Dental Attendance, Time Off, and Coverage System

In a practice of eight, the question is never abstract: who covers the chair when an assistant calls out at 7 a.m., who already has that Friday off, and how many late arrivals is too many before someone has a real conversation. Attendance gets tracked in a hygienist’s head, PTO collides on a paper calendar, and a short-notice absence becomes a scramble that costs production.

The Dental Attendance, Time Off, and Coverage System runs all three on one workbook: an attendance point engine carried over from a product already selling, plus three planning tabs built for the chair, a Coverage Planner, a PTO Blackout and Shift Swap view, and a Short-Notice Absence Protocol.

What is inside

• 1. Dental Attendance, Time Off, and Coverage Workbook (Excel). The attendance point engine logs occurrences, applies a rolling window, and tracks discipline stages, with a protected-absence flag that keeps the absences that should never earn points separate from the ones that should. Three planning tabs sit on top of it: a Coverage Planner that shows who covers each station, a PTO Blackout and Shift Swap tab that keeps time off from colliding, and a Short-Notice Absence Protocol that turns a 7 a.m. call-out into a routine. A worked Lakeview example shows a protected absence counting zero, an old occurrence aging out, two people at a discipline step, and one uncovered station flagged on the board. Works in Excel or Google Sheets.
• 2. Using This Workbook in Google Sheets (PDF). A one-page note on importing the workbook and what to confirm after the import.

Plus the Product License, one license covering everything in this kit.

What makes it different

The point engine is character-identical to a TrueStep HR product already in the catalog, so the math carries the trust of a shipped product rather than a fresh, untested formula. The three new tabs answer the real dental pain, which is coverage today, not generic HR theory.

The protected-absence flag is where homemade attendance spreadsheets create risk, and it is built in here. The worked example demonstrates every behavior a careful buyer would test before trusting the file with real names.

Questions practice owners ask

What kind of tool is this?

It is an HR coverage and attendance tool: the points engine, the coverage planner, the PTO and swap view, and the short-notice protocol. It handles the staffing and attendance side. Clinical scope, supervision, and licensure belong to the dentist and your state board.

Can I change the point values?

Yes. Set the values that fit your practice and the thresholds and discipline stages follow your numbers.

Do I need special software?

No. The workbook opens in Excel or Google Sheets, and a short guide for the Sheets path is included.

If you are looking for the rest of the practice HR system, the Dental Hiring Kit fills clinical and front-desk roles, the Dental Onboarding System runs a new hire’s first weeks, and the Dental Practice HR System brings all of it into one purchase below the cost of the parts.

How the download works

Your files arrive as a single ZIP download, best opened on a computer: save it, extract it (right-click and Extract All on Windows, double-click on a Mac), and open the Start Here file first. PDFs open in any reader, and the editable files work in Microsoft Word and Excel or their free equivalents, including LibreOffice and Google Docs and Sheets. No other software is needed. Step-by-step help for every device is at truestephr.com/pages/download-help.

Scope

This kit is a set of working tools and editable templates for handling performance, conduct, and people decisions in a clear, consistent, and defensible way. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for qualified counsel on your specific situation. Conversations about performance, pay, and conduct can carry legal consequences, and discipline, documentation, and termination rules vary by state. Where a matter is heading toward discipline or separation, or where an employee raises a complaint about harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or safety, have the facts and your next step reviewed against applicable law before you act.

Built to the TrueStep HR standard. Backed by a 14-day money-back guarantee. Questions: support@truestephr.com.