A report that takes a week to produce
The practice owner wants to know how the practice is doing: how many consultations, how many starts, how many active cases, how many debonds and patients in retention, split by fixed and aligner, NHS and private. The practice manager runs several reports from the practice management system, combines them in a spreadsheet and sends them over, usually some time into the following month.
By the time the owner reads it, it is history. And each month's figures are calculated slightly differently depending on who ran them.
Multi-clinician practices feel it more. Each orthodontist has a sense of their own list, but nobody sees the practice as a whole until the report arrives, and by then a quiet month for one clinician has already become a quiet quarter.
Why the numbers are slow and inconsistent
- Figures come from different reports and systems.
- Definitions such as 'start' or 'active' are not written down.
- Reports are run by hand, when someone has time.
- NHS and private work are counted differently.
- There is no way to click into a number and see the cases.
What slow reporting costs
Decisions about marketing, staffing and sessions made on old or inconsistent numbers. The practice manager's time each month. And missed early signs, such as starts falling while consultations hold steady, which points to a conversion issue rather than a demand one.
Different questions need the same data cut different ways. The owner wants totals, the practice manager wants sessions, and each orthodontist wants their own cases. When every question means another manual report, most of them are never asked.
The dashboard we build
- Data is read nightly from your practice management system, and from payment and aligner case records where relevant.
- The practice agrees definitions for each figure, such as what counts as a start, an active case and a debond, and they are applied consistently.
- The dashboard shows consultations, starts, active cases, debonds and retention patients, by month, clinician and treatment type.
- Conversion from consultation to start, and average time in treatment by type, are shown where the data allows.
- Any figure can be clicked to see the cases behind it.
- If data did not load, the dashboard says so rather than showing a misleading number.
| Figure | Example definition (yours to agree) |
|---|---|
| Consultation | New patient consultation attended |
| Start | Bond-up or aligner fit completed |
| Active case | Started and not yet debonded |
| Debond | Appliance removed or aligner treatment completed |
| Retention | Debonded, not yet discharged |
Numbers that are there on the first of the month
The owner sees the month as soon as it ends, and during it. The practice manager is freed from compiling. Figures mean the same thing every month. And trends are visible early enough to act on.
Seasonal patterns become visible too, such as consultations rising after school holidays or starts dipping in exam periods. With consistent figures over time, the practice can plan sessions and marketing around them instead of reacting.
It also changes the monthly meeting. Instead of spending the first half agreeing what the numbers are, the team can spend it on what to do about them, with the cases behind each figure a click away.
Is this your reporting?
- Monthly figures take days to compile.
- Definitions of starts and active cases are not written down.
- You cannot click into a number to see the cases.
- NHS and private figures are combined inconsistently.