The reception team sets the tone for a busy, profitable diary. This guide gives a reception user a repeatable way to work: use the Action Today Dashboard as a single command centre, own a defined set of reports, understand the benefit each one delivers, and schedule the right reports so the work comes to you automatically to save you time.
Why the Action Today Dashboard is the reception secret weapon
The Action Today Dashboard highlights key, actionable information across nine operational tiles so the user can quickly identify and resolve issues, keep diaries busy, stay on top of debt, and monitor daily performance. Every tile is a live count that clicks through to a full detailed report, so the dashboard doubles as the reception user's prioritised worklist for the day.
💡 Top Tip: Use Unselect All then choose your practice(s) and click Create Dashboard to focus the view on the diaries you are responsible for if you have access to more than one practice.
Reporting areas
These are the tiles a reception user should work from, what each shows, the action it drives, and the benefit it adds for them.
Tile / report | What it shows | The reception action | Benefit to you |
Diary Utilisation | Fill rate for today and the next two working days — booked hours % and whitespace (unbooked) hours. | Spot the gaps early and fill them from your cancellation, FTA and recall lists. | Fuller chairs, protected revenue per hour, no surprise quiet afternoons. |
Cancellations | Appointments cancelled in the last 30 days with no replacement booked, plus unbooked hours caused by cancellations today and tomorrow. | Call those patients to re-book and backfill freed slots for today and tomorrow first. | Recovered clinical time, less short-notice whitespace. |
Failed to Attends (FTAs) | Patients who failed to attend yesterday, plus anyone who FTA'd in the last 30 days with no future appointment. | Contact to re-book and apply your FTA policy consistently. | Recovered missed revenue and fewer repeat no-shows. |
Recalls Due Without Appointment Booked | Patients due a dentist or hygienist recall within the next 7 days or past 30 days who have not booked. | Proactively call or message to book the recall before it slips. | Stronger retention, continuity of care, and a steadily filled future diary. |
Open COTs Without Appointment | Private and NHS courses of treatment that have been started but have no future appointment booked. | Contact the patient to book the next stage of treatment; sort by oldest first. | Keeps the treatment pipeline moving and protects planned revenue. |
Lapsed Patients | Patients who lapsed last month, plus those due to lapse this month and next. | Run reactivation calls / messages — prioritise "due to lapse" before they are lost. | Fewer patients lost, higher active patient base. |
Reception Workflow Compliance Failures (Exact users only) | How completely the reception checkout workflow was finished — failures for the last working day and last 7 days, against total patients seen. | Review failures, close the gaps (e.g. mobile captured, next appointment / recall booked) and flag training needs. | Clean, reliable data and a consistent checkout every patient, every time. |
Unpaid Invoices | Invoices raised but not fully paid or allocated, grouped by last working day, last 7 days and last 30 days. | Chase balances at the desk and by phone, starting with the most recent. | Healthier cash flow and less debt building up. |
Potential Unblocked Diaries | Open appointment diaries with no appointments scheduled, which can distort utilisation and earnings-per-hour figures. | Flag to your manager so the diary can be blocked or closed. | Accurate reporting you can trust when filling gaps. |
From insight to action: the drill-down reports
Clicking any tile opens its full detail report — for example the Patient FTA Detail Report, the Cancellation Details Report, or the Workflow Compliance Detail Report — with patient names and contact details (home phone, mobile, email) so a reception user can act immediately. Reports can also be reached directly from Report Finder > Performance. On every report you have three buttons:
Export Data — download a CSV to work from as a call list.
Print — a physical copy for the front desk.
Schedule Report — automate regular delivery so the report lands without anyone remembering to run it.
💡 Top Tip: Best single "fill the gaps" report: the FTA or Cancelled Patients Without Appointment Booked report combines missed and cancelled patients who still have no future appointment, with full contact details — ideal as a daily or weekly reception call list.
Scheduling to action the items
The real efficiency gain comes from letting the reports arrive on a schedule, so the reception user starts each day with a ready-made worklist rather than building one.
How to schedule a report
Open the tile (or find the report via Report Finder) and set the parameters you want — date range, practice(s), and any FTA / cancelled filters.
Click Schedule Report.
Choose the delivery frequency (e.g. daily or weekly) and the recipient(s) — typically the reception shared inbox or the practice manager.
Save. The report will now be delivered automatically on that period chosen.
Suggested reception rhythm
When | Work from | What you do |
Start of every day (10–15 min "Action Today" check) | Diary Utilisation, Cancellations (today/tomorrow), FTAs (yesterday), Unpaid Invoices (last working day) | Fill today's and tomorrow's gaps first; make FTA re-book calls; chase yesterday's unpaid balances. |
Weekly (set block, e.g. Monday AM) | Recalls Due Without Appointment, Open COTs Without Appointment, FTA or Cancelled Without Appointment report, Reception Workflow Compliance Failures | Work the recall and open-treatment call lists to build the forward diary; review checkout compliance with the manager. |
Monthly | Lapsed Patients, Workflow Compliance Period report | Run a reactivation push on lapsed / about-to-lapse patients; review checkout compliance trends and training needs. |
Reports to set on auto-schedule
Report | Suggested frequency | Sent to | Why |
FTA or Cancelled Patients Without Appointment Booked | Daily or weekly | Reception inbox | Ready-made re-book call list to fill whitespace. |
Recalls Due Without Appointment Booked | Weekly | Reception inbox | Catch unbooked recalls before they lapse. |
Open COTs Without Appointment | Weekly | Reception inbox | Keep started treatment moving to completion. |
Unpaid Invoices | Weekly | Reception / manager | Stay on top of outstanding balances. |
Reception Workflow Compliance (Period) | Weekly or monthly | Practice manager | Monitor checkout consistency and spot training needs. |
Lapsed Patients | Monthly | Reception / manager | Drive a regular reactivation campaign. |
The benefit to the reception user
A prioritised worklist, not a hunt — the dashboard and scheduled reports tell you exactly who to contact and why.
A fuller diary — cancellations, FTAs, recalls and open treatment are all recoverable slots you can fill.
Better retention — recalls and lapsed-patient actions keep patients coming back.
Cleaner data and cash flow — compliant checkouts and chased invoices make everything downstream easier.
Less admin — scheduled reports remove the "remember to run it" step entirely.
If you would like to discuss more about how the reports can best benefit you and your practice please contact the team at support@mypracticecloud.com