PMS sync explained

Rebrief can bring your schedule and patients in from your practice management software, or PMS. It can also write notes and charts back into it. Both run through the Rebrief Bridge, Rebrief's desktop app for Windows, on the computer where your PMS is open.

What a sync brings in

A sync reads your PMS and brings in your schedule and the patients on it. Depending on your PMS, it can also bring in their notes and charts.

Syncing never writes into your PMS. Sending work back is a separate step, covered below.

Reading the sync status

In the desktop app, a sync row sits in the left rail. Its label tells you where things stand.

• PMS Connected means your PMS was found, but no sync has run yet.
• PMS Syncing means a sync is running. Its light blinks green.
• PMS Synced means today's schedule is in.
• PMS Sync Stale means the schedule hasn't been brought in today.
• PMS Nothing Synced means the last sync couldn't read anything from your PMS. A day with nothing booked still shows PMS Synced.
• PMS Schedule Not Read means Rebrief couldn't read today's schedule.
• PMS Sync Error means something is stopping the sync. Its light blinks red.

Point at the label to see the details of the last sync. When something needs attention, widen the rail. A short line under the label says what went wrong and what to do.

Starting a sync

Widen the rail to see the row's button. Its name changes with the status.

• Sync starts a sync.
• Try Again retries after an error.
• Refresh looks again for an open PMS.
• Pick appears when more than one PMS is open.

When the row needs attention, the button sits under the short line, next to Schedule. There is no button while a sync runs.

The home screen can start a sync too. Use the round arrows at the top right of today's schedule, when one PMS is open. When today's schedule is empty, the button shows the words Resync calendar.

A sync may work your PMS on screen. Keep your PMS open and visible, and leave the mouse and keyboard alone until it's done.

Syncing on a schedule

Rebrief doesn't sync on its own unless you turn that on. In Rebrief Bridge, open Settings, then Practice software, and find Daily sync.

• Run the daily sync automatically syncs once a day, at the time you pick.
• Keep PMS schedule up-to-date in the background re-reads the day's schedule when nobody is using the computer.

Both are off until you switch them on. When the sync row needs attention, its Schedule button takes you there.

Sending work back to your PMS

In an appointment, open Export on the tab row, past + Create. In the desktop app, it has a Push to section. The section is named for your PMS once Rebrief finds it.

• This note writes the note into your PMS.
• The perio-odontogram writes the chart. You see what can be charted, then press Confirm.
• Both writes the note and the chart with one confirmation.
• Every note writes each note in turn, when the appointment has more than one.

These stay locked until the appointment has ended. Until then, the menu asks you to end the appointment first.

If the appointment has no patient yet, the section shows Link the patient first. Pressing it opens the patient's name in the header.

"No PMS detected"

Rebrief looked for a PMS on this computer and didn't find one open. The row shows PMS Sync Error. Open your PMS, then press Refresh.

More than one PMS open

Rebrief won't guess which one to use. The row shows PMS Sync Error and says how many it found. Close the ones you don't use with Rebrief. Then sync again from the row, and Rebrief uses the one that's left.

A card in the corner of the home screen may also list them. Each one has an Import from button, so you can pick one there instead.

A PMS Rebrief doesn't support yet

Sometimes Rebrief sees a program it can't sync with. The row then names that program and says it's not supported yet. This is different from finding no PMS at all. Charting and notes keep working on their own.