The dispensing module can be opened in two ways.

1.By clicking on the 'Dispense' icon at the bottom of the screen.

2. By clicking on the 'Summary Rx' icon to open the Summary Prescription page and then by clicking on the 'Dispense' button at the bottom of the page.

Along with the prescription, any dispensing notes from the summary prescription screen will be carried through to dispensing screen. You can delete, edit, and amend these notes in the dispensing form and no changes will be made to the notes in the summary prescription.

At the top of the dispensing screen there are three tabs.

Using The Specs Tab

Firstly, select the Specs Type from the drop down.

Check the Rx, if the 'Update Rx' button is pink then you are not dispensing the latest Rx and clicking this button will update it to the most recent Rx.

Distance PD and Near PD can be added as either monocular or binocular, and height can be added as either “Above Rim”, “Above HCL”, “Below HCL” and “ON HCL” from the dropdown.

If you enter a monocular pd into the right field, it will be copied into the left field. You can then amend this if necessary. If you enter a binocular pd into the right field, it will be split in half and an equal value will be entered into the right and left pd fields.

Heights entered into the right field will be copied to the left field but can be amended if required.

If a previous PD has been entered in i-Clarity, then the button “Get Last PD’s” can be used to fill in the PD. You can also select to use ‘PD Nearest’ rather than the default ‘PD Exact’.

There are also boxes to enter Face Form Angle, Pantoscopic Tilt and Working Distance in centimetres.

To enter frame details on the dispense click the button ‘Choose Frame’.

This will then give you the ‘Choose Frame or Sunspec’ selection window. 

If you use the top box labeled ‘Filter Description’, you can enter any part of the frame description and then click refresh filter. The ‘Select Description’ drop-down will be populated with any frames that include those characters in their description.

From the ‘Select Description’ drop-down, select the frame you are dispensing. This will then display the size and colour options for this frame model.

Single click on the correct size and then the correct colour option.

Then click 'OK'.

This will enter the frame details onto the dispense.

If you are completeing a reglaze dispense then select the reglaze button. 

If the patient has had a previous dispense in i-Clarity then a list of previous frames dispensed will appear.

If the frame to be reglazed is in the list, then click on the product line to highlight it. Then click 'Use Selected Frame'. 

This will enter the frame details onto the dispense, preceeded with your chosen reglaze phrase e.g. Px own frame ‘ Merline a352L Black’

If the frame isn’t in the list then click ‘Enter frame details’ and you can then free type the frame details including size and colour in the Description box.

If the patient has not had a previous dispense in i-Clarity then after clicking the 'Reglaze' button the reglaze phrase will be entered in the frame description box, you can then add in the patient’s frame details after this phrase in the description field.

The button ‘Check Stock Levels’ will check the stock across all of your branches.

The 'Supplier's Details' Button will give you the supplier's address etc.

You can produce a frame order by clicking the 'Order Frame' tick box.

Using the Lenses Tab

If you have not already selected the specs type you are dispensing on the specs tab, then you can select it on the Lenses tab instead.

Only lenses matching the selected specs type will be displayed in the lens selection box.

Lenses in i-Clarity are assigned to criteria, you can control what lenses appear in the lens selection box by selecting or deselecting lens criteria from the boxes on the right-hand side of the screen.

You can select criteria by double clicking on the criteria, so it is highlighted.

Selecting criteria in the top box will increase the list of lenses. Selecting criteria in the bottom box will reduce the list of lenses displayed.

For example, if in the top box the criteria 1.5 is selected then all 1.5 lenses will show. If you then select the criteria 1.6 as well, you will see both 1.5 and 1.6 lenses. Then in the bottom box if you select the criteria 'Clear', then the list of 1.5 and 1.6 lenses will be reduced by removing photochromic, polarised lenses and any other lense that are not clear.

If your system is set up with lens power ranges, then lenses displayed in the selection box will also be filtered by valid prescription ranges for that patient’s prescription.

By double clicking on a lens from the selection list, it will appear below the right and left lens box and the price of the lenses will be added to the Px Total for this estimate.

Useful tips:

• 'Show All Lense's will override your selection box criteria and show every lens in your catalogue.

• Putting a tick in the lock box will allow you to make another lens selection but only overwrite the unlocked lens. This can be useful when you want to dispense a different lens type in one eye compared to the other. For example, a single vision lens in the right eye and a varifocal lens in the left eye.
  

• Ticking ‘Use Custom Description’ will allow you to type your own lens description.

• If the lens you want to dispense is not in your catalogue you can use the Dispense Misc Lens Button. This will give you a free text box to type the description of your lens into and add the relevant price.

Using the Finishes and Totals Tab

On this tab you can change/add the Glazing fee, add a tint, add a Coating and add a Misc item e.g. prism charge. 

Cick on the drop-down arrow to select the item you would like to add to the dispense.

Again, in any of these, you tick the 'Use Custom Description' box and type in your own description.

A list of pre-set adjustment reasons can be selected for Frames, Lenses, Extras and Overall (These can be set up in Maintenance).

After selecting the discount reason, Frames and Lenses can be adjusted manually by just over typing the Total sale box. The Overall price can be amended by changing the Total To Pay box.

'Ordering Notes' can be added and they will transfer over to the order and a 'Required Date' can be added by ticking the box and picking from the calendar.

'Order Type' can be selected on this page as well but can be selected on the order if preferred.

At this point you have various options:

Confirm Estimate - by pressing this button you will turn it pink, and it changes to 'Cancel Estimate'. If you click the 'Close' button after pressing 'Confirm Estimate', the dispense will be converted into a sale and a spectacle order.

Clicking 'Cancel Estimate' will allow you to go back and make amendments to the dispense.

Depending how your system is configured, after clicking 'Close' you may be prompted for a deposit or to pay in full.

If you wish to change the deposit amount, you can just over type the amount here or when you get to the payment screen. Clicking 'OK' will then take you to the Px Sale screen where you can take payment.

If you don’t want to create the sale at this point, you can click 'New Dispense' and this will allow you to dispense a second pair of specs and the Px Total to Pay will mount up as you go through the dispense. When you have completed the second dispense, you can confirm it and then go through the door and a single transaction will be created with all dispenses on the same transaction.

If you don’t confirm the estimate, for example the Px wants to think about it, you can just exit through the door and the estimate will stay on the system for a set amount of time as determined in your system configuration.

If you leave an unconfirmed dispense, the next time you go into the Px’s Dispense screen, you will get the following message:

By clicking ‘OK’, it will load the unconfirmed dispense, (all unconfirmed dispenses can be recovered from the drop-down at the top). Now the dispense can either be confirmed or deleted and a new dispense started.

Dispenses can be repeated (for example, a child having numerous replacements) by finding them from the drop-down at the top and clicking 'Repeat Dispense'.

Clicking 'Repeat Dispense' will give you the following message:

This is because the original dispense may be from a substantial period earlier and an exact repeat might not be possible due to discontinued products, or it may now need repricing.