Last year during his practice's strategic planning session, Dr. Darren Williams, owner of Mayde Creek Animal Health Center in Katy, Texas, drew up a plan to convert his entire hospital to electronic records.

First, he met with his practice manager and client care coordinator to solicit their ideas about the process. Next, he contacted his software vendor and discussed upgrading the software in the office. Finally, he implemented his plan, including training sessions for the entire staff and two or three days to catch any glitches in the system. "The goal was to have the conversion completed by October, and we made it," Dr. Williams says.

He says that by laying out the plan, discussing it with key staff members, and then bringing in the software company's IT team, the transition was easy—and went according to the strategic plan. "The buy-in from the staff was great and it turned out pretty well," Dr. Williams says.