November 21, 2018

Everyone in the practice works with a computer in one form or another, to a great or lesser degree. And everyone who works with a computer will at some point experience a problem or difficulty or knowledge gap and need to reach out for support. Rather than just provide you with an email address or a phone number, in this post I want to share some tips on how to make your contact with Support more successful.

First, in case this was all you were looking for, here are the contact methods for reaching Dentrix Ascend Support:

Phone number: 855-232-9493 Option #2
Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern

Email: [email protected]

In-app: Help menu (?) > Request Support option to open a form and submit it to Support.

Now here’s the tip for the rest of you:

Before Contacting Support
To get your question answered more quickly, try these activities before you even reach out to Support. Self-help is the quickest help of all.

1. Ask around the office to see if the issue is unique to you; someone else may have already solved the issue or found the answer—or may have already started a conversation with Support on the same topic.
2. Explore your online resources. The Dentrix Ascend Resource Center has hundreds of articles and video learning which you can locate right from Ascend. Click ? > Search Help, and type keywords to find existing content. For example, every week Support gets calls on how to switch around primary and secondary insurance. Why wait on the phone? Watch Changing Secondary to Primary Insurance first to see if it answers your question.

Get Ready for Contact
When you determine that you really do need to talk to Support, there are several things you can do that will make your contact much more successful—meaning, your issue will be resolved more quickly.

1. Try to Replicate the Issue. For technical difficulties this is especially useful. Try to make the problem reappear on a different computer, operating system, browser, device, or location. This will arm you will a lot of information that Support might otherwise have to ask for and research. And if you can replicate the issue, write out exactly how to do it and include that in your email or ticket.
2. Gather your technical information. When you get a message like “Error On The Server (500)” you can save the agent time by providing the following:
   1. The device being used (e.g., iPad or PC)
   2. Operating system and version (e.g., Windows 10 or MacOS 10.14)
   3. Browser type and version (e.g., Chrome Version 70.0.3538.102)
   4. URL where the error occurred (e.g., https://ascend-live2.com/pm#patient/edit/*)

Write a Detailed Message
When you contact Support via email or online form, follow these guidelines to prevent confusion and speed up our response time.

1. Create a clear subject line. Use relevant keywords to make your ticket easy to sort out and search for. It is likely we have been asked your question before, and being able to recognize it can lead to a quicker resolution. For example, if you’re having a problem submitting claims to a particular carrier, the subject line “Claims to Delta Dental Northeast rejected for reason code 8” is much easier to respond to than “Submit Claims Not Working”.
2. Be descriptive. Include the information you gathered before contacting Support. Tell what troubleshooting steps you’ve already taken (if any). Include any error messages you see and the page or URL where you see them. Support can build off of your work and not waste time retracing your steps.
3. Take a picture. Whenever possible, grab a screenshot of your issue, and attach it to your email or ticket. Your Support agent will be grateful!

Not every problem is the same, which means not every ticket requires the same level of detail. For example, the technical specifications of your computer are not needed when you have a “How-to” question.

While your preparation before contacting Support will always be helpful to the agent, it does not mean your issue will be solved instantaneously. It does, however, increase the likelihood of receiving a speedy resolution.

Additional Information

• In order to prevent confusion, refrain from opening more than one ticket on the same topic.
• If you know it, indicate when your issue first occurred. Technology hiccups involving the greater infrastructure of the Internet don’t happen in isolation, and seeing a pattern of time of occurrence might help Support link events together to take appropriate action.