and click the Save button – or

  • click the Delete button but make sure that no existing clients > already have that terms code before it is deleted. The Support > Department can provide you with a report that identifies which > terms codes are in use.

Insurers

This option is also available on the Practice Setup Menu.

Schemes

This option allows you to set up dedicated in-house discount schemes for animals. Please refer to the user manual for further details.

CLIENTS AND ANIMALS

Searching for Clients and Animals

  1. Click the Find Client tile.

  1. Type your search criteria into the relevant box/s and click the tick to display the results of your search.

  2. CUSTOMER DETAILS SEARCH FIELD

Search Field Type of Search

Name Client’s surname (beginning with search)

Address Any of the address fields (containing search)

Anywhere Any field on the client screen (containing search)

You can add more than one word to the Anywhere search field (each word separated by spaces) and you can then specify that you are searching for records with Any one or All of the words, wherever they appear on the screen or as a Phrase where all of the words appear next to each other on the screen in the same field.

  1. ANIMAL DETAILS SEARCH FIELD

Name Animal's name (containing search)

Anywhere Any field on the animal screen (containing search)

With the same Any, All and Phrase options as outlined above for the customer.

  1. Press the Enter key or click the tick tile to display the results.

  2. Select the required client from the search results and click the tick to display the results of your search.

Clipboard

The clipboard option displays all client/animal records that have been recently accessed by the current Assisi user - in the order that they have been accessed and with the most recent entry at the top of the clipboard list. You can click on the tick box alongside the entry to navigate to that client/animal record.

If there is any uncommitted work for any animal on the client’s record, the tick will be displayed with a green background, so this is a useful way for the user to check whether they have unintentionally left any uncommitted work.

Viewing History

  • If an animal name is not included in the search criteria or clipboard display, you will be navigated to the client record. Click the Animal tile to view the animal selection screen. Click the animal to view the animal screen.

  • If an animal name is included in the search criteria or clipboard display, you will be navigated directly to the animal record.

Only history that has been generated using Assisi will be displayed on the History screen by default.

If the client has history that has been converted from a previous system, click the Converted tile to view the converted history.

Adding New Clients

  1. Click the Create Client tile.

  1. Enter the client's details.

  2. If a phone number has been added, click on the box to the right of > the telephone number field to indicate that the client agrees to > any text reminders that you may wish to send to that telephone > number.

  3. Any fields with a down arrow to the right of the field indicates > that you can select an option from a drop-down list.

  4. These drop-down lists can be maintained in the Customer Setup option > in the Settings option on the Assisi desktop.

  5. You can toggle between General Comments and Others by > clicking on the required option.

  6. Click on the Communication box to indicate that the client > wishes to be added to your mailing list. Not ticking this box will > indicate that the client does not wish any communication at all.

  7. Click General Comments and type the comments in the comments > box.

  8. Click Other to type in any comments that you may not wish to be visible by default on the client screen

  9. New clients will default to Active. This is a toggle switch and can be used ti mark clients as inactive.

  10. When complete, click the tick in the top right-hand corner of the screen to save the client details.

  11. Specify a Terms Code for the client by clicking on the Financial Account tile and selecting a code from the drop-down list Click the tick to save the entry.

Adding New Animals

  1. With the Client Details displayed, click the Animal Records tile.
  1. Click the relevant animal type tile on the left-hand side of the screen and fill in the animal's details. The default choices are Equine, Large Animal and Small Animal, with three different layouts, as follows.

Equine Screen Layout

Large Animal Screen Layout

Small Animal Screen Layout

  • The animal reference will be added automatically by the system once > the record has been saved.

  • The Active box will be ticked to indicate that the animal record > is active.

  • As you enter the DOB the animal's age will be calculated and > displayed automatically.

  • The Date Registered will default to today's date.

  • The Scheme field relates to an In-House Insurance Scheme. Leave > this blank as this is not yet active in the software.

  • Click the Tick to save the record.

  • The animal details will be displayed in blue if the animal is male and pink if the animal is female to allow instant recognition of the sex of the animal.

  • To add another animal, repeat from step 2 above.

  • To navigate back to the Client Details, click the Back tile.

BACKUP AND VIRUS PROTECTION

Backup Protocol

Off-site (Cloud) Servers

Assisi/SQL Cloud servers that we provide are backed up by ourselves and need no further backup routines to be carried out at the practice.

This does not include practice PCs that you use to access a cloud server and on which you store personal/practice documents. It is the practice’s responsibility to back up such machines.

On-site Servers

All physical Assisi/SQL servers which we provide will automatically perform a full system backup onto an internal drive each night. We also recommend, however, that you perform a periodic (monthly) manual backup onto the external USB drives provided (in your emergency recovery box), which can be taken off site (in case of fire/flood/theft etc).

For servers that we do not provide or maintain, we assume that you already have a full system backup routine in place. If not, we would recommend that you purchase 2 external hard drives (2TB) so that we can schedule a nightly backup (one to stay in place each night on site, and one to be carried out manually each month and taken off-site).

Additionally, we offer our optional cloud backup which backs up all of your SQL server configurations and data automatically every night. We can provide this service (currently at £10 per server per month) if you wish to take up this option. This is an additional level of security for your secure data. The more backups that you have, the more secure that your data will be.

Your Assisi documents/attachments, etc, are backed up in the cloud onto a Onedrive or Syncthing account. If this should become full, you will need to upgrade the capacity. Should this become necessary, you can do this by logging into your Onedrive or Syncthing account.

For multi-branch practices, replication between branches, where applicable, means that you would be unlikely to lose your client data in the event of drive failure. However, if your publisher failed, it would take us a minimum of a week to restore this data from replication alone, as you would have lost all of your configuration. Also, it would mean that all of the branches would be down, not just your main branch.

On top of being down for a week, we would charge per server for recovery if you do not have a system backup in place. On the other hand, if you do have a backup in place, we should be able to restore it in a few hours.

Out of all of these possible options (and we recommend them all), the bare minimum we would insist upon would be one external hard drive backup for the publisher plus the online backup, or 2 external hard drive backups. We can only ever recover you to your last good backup and it's the practice's responsibility to ensure they have one, and that it is backing up correctly each night.

Your practice PCs should also be backed up if you store personal/practice documents on these PCs. It is the practice’s responsibility to back up such machines.

Online Backup

All practices by default will be registered for online backup. This facility automatically backs up any daily data changes as they occur.

The internal hard drive backup, together with this online data backup, would allow us to rebuild your server should this ever become necessary. However, we strongly recommend that, in addition to these two automatic backups, you back up your internal hard drive – at least once a month - onto the portable external USB drive that will have been provided with your order and left on site for this purpose. This portable hard drive should be stored separately from your server, and preferably off-site to cover all eventualities.

Internal Hard Drive Backup

Your internal hard drive will already be scheduled to back up automatically each day – the default time will be 9.00 pm. Each day, you should check that this backup has completed successfully the previous evening. On the A1 desktop, double-click the Windows Server Backup shortcut to check the backup log.

Note: Please note that if the server had been turned off at the scheduled time, then the backup would start as soon as the server is turned back on.

Portable USB Drive Backup

  1. Connect your external hard drive into any of the free USB ports on your server.

  1. On the A1 desktop, double-click the Windows Server Backup shortcut.

  2. On the top right hand side of the Local Backup screen, click Backup Once.

  3. On the Backup Options screen, click Different Options and then click Next

  4. On the Select Backup Configuration screen, click Custom and then click Next.

  5. On the Select Items for Backup Screen, click Add Items.

  6. Click Bare Metal Recovery. This should also automatically select System State and Local Disk (C:).

  7. On the Specify Destination Type screen, Local Drives will already be selected. Leave this and click Next.

  8. Select your portable hard drive from the drop down box and click Next.

  9. On the Backup Confirmation Screen, click Backup and the backup will begin.

  10. When complete, safely remove the portable USB drive and store this away from the server. If possible, remove from site.

Virus Protection

There has been a recent upsurge in attacks on computer systems by Ransomware computer viruses.  If this happens to you, it will be necessary to restore a backup as the files cannot be
recovered.  If you do not have a backup then the data will be permanently lost.

To reduce the serious risk this poses, please adhere to the following advice.

  • Have an internet browsing policy and make sure that everyone knows what type of sites you are happy for them to access and be very wary of opening emails and following links contained in emails - even when they appear to be from someone you know. Do not download attachments unless you are absolutely sure they are genuine, as scammers often distribute fake email messages that appear to be from well-known sources, luring recipients into clicking on a malicious link and installing their malware.

  • It is sensible to install antivirus software on your practice workstation PC’s and laptops. Modern computers (running Windows 10) have built-in Windows Defender but if you are using PC’s running older operating systems, such as Windows 7, we would be happy to supply AVG if required. It is worth mentioning that Microsoft has now ended extended support for Windows 7.

On-site Assisi/SQL Servers

  • Check that your automated backup routines are working and do perform the periodic ad-hoc off-site backups of each server as recommended.  The disk drive for this will have been provided in your Emergency Recovery Box when the server was delivered. This disconnected backup is vital as we have seen that the viruses have started to target online backup devices.

  • Always ensure that Windows updates are installed as soon as possible after they become available.  The updates Microsoft distributes often help protect against such malware attacks. All servers and workstations that we supply have automatic Windows updates enabled, but sometimes you need to reboot the computer for these updates to complete.  We recommend that you reboot your computer once a week to ensure that this doesn’t take too long. Never turn off your computers when updates are being installed, no matter how long it is taking.  If in doubt, give us a call.

  • Ensure your antivirus solution is up date and current. If we supplied your server, it will be protected by AVG Business – unless you specifically requested otherwise - and we will usually contact you to remind you when it is due for renewal.  However, it is ultimately the practice’s responsibility to keep this anti-virus software up-to-date, so please do check this yourselves.

  • We would also recommend that you consider installing Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Premium Edition on your server in addition to your standard antivirus package.  It has a low cost and offers specific Ransomware protection.  If you would like advice on how to do this please call our Support team and we will be happy to assist.

  • Finally, please ensure that everyone knows the location of the Server Operating System Media in case the worst should happen and recovery needs to be attempted.  It was supplied with your Emergency Recovery Box.