Chapter 1

Start processing cases

Load your products and customers, set up shipping, bring your team in and, if you want it, your case history.

All plansEvery lab, first

Contents

1.1

Import products and price lists

A product is anything you sell, like a zirconia crown or a night guard. A price list is one set of prices, like Standard or Volume. A case can only use products that have a price on its customer’s price list, so get these right first and case entry works from day one.

Before you start

Your product list: names, the kind of restoration, turnaround days, and whether each one is taxable.
Your price lists: one for each set of prices you charge.

What to set up

1Price lists, one for each set of prices you charge. You can create them right from the products sheet.
2Products, one row each. The quantity type decides how quantity follows the tooth chart on a case: per tooth, per arch, or a custom selection.
3Prices: one column per price list, with each product’s price on it.
4Product custom fields, one column per field, if you track something Pilot doesn’t. → Custom fields
5Import a small batch first, check a few products and their prices, then import the rest.

Import templates

Products

products.csv

Your whole catalog in one file: one row per product with its settings, one column per price list with the product’s price on it, and one column per product custom field.

NameQuantity Type

The highlighted columns identify each row or must be filled. Rename the placeholder columns (Price List 1, Custom Field 1) to your own labels. Keep the other headers as they are, and save as CSV.

A missing price hides the product

If a product has no price on a customer’s price list, it doesn’t show up when you enter a case for that customer. Product missing? Check its price on that list first.

You're done when: Every product you sell is in Pilot, with a price on every price list that uses it.

1.2

Import customers

Every case is for a customer, and in Pilot a customer is one doctor at one office: Dr. Ana Smith at Smile Dental. Invoices go to the customer’s billing account, which can cover one doctor, a whole office or a group of offices.

Before you start

Your doctors and the offices they work at, with shipping addresses.
Who gets the bill for each doctor or office, and their payment terms.
The price list each customer uses, and anyone with their own prices.
Your tax areas and shipping routes. → Shipping routes

What to set up

1Customers, one row per doctor at an office, with the office’s shipping address, tax area and default shipping route, its billing account and its price list.
2Billing accounts, each billing the right group: one doctor, one office, or several offices, like a DSO.
3Custom prices, for customers who pay something different from their price list.
4Customer custom fields, one more column per field on the customers file.
5Validated addresses for every office, if you’ll ship with UPS or FedEx through Pilot.

Import templates

Customers

customers.csv

One row per doctor at an office: the office and its shipping address, the billing account, the price list, and one column per customer custom field.

Doctor NameOffice NameBilling Account Name

Custom prices

customer-custom-prices.csv

Prices a customer pays that are different from their price list.

Doctor ReferenceOffice NameProduct NamePrice

The highlighted columns identify each row or must be filled. Rename the placeholder columns (Price List 1, Custom Field 1) to your own labels. Keep the other headers as they are, and save as CSV.

A doctor at two offices is two customers

“Dr. Smith at Main St” and “Dr. Smith at Oak Ave” are separate customers. They can have different prices, and be billed to the same account or to different ones.

You're done when: You can open any customer, see the right price list, billing account and shipping route, and enter a case for them.

1.2.1

Shipping routes

A shipping route is how cases get to an office: a carrier, a service level and how long it takes. Routes set each case’s ship date, print labels, and let Pilot suggest which cases to send together. Every office needs a default route, and you can create routes as you fill in the customers sheet.

What to set up

1A route for each carrier and service you use, like UPS Ground, plus a local route for your own deliveries. UPS and FedEx labels need those carriers connected first.
2Days in transit. Pilot counts them back from a case’s due date to get its ship date.
3Pickup times, which decide which cases can go out in the same shipment.
4Whether weekends count, and what you charge for shipping, if anything.

Local routes

A local route doesn’t print labels, and its tracking number is just “LOCAL ROUTE”. Use it for your own drivers.

You're done when: Every office has a default route, and a test case shows the ship date you expect.

1.3

Bring your team in

Every plan comes with unlimited users, so nobody has to share a login. Roles decide what each person can see and do.

What to set up

1Users: invite your team from Pilot, one at a time or by importing a list. Everyone needs at least one role.
2Roles: saved sets of permissions. Someone with several roles gets the widest access of all of them.
3Shifts and workstations for technicians, so production can be assigned to them. → Technicians
4Pilot Academy tracks for everyone, and a test case from each person before cutover. → Training

You're done when: Everyone can sign in, sees only what they should, and has started their tracks.

1.4

Optional

Import historical cases

Your case history lets Pilot spot remakes and pick up treatments that run in stages, and search and customer reports work from day one. It’s optional: skip it and you can still process new cases.

Before you start

Products and customers imported: cases are matched to them. → Import customers
A case export from your old system.

What to import

1Cases, one row each, with the customer, status and dates, plus one column per case custom field. Keep your old case numbers, or leave them blank and Pilot numbers the cases for you.
2Line items: the products on each case, with quantity, teeth, shade and price, plus line item custom fields.
3Production tasks, if you want production history: each case’s steps with their workstation, technician and dates, plus production task custom fields. They come with Work Tracking. → Build your production flow
4Start with the cases file. Pilot checks every row and lists the problems before importing anything. Fix them and upload again, or import just the rows that passed.

Import templates

Cases

cases.csv

One row per case: customer, status and dates, and one column per case custom field.

Created AtDoctor ReferenceOffice NameStatus

Case line items

case-line-items.csv

The products on each case, with quantity, rate, teeth and shade, and one column per line item custom field.

Case NumberProduct Name

Production tasks

production-tasks.csv

The production steps on each case, with workstation, technician and dates, and one column per production task custom field.

NameCase NumberProduction Task TemplateWorkstation

The highlighted columns identify each row or must be filled. Rename the placeholder columns (Price List 1, Custom Field 1) to your own labels. Keep the other headers as they are, and save as CSV.

Cases still open at cutover

Bring them over with their current status, and reprint their work tickets from Pilot so the bench works from the new paperwork. → Big picture: how onboarding works

You're done when: You can search for an old case by patient or case number, and it opens with its customer and products.

Stuck on a step?

Message the Pilot team from inside Pilot during business hours, on every plan. Or let us run the setup with you.

Onboarding service Talk to us

0. Preparing to onboardPrevious chapter 2. Start billing out of PilotNext chapter

Import products and price lists

Import customers

Shipping routes

Bring your team in

Import historical cases

Set up your lab today.