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When something looks wrong

Stories and walkthroughs: When something looks wrong. For the message catalog and when to contact Ordo, see Errors and getting help.


The Open Dental tab is empty

What you see. EOB Review has lines. Open Dental has no claims.

Usual cause. You opened the patient before Fetch Open Dental.

What to do. Go back to the list, tick the patient, click Fetch Open Dental, wait, open the patient again.

Still empty in Actual? Open Dental may not be connected or synced. An Admin should test the connection under Clinic settings → PMS Integrations. In Demo, fetch still needs to be clicked; it uses sample charts, not your office.


The file says Failed

What you see. Dashboard tab Failed, or the row never becomes Extracted.

Usual causes.

  • The file is not one of the supported remittance layouts (Cigna PPO and DHMO, MetLife, Guardian, several Delta forms, and others).
  • The file is a password-protected PDF, a statement that is not an EOB, or a photo so poor that OCR cannot read it.
  • A temporary reading error.

What to do.

  1. Open the file if you can and read the error message (scan vs unsupported layout).
  2. Confirm you uploaded the remittance, not an explanation letter or a claim form.
  3. Try a clear text PDF export from the payer portal when you have one. A JPG/PNG of the remittance can work if the page is sharp and fully in frame.
  4. If the layout is not supported yet, plan to post that one in Open Dental by hand. Archive the failed duplicate so it does not sit in Failed forever.

Hard mismatch / Needs review

What you see. A banner or status warning; Approve is disabled or looks unsafe.

What to do.

  1. Open Audit. Read the failed signal in plain language.
  2. If the date of service is wrong, pick another candidate (another visit).
  3. If the name is a near miss (married name, hyphen, typo), fix EOB Review if you can edit, fetch again, or confirm in Open Dental which chart is correct.
  4. If it is simply the wrong person, Reject match. Do not approve because the dollars look close.

Example. EOB says June 12. Recommended claim is July 3 (a second cleaning). Dollars might even match. That is still the wrong visit. Pick June 12 or reject.


No match

What you see. Status No match. Candidate list empty or unusable.

Usual causes. Claim was never entered in Open Dental, patient is under a different name, replica is stale (not synced), or the EOB patient is not this practice’s patient.

What to do. On the Open Dental tab, use Find possible patients (date of birth and similar names) or None of these are the correct patient for a manual search. You do not have to edit the EOB name first. Guide: Finding the patient. If the claim exists under that chart, Sync (Admin) and fetch again. If the claim does not exist, enter it in Open Dental first, then return to Ordo. Ordo cannot invent a chart.


Post payment failed

What you see. Error toast; status may be Needs review / Push failed; Maria is not Posted.

What to do.

  1. Do not hammer the button.
  2. Note the time. Open Clinic settings → API Logs (or the error panel on the Open Dental tab).
  3. Common human fixes: connection dropped, customer key expired, eConnector stopped, claim was locked after approve.
  4. If Ordo says the claim changed, review again (fetch, confirm lines, approve, then post once).
  5. If Open Dental already shows matching money on a check, Ordo should show Already Posted — that is success, not Failed. Stop and do not post again.
  6. If a payment number never appeared but Open Dental already shows a different amount, stop. Email help@perfect.ventures before posting twice.

The full decoder for Open Dental API 400 (and 401, 429, 504) is Open Dental errors.


I cannot see a button or a module

Usual cause. Your role. Viewers cannot post. Reviewers cannot post (by default), cannot open Clinic settings, and do not see Analytics.

What to do. Ask an Owner to check Roles. Do not use someone else’s login.

If the whole clinic cannot sign in, the practice may not be set up yet. Email help@perfect.ventures.


Posting Analytics looks too high or too low

Symptom Likely cause Fix
Nothing shows at all The Overview starts idle Click Load overview
Uploads doubled Same PDF uploaded twice Archive the duplicate file
Posted looks low Files still Approved, not Posted Finish posting, or check Failed
Today’s uploads is zero Date filter is not today Change the date preset
A file vanished from the Overview It was Archived Restore from Dashboard → Archived if that was a mistake

The Overview uses upload date, not date of service. June treatment uploaded in August counts in August.


Payment Analysis shows NA, or flags lines that look fine

Symptom Likely cause Fix
NA with Missing clinic fee on many lines This insurer has no fee schedule mapped for that date of service, or the schedule is missing those codes. An Owner or Admin adds or fixes it: Fee schedules and date maps. Then Run again.
NA with Patient share unclear The EOB’s deductible + coinsurance and its patient responsibility disagree. Read the EOB line. Decide it with Review if there is a real gap.
Every line on one payer says Potential underpayment The mapped fee schedule is out of date (last year’s contract, or the wrong plan). Check the date map with Fee Analysis for that date.
Numbers did not change after fixing a fee schedule Saved results keep the fees they were calculated with. Click Run again (EOB) or Refresh (patient).

A fetch job says Partially complete or Failed

What you see. On Historical Analysis or Missing Posting, a job did not finish cleanly.

What to do.

  1. Open the job (See claims for Historical) and click Retry errored dates, or Retry on the job.
  2. If it keeps failing, the Open Dental connection is usually the cause. An Admin should Test under Clinic settings → PMS Integrations.
  3. You can still analyze a Partially complete job — just know some days are missing.

Demo vs Actual mix-up

What you see. The file you uploaded this morning is gone — or a sample Maria is still there after you “deleted” her.

What to do. Read the sidebar: Demo and Actual are different cabinets. Switch to the mode you used when you uploaded. Never drop a real EOB in Demo.


Names and PHI on screenshots

If you need help from Ordo, email help@perfect.ventures. Please provide:

  • EOB ID (from the dashboard row)
  • Time of the error
  • The message text, not a full-page screenshot of the PDF

Do not paste entire remittances into an unencrypted chat or email.