Instead of Covetrus Ascend
Moving off Covetrus Ascend? Own your clinic's practice system.
Enterprise DNA shapes a system around the way your clinic books, treats, dispenses and charges, maps your Covetrus Ascend records into it, and looks after it month to month. The data sits with you, not with a distributor.
Covetrus does not publish a price for Ascend. Its page says it is charged by users and payable monthly, with no lock-in contract, and the figure comes from a sales call.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
What the subscription covers
A per-user subscription from a supplier that also runs a wholesale distribution business
Covetrus quotes Ascend privately and bills it monthly by the number of users. Under the screens sit the records every clinic keeps: owners, patients, the calendar, consults, inventory, reminders and invoices. Those are what you would be moving, and what Enterprise DNA puts in a database in your name.
A login for every person on the roster
Charging by users means a new graduate, a part-time nurse or a weekend locum is another line on the account. The clinic grows and the subscription follows it.
A price you have to ask for
There is no figure on the page to compare against. You find out what Ascend costs after a call, which makes it hard to know whether the next clinic down the road pays the same.
Software from your distributor
Covetrus also runs a wholesale distribution business, and the page ties stock ordering into the system. The tool that records what you stock comes from a company that sells you stock.
More than twenty-five partners in the middle
Labs, payments, insurance, imaging and online booking arrive through integration partners. Each is useful, and each is another arrangement between your records and a third party.
Reports where the vendor puts them
Vetlytics dashboards come built in. A question that cuts across records the vendor did not plan for, such as which vet keeps leaving consults open, waits on what the dashboard already shows.
A way in, and nothing said about the way out
Covetrus handles extraction and migration when you join. The page says nothing about taking your clinical history with you when you leave, so ask support for a full export before you need one.
What your clinic gets
One record of the practice, held by the practice
Front desk
Bookings that check themselves
The calendar refuses the mistakes that cost a clinic a morning, and says why in plain words.
- check A vet whose practising certificate has lapsed cannot be put in the calendar
- check The same vet cannot be in two rooms at once, and a patient recorded as deceased cannot be booked
- check Appointments in the past with no outcome stay on the list until someone records what happened
- check No-shows and cancellations keep their reason, so a pattern by owner is one question away
Treatment room
Consults closed out properly
Notes, consent, dispensing and charging hang off the consult, so nothing finishes half done.
- check A consult cannot close without clinical notes on the record
- check Surgery and dental work cannot close without consent recorded
- check Restricted medicines are dispensed only inside a vet's consult, and an expired batch is refused
- check Finished work turns into an invoice at the desk, and anything left unbilled is listed by name
Drug register
The controlled drug book, kept as you go
Every movement of a controlled drug is written as it happens, so the inspection is a printout rather than a scramble.
- check Receipts, dispensing and witnessed disposals go in with a running balance, and entries cannot be edited after the fact
- check The register can be checked against a shelf count drug by drug, and a gap goes to the top of the day's list
- check A compliance check names expired certificates, procedures without consent, expired batches and dogs without a microchip
- check The register, vaccination certificates, statements and histories print in your clinic's own branding
Your records
Owned by the clinic, shaped by the clinic
Your history in a database in the practice's name, changed by asking for the change.
- check Recalls come out as a call list with phone numbers, and lapsed patients are ranked by what they have spent
- check Add a field, a protocol or a new document by describing it in plain English
- check Everyone on the team uses the same records, with no charge for adding a person
- check Open source under the MIT licence: there is no vendor account to close if you ever move on
Make it yours
Design your own Covetrus Ascend replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Covetrus Ascend. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your Covetrus Ascend data across and run it for you.
Switching
How to switch from Covetrus Ascend
A move involves exporting your records, mapping Ascend’s columns, checking the import, and comparing the new records with your current system.
- 1
Request your records
Ask Covetrus support for a full export of your clients, patients, vaccinations, and history. Export what your account allows, and check with Covetrus which records and formats they can provide. Keep the original exports unchanged so you can refer back to them while you check the move.
- 2
Load and map the records
Use the available import to load your client and animal records. The free version reads client and animal exports from another practice system. Ascend’s columns are different, so they need mapping to the new system’s fields. If the import offers a test run, use it first. Ask Enterprise DNA about mapping vaccination and history records from your export.
- 3
Review import flags
Check every item the import flags against the records in Ascend. Correct errors where you can, and make a note of records or history that did not come across. Do not treat a successful import as proof that everything is complete. Confirm that the records you need are present and that the details make sense before relying on the new system.
- 4
Run both systems briefly
Keep Ascend running while you use the new system alongside it for a short period. Compare records and day-to-day work between the two, and note any differences or missing information. Use this check to resolve problems before you depend on the new system. Agree who is responsible for checking the records and what needs to be confirmed before the final switch.
- 5
Switch off Ascend
When you have checked the imported records and are ready to work from the new system, switch off Covetrus Ascend. Keep your exported records available according to your clinic’s record-keeping needs. Make sure staff know which system is current, so new appointments and clinical records are entered in the right place.
Where the real effort goes
The main work is mapping Ascend’s fields to the new system and deciding how much vaccination and history data to bring across. The free version reads client and animal exports, but Ascend’s columns differ, so some mapping is needed. If Enterprise DNA runs the move for you, they do this mapping work with your records.
Not ready for a call?
Get your Covetrus Ascend switch plan by email
We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Covetrus Ascend, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.
Sent. Check your inbox.
Your Covetrus Ascend switch plan is on its way.
Rather talk it through? Book a call arrow_forwardTwo ways to switch
Set it up yourself, or have Enterprise DNA move you across
Open source
Set it up yourself
Free
- 1 Clone the repo from GitHub
- 2 Run npm run demo and open the folder in Claude Code
- 3 Type /attention to see what the demo clinic needs today
- 4 Ask Claude Code to map your Covetrus Ascend export, then point it at your own database
Omni by Enterprise DNA
Have Enterprise DNA move you across
One setup fee, then a monthly retainer
- check We get your clients, patients and vaccination state out of Covetrus Ascend and into your own database
- check We set up your protocols, consent forms, price list and opening controlled drug balances
- check We add what your clinic relies on: lab results, card payments, online booking or a web front end
- check It runs inside Omni, our managed Command Centre, beside the rest of your business
Questions
Instead of Covetrus Ascend, answered
Covetrus says Ascend has no lock-in contract. Why switch? expand_more
No lock-in on the contract is not the same as owning the records. With your own system the history sits in a database in the clinic's name, the price is one you agreed in writing, and adding staff does not change it.
Can my Covetrus Ascend data come across? expand_more
Yes, with some work. The free version reads the client and animal export from another practice system, and Ascend's columns are different, so the mapping is part of what Enterprise DNA does. Ask Covetrus support for a full export of clients, patients, vaccinations and history before you start.
Ascend pulls lab results in automatically. Does this? expand_more
Not in the free version. Lab results, card terminals and insurance claims reach Ascend through partners. When Enterprise DNA builds your version, we connect the ones your clinic actually uses, and leave out the rest.
Does it keep the controlled drug register properly? expand_more
It keeps every receipt, dispensing and witnessed disposal with a running balance, and checks the book against a shelf count on request. Your storage and destruction arrangements are still yours to get right, and nothing here is legal advice.
What about our nurses, locums and front desk? expand_more
Everyone works from the same records, asking for what they need in plain English. There is no per-user charge, so the roster can change week to week without touching the cost.
Find out what your clinic would own instead
30 minutes with Sam. Bring what Covetrus charges you and how your team works today. We show you what your own system would hold and how your records would move. If it fits, we build it. If not, the free version is yours to run.
Vet Clinic for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.
Done paying for Covetrus Ascend?
Get your version built