Related animals

Chapter Contents

Introduction to multiple animals

In some cases a single client may be responsible for many animals. It would be tedious to have to enter a client's name, address and other details each time they presented a different animal for treatment. Therefore Premvet 5 provides a means of "linking" a single client to multiple animals.

A "chain" of animals...

The system treats the FIRST record card containing a client's details as the MASTER record. When the client's second animal is added, it is said to be "Related from" the first. The third animal is then "Related from" the second and, so on - creating a "Chain" of related animals.

We have already learnt that the system gives every record a unique number. When you are looking at a record which is part of a chain, the system will also display the unique numbers of two other records. These are the current record's closest neighbours in the chain. Displayed in the field labelled 'Related', the number preceded with a hyphen is the previous record in the chain (the record related from), while the number not preceded with a hyphen is the next record in the chain (the record related to).

Displaying a chain of animals

The system can provide an "at a glance" summary of a client and all their related animals. This screen is called the 'Tree View' record (in earlier releases of the software it was also known as the 'Tombstone').

The Tree View

The Tree View shows the client's name and address and then, instead of displaying animal specific details, the screen shows all the animals belonging to the client. (Up to 1000 animals may be displayed via this view). The tree view is accessed by selecting the management prompt option 'Tree'.

e.g.

==============================================================================
XYZ Dummy Practice                                 Feline record card (PVS)
==============================================================================
Client Name : Jeffrey, Mr & Mrs P.                    Number     :    233
Address l.1 : 12 Balmoral Street                      Branch     : 3
Address l.2 : North Berwick                           Type       : SA
Address l.3 : East Lothian              EH39 4RQ      Status     :   
Telephone   : 01620 895556
==============================================================================
  Buddy           Feline     MN DSH        Black        10.1997             235
  Flash           Canine     F  Sheltie    Typical      10.1999             234
 +Garfield        Feline     MN DSH        Ginger       01.2000             233
*-Misty           Lagomorphs M  Rabbit                  10.1997             236






==============================================================================
4/4 Animals: TOTAL outstanding is     0.00
==============================================================================
Add Bill Hist Cash Today Quit Remove or select with the <arrow keys>.

The selection screen will be sorted by the following criteria:

The status line on the screen will show the number of animals, as you can hide animals the line will show the number of animals visible and the number in total. e.g. 2/4 animal(s) indicates there are four animals in total but only two are shown. If you press the slash (/) key this will toggle the hidden animals.

To help identify animals, the system will use colour events to alter the colour of each line based on status codes. Colour event 130 will be used for dead animals (DD appears somewhere in the status field). If you want other status codes coloured you have to set Tree_Colour in params.txt. You specify a list of status codes to look for and these will 'map' to colour events 131 - 139.

Tree View: Prompt Line

The prompt line is slightly different from the usual management prompt line. The table below summarises the available options.

Prompt

You may also use the 'Arrow Keys' and the 'PageUp/Down keys' to scroll up and down to select a specific record.

Adding: Related Animals

To add an additional record for a client, follow this procedure:

• Display an existing record for this client.
  This does not need to be the last (or first) record.

• Select the T (Tree) option from the MR prompt line.

• Select the Add option. The system will display a new record card and you will be prompted for the client questions relating to the client type. Details relating to the client name and address are filled in automatically.

Manual relating of clients

In some cases you may want to add an existing animal to one of your existing clients. For example, your client Mr. Jones may have sold his pedigree pooch Traci to your client Mr. Smith.

1. Make a note of the unique number allocated to the animal you wish to add to another group of records, in this case Mr Jones with Traci.
2. Make sure that 'Traci' is not part of an existing tree view, if she is use 'R'emove to de-relate her.
3. Now access the client you want to add the animal to, in this case Mr Smith and display the tree (by selecting Tree from the prompt line). Take a note of the record number for the LAST animal in the chain - this will be indicated by a '-' on the left of the screen.
4. Select this animal by highliting the record and pressing <Return> line.
5. Select the Edit option from the management prompt line of this animal.
6. Select 'RE' as the edit code (RE is the field code for 'Related'). Or press the 'Down Arrow' Key.
7. You will be prompted to enter the client number. Enter the number from 1) above.

De-relating animals

It may be that an animal displayed on the tree has been added in error or the client sells it. You can use the Remove option on the prompt line to de-relate the animal fully. This will not delete the animal, it just removes all links both to and from the rest of the animals.

Printing related animals

You can get a full printout of all animals belonging to a client with a brief description e.g. sex, species etc., by using the invisible Dump option on the prompt line. The print option is identical except it will print name, last paid and balance on the Point of Sale printer. Both this option will honour the 'Hide/Show' animal status - that is if 'dead animals' are hidden they will not be included.

Changing Related Details

If you make changes to the 'Master' record you can be prompted, if you want, to update all related records as well. The fields that will be updated are:

Name, Address lines, Telephone Number, E-Mail address, Referred by and Preferred Vet.

These can also be updated for all records via the Tree option 'Set' which does the same task.

The option:

{Classic} Gen Apps ->Params -> Fields & Defaults -> Options -> More -> 18
{New Style} System -> Setup ->Params -> Fields & Defaults -> Options -> More -> 18

controls the default, if set to Yes then the default will be NOT to update all records and if the tree 'Set' option is used you will be asked to confirm the update. Otherwise the default will be yes and tree 'Set' will not prompt you.

Changing the Status Field

If you are making changes to the status code for related animals you may find the 'G'lobal option of help. This will apply changes to the status code across all the related animals.

You should specify a + to add to all records and a - to remove from all records.

For example is you were setting a client as a bad debt then:

Accessing related records from the management prompt line

There are three options for displaying related animals. One of them is the 'TREE' option which has been explained earlier; the other two are 'RLTD' and 'MAST'. These abbreviations stand for RELATED and MASTER.

Rltd (related)

will display the record of the client this record is 'related TO', i.e. the next record in the chain.

Mast (master)

displays the client that this record is 'related FROM', i.e. the previous record in the chain.

Payment & Bills

The options on the tree view prompt that deal with bills and payments are dealt with in their respective sections.

Tree View: Defaults

You can alter some of the options and the way the data is presented via the tree view

Display Order

Default to the Tree View

Client History

Tip: Set one up for Analysis code 255 (Payments), with Start/End Dates, so you can quickly show all payments for all animals on one screen.