Overview
When a practice creates an order via the customer portal, it enters the treatment date — the day the patient returns to the practice for the fitting of the work.
Based on your stored production and shipping times, Crownbeam automatically calculates the earliest possible treatment date. Optionally, Crownbeam also calculates the latest shipping date — the point by which the order must leave the lab so the work arrives at the practice in time for the treatment date.
Contents:
What is the treatment date?
What is the shipping date?
How do weekends, public holidays and company holidays factor in?
Shipment details: enabled or disabled?
Where do you configure the shipment details?
A concrete example
What is the treatment date?
The treatment date consists of the day and time the patient comes to the practice — for example, to fit a finished crown. The practice enters both details as mandatory fields when ordering.
Based on the production time and your shipment details, Crownbeam automatically calculates the earliest possible date — and shows it to the practice directly in the order form. The practice cannot select an earlier date.
Note: How the treatment date is set depends on how the order was created:
Customer portal: The practice enters the date itself, but cannot select a date before the earliest possible date (calculated by Crownbeam).
Lab: You can choose the treatment date freely, without restriction by the date calculation.
Intraoral scanner integration: Crownbeam automatically takes the treatment date from the scanner order.
If a self-selected or imported date is before the earliest possible date, Crownbeam shows a warning.
What is the shipping date?
The shipping date is the latest point at which you must send the package so it arrives at the practice in time for the treatment date. Crownbeam calculates it automatically — backwards from the treatment date.
Four parameters from your shipment details go into the calculation:
Production time of the ordered indication — from the product catalog. For orders with multiple indications, Crownbeam uses the longest production time.
Drop-off Deadline — the daily cut-off by which the package must be with the parcel service.
Shipping days — how many days the transport takes.
Latest guaranteed delivery time — by when the package arrives at the recipient on the delivery day.
Tip: You can get the values for the Drop-off Deadline, Shipping days and Latest guaranteed delivery time from your shipping provider.
How do weekends, public holidays and company holidays factor in?
Crownbeam only counts working days in the date calculation. Saturdays and Sundays are always skipped automatically — you don’t need to configure anything.
Public holidays and company holidays, however, are not taken into account automatically. You need to enter these in Crownbeam yourself. Once a day is entered, Crownbeam skips it in the calculation — just like a weekend.
Note: How to enter non-working days is described in the article Block deliveries on non-working days.
Shipment details: enabled or disabled?
Enabled — automatic calculation active
When automatic calculation is enabled, Crownbeam automatically calculates the shipping date for every order. You can see in the dashboard at any time when an order needs to be shipped — and when it becomes overdue.
This is the recommended mode for all labs working with shipping providers.
Disabled — manual mode
When automatic calculation is disabled, Crownbeam sets the shipping date equal to the treatment date. You can manage the dates manually per order.
Where do you configure the shipment details?
You’ll find the shipment details under Settings → Shipment Details. A detailed step-by-step guide is in Configure shipment details. There you set:
Automatic calculation of the shipping date — enable or disable
Drop-off Deadline — e.g. 4:00 pm
Shipping days — e.g. 0 for next-day delivery
Latest guaranteed delivery time — e.g. 9:00 am
A concrete example
Suppose your settings look like this:
Production time: 10 days
Drop-off Deadline: 2:00 pm
Shipping days: 1 day
Latest guaranteed delivery time: 1:00 pm
Current date and time: Thursday, July 6, 3:00 pm
Crownbeam counts 10 working days forward from July 6 — excluding weekends. This gives Thursday, July 20 as the earliest completion day.
Since production only finishes at 3:00 pm and the Drop-off Deadline is 2:00 pm, the package can no longer be dropped off in time on July 20. Crownbeam therefore adds another working day — excluding weekends — and arrives at Friday, July 21 as the drop-off day.
With 1 shipping day, the package arrives on the next working day: Tuesday, July 25 by 1:00 pm.
The earliest possible treatment date is therefore July 25 at 1:00 pm.
Now suppose the practice arranges Wednesday, July 26 at 11:00 am as the treatment appointment with the patient. Since 11:00 am is before the latest guaranteed delivery time (1:00 pm), delivery on July 26 is no longer possible in time — the package must arrive the day before: Tuesday, July 25. From this we subtract the shipping days (1 day) — which makes Monday, July 24 the drop-off day.
To complete the delivery on time, however, the package must be posted the day before, ahead of the Drop-off Deadline. The latest possible shipping date is therefore Friday, July 21 by 2:00 pm.
FAQs
Can the practice choose a date that isn’t realistic?
No. Crownbeam calculates the earliest possible treatment date and prevents the practice from choosing an earlier date. If you create an order yourself as a lab, you can deviate from this — Crownbeam then shows a warning.
What happens with an order with multiple indications?
Crownbeam always bases the calculation on the indication with the longest production time — so the entire order is finished on time.
Are public holidays counted automatically or do I have to enter them?
You need to enter public holidays and company holidays manually — under Settings → My Business → Opening Times. Weekends are always skipped automatically.
Can I calculate same-day deliveries?
No. If the Shipping days are set to 0, Crownbeam calculates with overnight delivery to the next day.