Frequently asked questions

How a web app works

Most programs you know were installed on one computer, from a CD or a download, with an icon on the desktop. Sagita works the other way. It runs on our servers, and your browser shows it to you, the way your bank’s website does.

That brings some quiet benefits:

• A new computer is ready in a minute: open the browser and sign in.
• There are no updates for you to run. When we improve Sagita, you get the change the next time the page loads.
• A computer, laptop, tablet or phone can all open it, so you can check the schedule from home or from another branch.
• If a computer breaks, your records in Sagita are untouched, because they were never kept on it.

The one thing it needs is an internet connection. The questions on outages explain what to keep ready.

Why your records are safer off your PC

On paper, your records are only as safe as the cabinet they sit in. On a single clinic PC, they’re only as safe as that one machine.

A flood, a fire, a break-in, a dead hard disk or a virus can take years of records with it. Records kept in a data centre don’t share your computer’s bad day. When a PC fails, you sign in on another one and carry on.

There’s a second benefit. Every branch, your phone and your laptop at home open the same single record, so nobody works from an old copy.

What still depends on you:

• Your password. Keep it to yourself, and change it if it may have been seen.
• Who gets an account. Give each person their own, with the role their job needs.

Your outage plan, step by step

A little preparation turns an outage into a small bother instead of a bad morning.

Before it happens:

1. Choose a second connection: a pocket Wi-Fi, or a phone with mobile data that can share a hotspot. Try it once on a quiet day.
2. Keep a laptop or tablet charged, so a brownout doesn’t stop the front desk.
3. Make sure each person knows their own password. On a second device, it’s the first thing they’ll type.

When the line drops:

1. Connect the computer or laptop to the hotspot.
2. Reload Sagita. Sign in again if it asks.
3. If a save didn’t go through, stay on that screen and press save once more.

If neither connection works, write each visit and payment on paper, and add them to Sagita when the connection returns. For mornings like that, we’re building a printout of each day’s appointments and patient alerts.

How Sagita avoids double entries

When you register a patient, record a payment or chart a finding, your browser attaches a one-time ticket to it. Think of the claim stub you get at a laundry shop.

When the connection drops, you can’t tell whether the save arrived. So when you press save again, the browser sends the same ticket. If our server already has it, the server answers with the first result instead of making a second one.

That’s why a shaky connection doesn’t leave you with two of the same patient, or a payment recorded twice.

Two things to keep in mind. Try again from the same screen: if you close the page first, the next save gets a new ticket. And for other kinds of entries, check the record before you enter it again.

Why one live record matters

Your old program kept everything on one computer, so it didn’t need the internet. It also couldn’t be in two places at once. Sagita keeps a single live record for the whole clinic, and that’s what makes its most useful checks possible.

• Bookings are checked against one live calendar, so two people can’t give away the same chair at the same time.
• Billing numbers come from one place, so two computers never issue the same number.
• Every time a record is viewed, it’s logged. A copy read offline would leave no trace.

Offline copies would also leave medical histories sitting on shared clinic PCs, where anyone could open them. The Data Privacy Act asks your clinic to guard that information, so we chose not to build an offline mode.

What we built instead: a plain message when a save can’t get through, and new patients and payments that won’t be saved twice. A printable appointment list is on the way.

What to do while Sagita is down

No online service can promise it will never go down, so it’s worth having a plan, the same way you plan for a brownout.

1. Check another website, such as Google. If it opens but Sagita doesn’t, the problem is on our side. Write to us so we know.
2. Carry on with the patients in front of you. Write down who came, what was done, and what they paid.
3. When Sagita is back, enter those visits and payments, then look over the rest of today’s bookings.

Your saved records don’t live on the server that runs the app. They sit in a separate database, which is copied daily.

A printout for days like this is on the way too: a list of each day’s bookings and patient alerts, ready to print every morning.

Why Singapore, and who looks after what

We host Sagita in Singapore because it’s our hosting provider’s nearest location to the Philippines. Your records are stored there.

We name the place plainly, because you should know where your patients’ details are. Under the Data Privacy Act, your clinic answers for its patients’ records, and Sagita, which handles them for you, must keep them secure.

Your clinic computer only displays the records. Sagita doesn’t save them on it. Downloads, like a PDF you print, are the exception, so keep those with care.

A gentle way to move in

Switching everything at once is hard on any team. Most of the work disappears if you let it happen bit by bit.

1. Register each new patient in Sagita from their first visit.
2. When a returning patient arrives, the front desk registers them, and the dentist or assistant copies over the allergies from the old card.
3. File the card with your paper records, the way you always have.

After a few months, most patients you see regularly are in Sagita. The cards left in the cabinet belong to patients who haven’t been back, and they can stay there, stored safely as they are now.

Why Sagita sometimes asks twice

When Sagita asks for your password again, it can feel like it doesn’t trust you. It’s the other way round: those checks protect you.

• Signing a visit note asks for your password. That proves the dentist signed it, not someone at their unlocked screen.
• Bigger discounts and refunds need a manager’s or the owner’s approval, so one person’s slip can’t cost the clinic much.
• Every change is recorded under the name of the person who made it.

So if something looks wrong later, the record shows what happened, and it’s fixed without anyone guessing. An honest slip stays a small one.

Why a signed note can’t be changed

A signed visit note is a medical record. If a complaint or a dispute ever reaches you, the note has to show what was written at the time, not what someone wished later.

So Sagita treats a signature like ink on a paper chart:

• Before signing, edit the note as much as you like. It saves as you type.
• After signing, nobody can edit it in Sagita, the owner included.
• To correct it, write an amendment or addendum with a reason. That correction is signed too, and the earlier versions stay readable.

This works in your favour too. The record shows an honest mistake corrected in the open.

When someone leaves the clinic

Patient records are kept by the clinic, not by the dentist who treated the patient. The Data Privacy Act makes the clinic answer for them.

So when anyone leaves, dentist or not:

1. Their sign-in is switched off, so they can no longer open your clinic in Sagita.
2. Every note, payment and entry they made stays on the record, still under their name.
3. Everyone else carries on as before, each with their own password.

If a patient chooses to follow a dentist to a new clinic, the patient asks your clinic for their records. The dentist doesn’t take them.

It’s worth saying this to every associate on their first day, so nobody is surprised later.

Setting up a shared front-desk computer

A shared computer is normal at a busy front desk. A few habits keep it safe for everyone who uses it.

1. One person, one account. Nobody borrows a colleague’s sign-in.
2. Before stepping away, sign out: click your initials, then “Sign out”. Closing the browser usually signs you out too, unless it’s set to reopen your last tabs.
3. Don’t let the browser remember Sagita passwords on this computer. When it offers to save one, choose “Never”.
4. Files you download, such as a statement or a prescription PDF, land in the Downloads folder. Delete patient files from there once you’ve printed them.

Sagita doesn’t store patient records on the computer, so the Downloads folder is the main place to watch.

The four safeguards, in plain words

Kept apart. Every record in Sagita carries your clinic’s tag, and the database itself checks that tag before showing anything. Think of one big filing room where every folder carries your clinic’s name, and a guard who hands your team only the folders with that name.

Encrypted. Records are stored scrambled, so a stolen disk would be unreadable. ID numbers such as PhilHealth, SSS and TIN get a second lock, with a key that belongs to your clinic alone.

Masked. On screen, an ID number is hidden apart from its final four digits.

Logged. Whenever a patient’s record is opened, Sagita writes down who and when, before the record appears. The app can’t change or delete that log.

Why sharing one login costs more than it saves

Sharing one clinic password feels simpler. It quietly takes away the things that protect you.

• Accountability. With one shared login, every note, payment and discount looks like the same person did it. With separate accounts, each one carries a name.
• Privacy. Each role sees only what the job needs, so the front desk doesn’t read medical histories.
• Clean goodbyes. When someone leaves, only their account is closed. Nobody has to learn a new password.
• Signatures. A dentist’s signature on a note means something only if nobody else can sign in as that dentist.

Staff without an email address can make a free one in a few minutes.

Why every view is written down

With paper cards, nobody knows who pulled a card from the cabinet and read it. In Sagita, every opening of a patient record is noted, with the person’s name and the time.

Why that helps your clinic:

• It helps show that patient data is handled with care, by the right people, as the Data Privacy Act expects.
• If a leak is ever suspected, there’s a trail of which records were opened, and by whom.
• People are more careful when they know views are recorded, so most never need reminding.

The trail is protected too. It’s only ever added to: nobody can edit or delete it from inside the app.

The Data Privacy Act, in plain words

The Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10173) protects personal information. Health details count as sensitive, so they get the strictest care.

The Act gives your clinic and Sagita different roles:

• Your clinic is the personal information controller. You decide why patient details are collected and how they’re used, and you answer for them.
• Sagita is the personal information processor. We store and handle the records on your clinic’s behalf, to run the software you use.

What it means at the clinic, day to day:

1. Register each patient against your published privacy notice, so their consent is on record.
2. Give each person only the access their job needs.
3. Keep downloaded files and printouts as carefully as the paper charts.

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) is the government office that enforces the Act.

A strong password you can remember

A long password beats a clever one. Sagita asks for at least 12 characters, and a short phrase gets you there.

1. Join four or five ordinary words that mean something only to you, such as mango-tree-by-the-gate.
2. Don’t reuse your email or Facebook password. If one of those ever leaks, Sagita stays safe.
3. If you must write it down, keep the paper in your wallet, not taped to the monitor.
4. Never share it, even with a trusted assistant. Ask the owner to give them their own sign-in instead.

Typed it wrong too many times? Wait 15 minutes, then try again. If you think someone saw your password, change it under “My account”, and every device is signed out.

Why you only see part of Sagita

Sagita does a lot, but nobody sees all of it at once. Each person sees only their own part of it.

• The front desk sees the schedule and patient details, but not medical history.
• Assistants see patients’ charts and visits, to help at the chair.
• Dentists see the chart, the treatment plan and prescriptions.
• The owner sees the clinic’s settings, team and reports.

Pages you can’t use are hidden, so there are fewer places to get lost.

A good first week:

1. Start with finding patients and checking them in. Nothing else.
2. Next, chart a few visits with the dentist beside you.
3. Then take payments at the counter.

When you forget a step, open “Help” from the side menu. Its guides use the same button names you see on screen.

What setup and training look like

For our first clinics, setup is done with you, at the clinic when we can.

1. First visit: we set up your chairs and price list, and create an account for each person.
2. Next day: we train the front desk on check-in and payments, at the clinic.
3. Over the next two weeks: we follow up with you a few times, to answer questions and smooth out what feels awkward.

There’s little to prepare. Have a list of who works at the clinic ready, with each person’s email address, so their accounts can be made on the first visit.

Making Sagita easier on the eyes

Your browser can enlarge any website, Sagita included, and the screens rearrange themselves to fit.

On a computer:

1. Hold Ctrl (Cmd on a Mac) and tap + a few times, until the text is comfortable.
2. Or hold Ctrl and roll the mouse wheel forward.
3. The browser remembers your size for Sagita, so you only set it once.

On a tablet or phone, spread two fingers apart on the screen to zoom in.

For dark mode, open the menu under your initials and choose “Dark”, or “Match device” to follow your computer’s own setting.

Why Sagita stays out of official receipts

In the Philippines, official receipts and invoices come from the clinic’s own BIR registration, such as your printed booklet. Sagita isn’t set up to issue them for you.

So Sagita stays on the safe side. Its documents are titled Billing Statement and Acknowledgement of Payment, and each one says it isn’t an official receipt or invoice.

At the counter:

1. Bill the visit and record the payment in Sagita.
2. Issue your BIR receipt or invoice as you do today.
3. Type its number into Sagita, so the two always match.