Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Version 4

Assume most everyone knows that Version 4.058 is now the official version and has been released. Seems very stable in practice with multiple computers. Upgrade went fairly well (although think you should upgrade when guardian support is available and not over your lunch hour) - I actually did late at night when I knew it had to work the following morning.

Yes, I received the email bulletin also. I guessed that the 4.0.58 beta was the official version on Friday when the popup on startup no longer said "You have the latest beta version".

I have one request for Jon and the AC staff -- many of us are not Family Practitioners and are still loyal users of Amazing Charts. Several of the links on the AC website, providing information and ratings comparisons of AC and other EMRs, are on the AAFP website and accessible to members only.

I'd like to have as many potential users see these as possible, whether AAFP members or not. Is there some way to post a "free" version?

Just finished the upgrade to version 4.0.58 from 3.7.

I'm a solo practitioner with a 7 computer peer to peer Windows XP Pro network.

Took about 3 hours (I was multitasking). The actual install on the main computer was under 30 minutes.

Only problem I had was that I decided to move the program file on the main computer from my C to E drive (internal hard drive) due to space considerations on C.

The imported items did not move so I just moved them manually using drag and drop in Windows Explorer.

Jon,

I agree about your AAFP sentiments.

Am I missing something or does anyone seem it is kind of ironic that Jon sends out the newsletters touting all of AC's benefits. But, isn't that preaching to the choir? I mean aren't the users of AC pretty much the only email addresses he has for the newsletter?

Just wondering. I'm not being critical. It's a cool newsletter.

If it makes you feel better I am a family practitioner who is not in the AAFP (have to be member of osteopathic version and all of these memberships cost too much) -- I can't see them either.

I feel much better now.

I did not get a bulletin

Leslie

Consider yourself bulletined. I forwarded the email to you. Leslie, you cannot escape the Amazing Charts information flow. We will keep you informed even if Jon did leave you off his mailing list.

Okay, I may be slow. I do live very close to Missouri. Is there an AC newsletter?
Tom

I forwarded it to you as well. Jon probably doesn't have you on his mailing list. Just send him an email.

Id like the newsletter also

Our existing users are our most precious resource, and thus I don't actually email them with update info until I'm 100% certain that the version works well.

Thus, the newsletter went to the email address of people who had downloaded AC in the past - but I didn't send it to the list of our users who we know have purchased AC nor did I send it to the email address of this board as yet, as I wanted to be sure the migration process was as painless as possible.

Guess what... migration is trickier than we anticipated, more folks are contacting us for help, and thus our Tech Support folks aren't as immediately available to solve the issues as they need to be for our exisiting customers.

Here is an update on where we are at with the V4 release:

* V4 alpha (4.0.36) was released on 9/25/08
* V4 beta (4.0.58) was released 2/9/09
* V4 (4.0.58) was officially released on 2/19 (Thu) at 1PM along with the Update Alert Notice (UAN). The UAN is the alert that pops up every 15 days saying if the version being used is up to date, or if there is a newer version available.
* A newsletter to folks that had downloaded AC in the past, went out on 2/21 (Sat) at 9PM.
* Because of a significant call volume increase and a delay getting back to users needing help, UAN was turned OFF on 2/23 (Mon) around 6PM (although V4 is still officially released - we just aren't alerting people that it is until we can address the common issues that are making some installations tricky).

The most common issues we are finding are:
* People installing AC to a different location than their existing version. For example installing AC V4 to Drive C when it is actually elsewhere - making it appear that imported items are now gone (they aren't- they just aren't in the correct directory and need to be manually moved by us).
* Many different network configurations, a good number are not the expected set up of AC (which is at C:\Program Files\Amazing Charts on the main computer).
* People not logged in as admin during installation and migration.
* Migration difficulties with some users' exisiting data - some users have gotten various errors and can't proceed with migration. Once migration is denied they aren't sure how to go back and start the migration process again, or roll back to a working version - so they are stuck and can't use AC until they can reach us. (We are looking at the rare database (less than 5% of migrations) that aren't automatically migrating.
* Permission issues with SBS 2003/2008

Thus, we are working now to make the migration process smoother - though as discussed higher in this thread and others, most folks are able to migrate without issue, and are much happier with V4. For now, if you are considering updating, I'd wait a bit as we determine how best to handle the increased need for help in case you are one of the folks who run into trouble.

Jon

Thanks, Jon, for the updates. I will gladly wait a while to update as I had a very bad experience doing this with another EMR in the past. But, I have complete confidence that you and your capable staff will get the bugs worked out soon. For the time being, AC is working well for me as is.

Leslie

The biggest single thing you will miss, Leslie, is the speed of Version 4, it is noticeably faster at loading the labs. When tech wasn't overwhelmed we still took a whole day to get it loaded everywhere etc. And there are some tiny glitches. The new diagnosis database has some slight changes, for example 401.1 "Benign Hypertension" is now "Benign Essential Hypertension". So the little bug is, if your patient already has 401.1 and you hit the drop down list. It won't jump into the current note when you click on it. You can add it again, and the question, "Patient already has 401.1, do you want to add it again?" appears. If you say 'no', it will drop it into todays note, (as Benign Essential Hypertension) and leave your drop down list populated with the old version. Next month, same thing. You should add the new one, then go to the summary page, find the old 401.1 "benign hypertension" and delete it.
Minor thing, happens on just a few diagnosis. Far too small a thing for Jon and crew to worry about at this time! I mention it so you will have something to smile about while you are sitting waiting for the labs to open, thinking of me and how fast MY labs open! (I like to see you smile!)

Damn, I wish I could get 2008 up and running. Anyone out there good at running Ethernet cables over there and under here. Adam, are you listening?

Version 4 is faster - use electronic labs and it is noticably faster. Also the feature of having your actual signature on the letters and scrips is great. Seems trivial but when you are sending letters to patients (we do this for labs) - it is so nice doing 30 letters and not having to sign them (I know sounds lazy, but having a computer does that to you). The new backup feature is also very good. It will give Bert one more way to back up your files......

LOL, one more way to feed into my obsession. Although, there was a post on here three days ago I think where someone lost a drive, and I think I HOPE he was able to recover from the OSBU.

Believe it or not, I have yet to get my .bmp or .jpg to fit into the little scrip thing. I have my transparent one for Word and PDF, but I can't size it right for Amazing Charts. When I get it up and running, obviously I will.

What will be great about it is being able to send Vicodin and Tylenol with codeine by fax and not having to print it out and sign and fax or print to a tamper-proof script.

Because as we all know, calling a prescription like Vicodin or Paregoric is so MUCH more secure than sending it from a fax machine. (Sarcasm here just in case you didn't read it that way)

Martin,

Thanks for the update. I fully intend to update to V4 but I am just going to let things cool down a bit and some of the bugs get worked out before I jump in. I am in no hurry. Besides, the time I have to wait now for my labs (and especially my Excel flow sheet) to open gives me a few extra minutes to read my email in the exam room...the patient thinks I am intently scrutinizing their tests!! (only kidding)
I have the full SQL version as my PM program runs on it and I am a bit hesitant to download V4 until I am sure it will go where it needs to and not mess with anything else. I am a techno-idiot so my concerns may be overblown. All I know is that I lost about 5 years worth of data when Soapware changed to a SQL database.

Leslie

I wouldn't laugh. When I am in a room, which is the only place I can do "my work" uninterrupted, I will knock out three or four messages all while sort of taking a history. After, I go back and take a detailed history.

I really like it when my message box is empty.

Really smart strategy! I wish I had not updated to v4, though after many hours with tech support and having to close the office for 3 days it's finally working in the office. But it doesn't work on my home office computer, and tech support is so overwhelmed with v4 problems that they told me this morning they won't be helping me with the home office computer (!).

I have a solo practice also, and it's pretty devastating when you have no charts and don't have appointments.

drwolffe,

I have not updated yet. But, there are at least five people on here who have who have a lot of experience with AC and computers. I would just ask them on here or PM them. I am pretty sure Steven is one of them.

Just ugraded to 4.0 but have an issue with how things are connected. With the older system a share was used to connect users to the database. Now residing in that share is an AmazingCharts.xml file along with the .mdf files which belong to SQL. I purposely ushared the directory to see what effect this would have. The remote desktops would not connect because they could not find the xml file that tells it where the mdf files are located.

Since this is now SQL based, why are we having to maintain this share. I am thinking at minumun this information should be stored in the HKEY_Current_User registry. Instead the location is based on the information in the xml file.

My SQL experience tells me that the desktop should only care about where the SQL server is located and what port to talk to it through and not have to worry about a share. SQL should be managing all the SQL files and the desktop should be talking to SQL. Any one have any thoughts on how to get rid of the share and only use server port communication between desktop and server.

Most of our users are much less techy, and they - like me - don't understand shares and permissions. The goal of Amazing Charts is to make it as easy as possible. Though installation and getting SQL Server to work is much more complex than Microsoft Access ever was (of course the latter is much less like a true database than SQL Server).

In any case, we have worked on a number of the issues folks were having, and many are now resolved (although some remain, such as difficulty installing on 64 bit machines).

V4.0.60, with many fixes to make installation easier, is now released, and we have listed here the most common problems (with the solutions) that we have seen with the V4 installation. These issues include:

* Can't write to the log fileCan't write to the log file error
* Can't connect to the database error
* Can't create object (429 error)
* 1316 error, 1306 error
* Object reference not set to an instance of an object error

Once installed, the vast majority of users note a dramatic increase in speed and stability over prior versions (especially if you have a large database or a lot of imported items).

Jon

Ferdinand,

I am not sure why you would want to write your config to HKCU. In the past programmers did this or used .ini files, but with the advent of .Net, most programmers are using .xml files as Application Configuration Files which are app specific and not user specific. Microsoft is encouraging the use of .xml config files.

I have found no difficulty browsing to and connection to the SQL database via the .xml file. I am not really sure what the advantage would be in changing that.

It seems odd to me that you still have to be connected to a share with SQL. I was only using HKCU as a example. The information would be better server in HKLM.

No matter how the remote computer finds out about the port number the remote computer should have all this information local on the machine. It should not have to look on a share.

That is the beauty of SQL and ODBC. The user should not have to care about a share only ports on the server.

Thanks for the comment.

I agree with you that an .ini file or an .xml file should give the path to the database and, in fact, does. So to some extent, if I am understanding your point, you shouldn't have to browse to the share. I would still think it would have to be shared, but I do not seem to know as much as you on the subject.

I think that HKCU would be the best place. I do also have some sites (if I can find them) which may help with this discussion.

And, thanks for your comments as well.

You and me both! I did post some of these on our site previously, and received a cease and desist email from Steve Waldren at the AAFP (after one of the AAFP members who use Amazing Charts actually complained to them that we were posting information he had to pay for - I'll let him argue his point, if he so desires). Steve did say they were working on a publishable version of all their data but couldn't say when that would be available - that was over a year ago.

Given that I do actually appreciate all that the AAFP has done for Health IT, and that part of my money being an AAFP member, along with others, has funded the collection and collation of this fascinating data, I decided not to push the issue.

But that said, given that Amazing Charts is so much less expensive than nearly all other EHRs, the fact that we're rated higher than these expensive alternatives by our users compared to their users, is huge - and something we will find a way to advertise.

I have to butt in sorry,

The registry is no place for something that is meant to be global.

Please make sure you fully understand Vista's NEW ""virtualization"".

As is does NOT allow every user access to even the simplest of places.

Vista and above HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\... keys. do not allow modifications to these keys by Standard Users, but instead uses Virtualization. it will present a problem in that all users may not see the same data. If one user changes this data it does not change for all users.

If you use HKEY_CURRENT_USER the problem is the same.

Stay with the .xml or alternative.

Microsoft has many support pages on this issue.

Search Vista Registry All Users Errors. I have personally tested this and find it factual. Another reason I stand by ini.

Just another thought, you could search for the SQL Servers and automatically choose the one containing AmaingCharts instance, but this only brings to play, yet another issue. Mutiple SQL Servers with AmazingCharts installed on the same network.

How to choose the correct one?

and the list goes on.

Gotta say that is the coolest user Avatar ever. Love it.

This is correct; however, if your application also stores physical files, OUTSIDE the database, then the application would want to always know where those files are located, hence the requirement for the shared drive.

Now in SQL Server 2008, that problem goes away, because it is possible for the Server to store and manage files in the file system, as if they were being stored in BLOBs (binary large objects in the database).

SQL 2008 also goes a long way in addressing the security (HIPAA) issue by the Transparent Data Encryption feature: