New in 2.4

Complete

The following is a list of new features and improvements in the 2.4 release. You should also check Known Issues and the Implementation Checklist.

Features in this release include:

Departments

Charges may now be assigned Departments. These represent areas of the practice e.g. Consulting, Surgery, Emergency, and can be used to:

See Concepts - Departments for more details.

Workflow

Appointment confirmation & cancellation by SMS

Appointments can now be confirmed and cancelled by SMS, if a 2-way SMS provider is being used.
See Appointment Reminder Sender - Reply Processing for details.

Improved appointment SMS visibility

Manual appointment reminders no longer prevent automatic reminders

If the Remind button in Workflow - Scheduling is used to send an appointment SMS reminder, this no longer prevents a subsequent automatic reminder for the appointment being sent.

This is useful if the practice sends a confirmation SMS to a customer when an appointment is made, but also want the customer to be reminded about the appointment when it is due.

The Disable Automatic Reminder flag can be ticked to prevent a subsequent automatic reminder.

Automatically close print window on Check-Out

At the end of Check-Out, a window is displayed to print documents. Previously, this automatically closed when the selected documents were printed, but not when they were emailed.
To save a click, the window now closes when they are emailed as well, and the documents are flagged as being printed.

Products

Product Tasks

Medication, Merchandise and Service products can now be configured to create Tasks when invoiced.

In the above:

This displays as follows when the product is invoiced:

Alternatively, the task can be configured for a specific work list:

In this case, the work list cannot be changed when the product is invoiced:

Product browser Product Type Filter

Product browsers now include a Product Type filter:

Printed Description

Products may now include a Printed Description field, to provide additional information to customers about products they are purchasing.
Where present, these will be included in printed Invoices, Counter Sales, Credits, and Estimates.

Customers

Customer referrals
 

When a customer is referred by another customer, this can now be recorded by selecting Customer in the Referred By field. This prompts for the referring customer:

Improved charge, payment and refund notes visibility

Any notes associated with customer charges, payments and refunds are now displayed in the summary tables in Customers - Charges, Payments and Account.

Patients

Microchip source number

The Source Number can now be recorded when adding microchips. This is used in some jurisdictions to identify a breeder, council pound, animal shelter, pet shop or foster carer that owns the animal.

Prescriptions for products with doses

Prescriptions now use product dose information to determine the quantity for a patient.
Previously, only a fixed quantity was supported.

Documents

PetSure insurance claim pre-approval request templates

Two new templates are provided to help submit insurance claim pre-approval requests to PetSure:

To use:

1. Create a patient Letter
2. For the Template field, select one of the above templates
3. Fill out the prompts

For standard claims, the PetSure Pre-Approval Letter needs to be printed and signed by the customer. If submitting it to PetSure on the customer's behalf, the signed copy should be scanned and uploaded to the Letter, before emailing.

Fit to Fly certificate

A Fit to Fly template is now included to generate fit-to-fly certificates for patients.

To use:

1. Create a patient Letter
2. For the Template field, select Fit to Fly Certificate
3. Fill out the prompt, if required

Database letterhead logos

Letterhead logo images can now be stored in the database. This is an improvement over the existing technique of storing logos in the filesystem, which fails if the logo file is no longer accessible (e.g. if the file is deleted, or OpenVPMS is moved to a different machine, or a network drive is unavailable etc).

Logos can be added by uploading an image to the Logo field of Letterhead & Document Control.

To use this feature, the Letterhead templates need to be loaded. See the Implementation Checklist for details.

E-signatures

Signature images may now be uploaded for each user, for inclusion in JasperReports.
The following templates have been updated to automatically insert a signature for the clinician:

External Edit

OpenOffice now launches automatically when using External Edit to edit an OpenOffice or Word document.

Static content for Forms

Document Templates for Customer, Patient, and Supplier Forms may now be PDF files. This can be useful when providing handouts that don't need to be merged with customer, patient or supplier data.

Email Template attachments

Email Templates may now have predefined attachments that will be attached to emails wherever the template is used. This includes:

Attachments may be Forms with PDF content.

Laboratory

Order validation

Laboratory services can now raise an alert when editing investigations.
This can help avoid submission errors if the investigation or associated details are incomplete.

E.g. IDEXX requires that the patient has a birth date:

The laboratory order cannot be submitted until the error is corrected:

Administration

Change Printer

If a physical printer is changed or removed, any practice location or document template that uses the printer must be updated.

This process is now streamlined through the Change Printer button in Administration - Templates.

OpenOffice

Strong passwords

The requirements for user passwords can now be set via the Password Policy button in Administration - Users.

Forgot password support

Users can now reset passwords via the Forgot your password? link on the Login page.
This sends out an email containing a code that must be entered to reset the password.

This requires:

For security, codes expire after a short period of time and there is a limit to the number of times they can be entered incorrectly.

Change password support

Users can now be made to update their passwords when they next login by:

This can be used to ensure passwords meet the Password Policy.

Practice Logo

A logo may now be configured on the Practice.

This is displayed:

Firewall

OpenVPMS now includes a firewall that can limit access to specific IP addresses.
This should be enabled where OpenVPMS is deployed on a publically accessible host with limited/no firewall support of its own.

The firewall can be configured to allow specific users to connect from outside with multifactor authentication. Both one-time passwords sent via email, and Time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) are supported.

See:

Scheduling

Schedules now include a Max Duration to determine the maximum duration of appointments and calendar blocks. When set, this greatly improves response times in Workflow - Scheduling.

Implementation Checklist

Complete

The following is a checklist for existing users upgrading to the 2.4 release and is aimed at both the person doing the upgrade and the administrators responsible for systems operations. 

It provides a list of things that you may need to do in order to take advantages of the new features in this release.

MySQL Users

OpenVPMS now requires two MySQL users when connecting to the database; a read/write user (default

'openvpms'), and a read-only user (default 'openvpmsreport').
These can be configured running:

  • toolbox configure
     
  • toolbox database --setup-users -u <admin-user> -p

The <admin-user> argument is a MySQL user with administration privileges.

The read/write user can also no longer be used for the toolbox database --update command. This requires a MySQL user with administration privileges, specified using the new -u argument:

    toolbox database --update -u <admin-user> -p

 

The read/write user has fewer authorities than in prior releases.
It may no longer be used to back up the database.
Use the MySQL administration user for this purpose.

Tomcat

If OpenVPMS is hosted behind a proxy or load balancer, Tomcat needs to be configured to pass the correct client IP addresses through.
See Tomcat Configuration for details.

Document template updates

 

The following document templates were updated:

  • reports/Letterhead/<size>/Letterhead.jrxml
    reports/Letterhead/A5/Letterhead-A5.jrxml

    Updated to use the Logo from Letterhead, and to support long practice names.
    See OVPMS-2520, OVPMS-2913
     

  • reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Desexing Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Microchip Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Prescription External.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Rabies Vaccination Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Referral Letter.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Vaccination Certificate with reminders.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Vaccination Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Medical Records/<size>/Prescription.jrxml

    Updated to insert the clinician signature if present.
    See OVPMS-2605.
     

  • reports/Customer/Invoice/<size>/Invoice Items.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Invoice/<size>/Invoice Items-PT.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Estimate/<size>/Estimate Items.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Estimate/<size>/Estimate Items-PT.jrxml

    Updated to include the product Printed Description, if present.
    See OVPMS-2860
     

  • reports/Reporting/Reminders/A4/Customer Grouped Email Reminder.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2681
     
  • reports/Customer/Email/Customer Base Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Invoice Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Receipt Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Refund Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Statement Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Base Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Estimate Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Owner History Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Referral History Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Desexing Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Euthanasia Consent.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Microchip Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Prescription External.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Rabies Vaccination Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Referral Letter.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Surgical Admission.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Vaccination Certificate.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Vaccination Certificate with reminders.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Grouped Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Last Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Next Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Products or Reminder Type Name Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Single Collection Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Single Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Customer Grouped Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Collection Overdue Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Collection Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Desexing Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Grouped Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Single Overdue Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/<size>/Patient Single Reminder.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2853
     
  • reports/Customer/Email/Customer Invoice Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Receipt Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Refund Email.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Statement Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Base Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Estimate Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Owner History Email.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Email/Patient Referral History Email.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Grouped Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Last Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Next Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Products or Reminder Type Name Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Single Collection Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Single Email Reminder.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2877
     
  • reports/Customer/Statement/<size>/Statement.jrxml
    reports/Customer/Email/Customer Statement Email.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2880
     
  • reports/Patient/Documents/<size>/Fit to Fly Certificate.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2917
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Last Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reminders/Email/Patient Next Dose Products Email Reminder.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2887
     
  • reports/Patient/Investigation/A4/Investigation.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Investigation/A4/Investigation Images.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Investigation/A4/Investigation Result Items.jrxml
    reports/Patient/Investigation/A4/Investigation Results.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2948

For sites using standard templates, these can be loaded using:

toolbox template --load documents --size <size>

where <size> may be A4, A5 or Letter. This will load all document templates, so should not be run on sites that customise these. Sites that customise these should refer to the above for the changes required.

Alternatively, templates can be loaded separately, using the following commands:

toolbox template --load 'Letterhead' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Letterhead-A5' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Desexing Certificate' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Microchip Certificate' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Prescription External' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Rabies Vaccination Certificate' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Referral Letter' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Vaccination Certificate' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Prescription' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Invoice Items' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Invoice Items-PT' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Estimate Items' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Estimate Items-PT' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Grouped Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Base Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Invoice Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Receipt Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Refund Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Statement Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Base Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Estimate Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Owner History Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Referral History Email' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Euthanasia Consent' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Surgical Admission' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Vaccination Certificate (Reminders)' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Grouped Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Last Dose Products Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Next Dose Products Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Products or Reminder Type Name Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Single Collection Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Single Email Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Grouped Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Collection Overdue Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Collection Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Desexing Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Grouped Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Single Overdue Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Patient Single Reminder' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Statement' -size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Fit to Fly Certificate' --size <size> 
toolbox template --load 'Investigation' 'Investigation Results' 'Investigation Result Items' 'Investigation Images' --size <size>

Report template updates

The following reports were updated:

  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Financial/<size>/Practice Summary_ProdSalesLocation.jrxml
    reports/Reporting/Reports/Financial/<size>/Practice Summary_ProdSalesType.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2824
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Customer/<size>/Customer Sales Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2891
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Product/<size>/Stock Movement Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2890
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Product/<size>/Stock Valuation Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2889
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Customer/<size>/Customer Discount Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2863
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Financial/A4/Practice Summary_CountApptsClinician.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2919, OVPMS-2929
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Financial/A4/Practice Summary_CountApptsType.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2919

     

  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Product/A4/Restricted Drug Sales Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2916
     
  • reports/External/PetSure/A4/PetSure Pre-Approval.jrxml
    reports/External/PetSure/A4/PetSure Pre-Approval Email.jrxml
    reports/External/PetSure/A4/PetSure GapOnly Pre-Approval.jrxml
    reports/External/PetSure/A4/PetSure GapOnly Pre-Approval Email.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2924
    (NOTE: these are treated as reports simply for loading convenience. They are unlikely to be customised).
     
  • reports/Reporting/Reports/Customer/A4/Customer Product Sales Report.jrxml
    See OVPMS-2953

For sites using standard templates, these can be loaded using:

toolbox template --load reports --size <size>

where <size> may be A4, or Letter. This will load all report templates, so should not be run on sites that customise these. Sites that customise these should refer to the above links for the changes required.

Alternatively, templates can be loaded separately, using the following commands:

toolbox template --load 'Practice Sum. Poduct Sales by Location' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Practice Sum. Poduct Sales by Type' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Sales Report' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Stock Movement Report' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Stock Valuation Report' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Customer Discount Report' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Practice Sum. Count Appointments by Clinician' --size <size> 
toolbox template --load 'Practice Sum. Count Appointments by Type' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'Restricted Drug Sales Report' --size <size>
toolbox template --load 'PetSure Pre-Approval' --size A4 
toolbox template --load 'PetSure GapOnly Pre-Approval' --size A4 
toolbox template --load --size A4 'Customer Product Sales Report'

 

OpenOffice

OpenOffice no longer needs to be specified in the system PATH, and will be located using the default installation path. If there are multiple installations, or OpenOffice is installed in a non-standard directory, the installation path should be configured via Administration - System - OpenOffice.

Password Policy

For improved security, new passwords must conform to a practice wide Password Policy.

To ensure existing passwords are updated, use the toolbox user --force-password-change --all command to force users to update their passwords when they next login.

Administrators are required to change their passwords when upgrading.

Scheduling performance improvement

The Max Duration field of Schedules should be set to in order to improve response times in Workflow - Scheduling.

For day schedules, Max Duration should be no longer than 24 hours. For boarding schedules, it should be no greater than the maximum boarding period.

WARNING: setting the Max Duration less than the maximum length of historical appointments and calendar blocks may prevent them from being displayed in Workflow - Scheduling.

Known Issues

Complete

This page documents any known issues that may cause problems. Note that it does not list problems reported against earlier releases of OpenVPMS that are not yet resolved, but rather issues that may cause you problems with this release.

Lost space character using Email Template

If you create an Email Template using an Open Office odt document as its content, and that document contains two adjacent User Fields separated by one space, eg

(here shown after using Ctrl-F9 to reveal the field content)

Then when this shows in the email you may see "Dear MrBloggs" rather than the expected "Dear Mr Bloggs".

The work-around is either to replace the space by a non-breaking space (entered using Ctrl-Shift-space on Windows or Option-Space on a Mac) or use two spaces instead of one. [In the second case, normal HTML processing will replace consecutive spaces by a single space.]