Dental clinic loyalty points that work as an invoice discount

How do dental clinic loyalty points work in Synora?

Synora is dental clinic software by Nano AI. Loyalty points are off until the clinic turns them on in Settings > Loyalty points. Until then nothing is earned and nothing can be spent.

Once they are on, a patient earns points when a payment is recorded. Later, when the same patient has an open invoice, reception presses Use points and the invoice gets one negative discount line.

The points are never wallet money. They cannot be withdrawn or paid out as cash, and they do not go into the patient's wallet. They only reduce an invoice. The clinic pays for them by collecting less, so the rates are your decision.

What earns points and what does not?

A patient earns points only on money actually paid. Synora works out floor(amount / money per point), once for each payment, so a part-point is dropped.

These payment methods earn points: cash, card, bank transfer, payment gateway or link, cheque, and other.

These earn nothing: payments from the patient's wallet, payments from an insurer, the sale of a membership package, and the tax part of an invoice. If part of an invoice was covered with points, that part earns nothing. The cash that remains does.

If the same payment event is replayed, it cannot award points twice.

How does reception use points on an invoice?

On an invoice row, reception presses Use points. The box starts filled with the most the invoice allows. Reception can press Use the most, or type a smaller number. The button stays disabled outside the range from the smallest use to that maximum.

The result is one negative line with no tax and no dentist on it. The invoice total goes down, and the services above it stay as they were.

The most points one invoice can take is the lowest of three numbers: the points the patient can spend, the clinic's maximum percent of the invoice total before points (less points already used on that invoice), and what the invoice still owes. A number above the limit is refused.

Points work on a draft, issued or part-paid invoice. They do not work on a paid or void invoice. If points bring an issued or part-paid invoice to zero, it is marked Paid. A draft stays a draft until it is issued.

Changed your mind? Remove points discount takes the line off and gives the points back. Voiding the invoice does the same.

How do you set the points rates?

Five fields in Settings > Loyalty points, set per clinic:

• Money that earns 1 point. Default 10.00.
• Value of one point. Default 0.10, which is about 1% back.
• Expiry in months. Default 12. Type 0 for never.
• Smallest use. Default 100 points.
• Most percent of an invoice total before points. Default 50.

The screen shows a live example line: paying a given amount earns this many points, worth this much, which is this percent back. Read it before you save.

One rule is enforced: a point must be worth less than the money that earns it. Everything is whole-number maths, so a discount is exactly points times point value.

The value of a point is read when points are spent and when the liability report is run. If you change it, points already held are worth the new value when they are used.

Do loyalty points expire, and what happens on a refund?

Expiry follows the months you set. A daily check at 01:20 UTC expires points that are due. A point past its date cannot be spent even if that check has not reached it yet. Points are used earliest-expiry first, and points that never expire go last. While the clinic switch is off, nothing expires.

If a payment is voided or refunded, the points it earned are taken back in the same step, in proportion to the refund. If the patient has already spent them, the balance can go negative. It is shown as negative and is paid off by the patient's next points. Points that already expired are not owed back.

Points returned from a removed discount or a voided invoice go back to their original lot if it is still alive. Otherwise they go into a new lot that lives 30 days, or never expires if the clinic's expiry is set to 0.

The patient file shows the balance, what it is worth, the next expiry, a warning on a negative balance, and the full history.

What does the loyalty points liability report show?

Points a patient holds are something the clinic owes as discount. The liability card in Settings > Loyalty points shows it:

• Outstanding points and what they are worth at today's point value
• Patients holding points
• Points expiring in the next 30 days
• Earned, used and expired over the last 12 months
• Patients with a negative balance
• The five biggest balances

The spreadsheet download (a CSV file) has file number, patient, points and value. The value column is in minor units (piastres for EGP, so 1000 means 10.00), and the column headers are in English. It opens in Excel with Arabic names intact.

Synora does not book anything. It gives the numbers, and your accountant decides how to record them.

Commission, permissions and limits

The dentist's commission is not paid on the part covered by points. On a collected-cash basis, points never count as collected. On an invoiced basis, each line's share of the points discount is subtracted. If points are used after an invoiced-basis statement was already paid, the difference is taken from that dentist's next statement.

Reception can read balances and use points. The owner and branch manager can also open the settings and the liability card. Accountants and auditors can read a patient's balance and history. The liability card and its spreadsheet download live on the settings screen, so in the web app they are for the owner and branch manager (the download also needs the export permission, which the auditor lacks). Only the owner can use Adjust points, and it needs a reason that is saved in the audit log.

Limits:

• Not on the Free plan.
• No messages to patients about points, and patients do not see their points.
• No tiers, no referral or birthday points, and no moving points between patients.
• Not usable on an invoice with insurance claims, and no claim on an invoice that carries points.
• Not usable on a paid or void invoice.