Behind the scenes of RxWorks™ 5.7 release with Becki Thomas

By Marketing

11 February 2020 5 min read

 

With RxWorks™ 5.7 release coming soon, we're excited to share how Covetrus™ are reimagining the future of the veterinary industry.

We’re breaking down what it means to work in a veterinary practice and reimagining the user experience of our practice management software. What does this mean for RxWorks practices? Well, we simply won’t take the physical limitations of a reception desk or computer terminal any longer. In the RxWorks 5.7 release, our growing team of developers have focused on bringing an extra set of hands and proactive approach to your front of house operations.

We’ve looked at reducing load times, reducing clutter for ease of use, and moving functions to the background to remove distractions and enable your team to focus on what matters most for the task at hand. And this process didn’t just start yesterday.

Our Product, Implementations, Support and Development teams have been working closely over the last year leading up to the previews of what we believe is the future of veterinary practice workflows and practice management software.

We’re in the process of reimagining RxWorks as a robust platform for veterinary practices, rather than thinking of it as a piece of software. Why? Because there is so much that happens in your day-to-day and we want to help your team operate with the tools and insights to grow your practice and treat your patients.

Below, we’ve delved into a few insights with Development Manager, Becki Thomas about two key areas these updates are currently being tested – as part of the RxWorks 5.7 release – and why we’ve conducted a review of our Applications and Database functionality.

Why is an application review an important step in reimagining a veterinary platform?

We’ve brought in an external consultancy to help conduct our Applications review and take a fresh look at how we do things. RxWorks has been in development for many years with new functionality added each release. Covetrus are focusing on the key areas used hundreds of times per day (literally!) to ensure they are optimised. Even if this means shaving a few milliseconds across our applications, it all adds up.

How was the decision made to bring the external team on board and for these big investments?

As technology evolves and our user base with it, we were keen to make sure RxWorks performs. Working with some of our clients and beta clinics, we’ve gathered feedback from end-users to administrative staff to focus on the most frequently used areas and applications. It’s been a collective initiative for us that really demonstrates the partnership of Covetrus to the veterinary community, and as our practices will (hopefully) start to see in RxWorks 5.7 – it’s really starting to pay off.

Can you give us a quick insight into how the updates will work?

I can, but it won’t do justice to the incredible work behind the application review and outcomes! Essentially, the new functionality is tackling performance from multiple angles. It’s taking advantage of available resources from more modern hardware, such as running long-running searches without blocking up the user interface and caching technologies. Another example is the load time of the client screen due to built-up communication history. We’ve tweaked this functionality to speed up load times so the client view compares to other applications. So, as we continue to make existing and new features more robust this continued investment will ensure functionality helps our practices operate more efficiently and effectively.

How has the database dive impacted the roadmap for RxWorks in 2020 and beyond?

The RxWorks database is what drives the whole program. It is a complex file structure, used to both store and look up every piece of information a practice uses on a daily basis. Ensuring it is as fine-tuned as possible today will ensure we are in a good position to continue adding new features into the future.

How does the new functionality work?

We have been reviewing SQL Server caches across several of our clinics and reviewing changes that could be introduced to help it calculate how to look up information in the database. This is known as parameterized queries. The functionality in RxWorks does not change, but SQL Server will have to do a bit less work in the areas affected to send the data back. We’re particularly excited to see this improve with every release!

And finally, Becki, could you give us a quote on the outlook for RxWorks?

The RxWorks 5.7 release has been an opportunity for us to look at the system from a whole, with a view to reducing any friction in the most accessed screens and workflows. Working with external consultants on this has been a great opportunity to come at it from a fresh perspective and make sure we are setting ourselves up for the next decade. We’re also bringing out some new existing features in 5.7, both from a communications perspective and giving a look at the next stages of web-enabled functionality, to free up the reception staff from what is often hot property – their desktop terminal!

What’s here and on its way

Stay tuned for the upcoming RxWorks 5.7 blog to read all about the new highlights and how to update. We’re also creating a one-stop-shop RxWorks Updates page that will go live with the update in the coming weeks so you and your team can watch the webinar recording, download the full release notes, and schedule your update.

From the team

A word from Alan Robertson – Head of Product Development

“The purpose of the Product Development team is to try our best to make the vet’s day and experience of the pets and pet parents in practice better. We only exist to bring value to that customer journey. We believe in the work we do here and look forward to another year of innovation, development and evolution for our clients. The feedback our clients provide us is invaluable and we will continue to closely collaborate with our users over the coming months and years. We have a bright future with lots more to come from Covetrus.”

A word from Carly Clark – Product Manager

“Last year’ release was one of the most exciting releases we have had in a long time for RxWorks. This release had a great combination of feature enhancements and maintenance. Most excitingly it brought the first glimpse of the future with features you can access directly on your mobile or tablet. My favourite feature of this release was the photos functionality, it signalled such a fantastic step forward for RxWorks. With this being our continued focus moving into the New Year we have some great mobile and tablet features lined up for you in RxWork 5.7.”

A word from Lynsey Baker – Implementations & Project Manager

“The latest RxWorks version is looking to the future of veterinary practice. Working on the go is the future of the veterinary industry and RxWorks is leading the charge, investing in the development and how we implement the platform to vets and nurses around the world. Enabling clinics to change their daily workflows with what we have coming will allow them to spend more time attending to their patients. The relationship between RxWorks and veterinary clinics is the ideal business partnership!”