Updated . Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. How we check this lesson
Turn a plain-English description into a referral-partner tracker, load your partner list, update a partner after a call, and check every change before you let ChatGPT add and update records for you.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What you build | Turn a plain-English description into a referral-partner tracker, load your partner list, update a partner after a call, and check every change before you let ChatGPT add and update records for you. |
| Tools | ChatData Sync |
| Time | About 8 minutes, 21 steps in 5 parts |
| Level | Beginner, no coding needed |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | Practice it step by step |
The 5 parts, in short
- Describe the tracker: Start a new tracker, Describe it in plain English, Generate it, Check the fields it picked, and 3 more steps.
- Load your partner list: Your tracker is ready, The fields, in one list, Upload the partners you already have.
- Update a partner: Four partners, ready to work, A partner called back, Change what changed, Save it.
- Check what changed: Every save is a version, Open the old version, See before and after, Your follow-up list.
- Connect ChatGPT safely: A key for this tracker only, Or add the plugin in ChatGPT, Keep the final say.
Start here first: AI Receipt Extractor: Receipts to Google Sheets with n8n (module 1 of Business Automations)
In the course: Part 9 · n8n Automation Toolkit (Module 134 of the full course)
Part of: AI for Medical & Dental Office Admin (step 19 of 23). Next up: Airia: Draft Prior-Authorization Appeal Letters Without Sharing Identifiers for Operations
Part of: AI Apps Worth Knowing (step 153 of 157). Next up: GoodDay: Run an Agency Client Project Board (Beyond Trello)
What you'll build
Maya is made up. She coordinates patients at a small dental clinic, and local pediatricians, orthodontists, oral surgeons and a pharmacy send new patients her way. Who she called, and when to call back, lives in her inbox and on sticky notes, so follow-ups slip. In this lesson you describe a referral-partner tracker in plain English and ChatData Sync builds it. You load four partners from a CSV, update one after a call, and open the record's version history to see exactly what changed. Last, you see the two ways to let ChatGPT add and update records, a key that opens only this tracker or the ChatData Sync plugin, and where you review an assistant's changes.
You went from a sentence to a referral-partner tracker with 8 fields, loaded four partners, updated one after a call, and checked the before and after in its version history. Your next follow-up dates now sit in one column. Next, add the ChatData Sync plugin in ChatGPT and ask it to log calls for you, then check its changes the same way. On the free Try It plan you get one tracker, so start with the list that costs you most when it slips.
- Tools: ChatData Sync
- Time: about 8 minutes, 21 steps in 5 chapters
- Level: beginner, no coding needed
- Price: free
Practice first, then build it for real
Practice copy built from real ChatData Sync screens (chatdatasync.com), captured 13 November 2026 on the free Try It plan. Nothing here touches a ChatData Sync or ChatGPT account. The clinic, the coordinator and the partner practices are made up. To build it for real you need your own ChatData Sync account, and some services charge once you use them for real work, so check each tool's current pricing.
Try it yourself, free
Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of ChatData Sync, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.
Start “ChatData Sync: Track Referral-Partner Outreach for a Dental Clinic”Step by step: ChatData Sync: Track Referral-Partner Outreach for a Dental Clinic
All 21 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.
1. Describe the tracker
- Start a new tracker. You are Maya, the made-up patient coordinator at a small dental clinic. Local pediatricians, orthodontists, oral surgeons and pharmacies send you new patients, but who you called and when lives in your inbox and on sticky notes. One tracker fixes that. The free Try It plan holds one tracker. Click New tracker.
You coordinate patients at a small dental clinic. Your referral partners live in your inbox and on sticky notes. One tracker fixes that.
- Describe it in plain English. No spreadsheet setup. Describe what you want to track, and name the status values you use, so it makes a pick list instead of free text.
Describe what you want to track, in plain English. Name your status values, so it makes a pick list.
Track referral-partner outreach for our dental clinic: partner practice name, practice type, contact person, email, last contact date, status (Not contacted, Reached out, Meeting set, Referring), next follow-up date, and notes.
- Generate it. Click Generate tracker. Nothing is saved yet. You get a review screen first.
Nothing is saved yet.
- Check the fields it picked. It named the tracker Referral Partner Outreach and made 8 fields in a partners section: text for names and email, DATE for the two dates and CHOICE for status. Scroll the list and check each type. Click the fields.
It made eight fields: text for names, dates for the two dates, and a choice field for status. Check each type.
- Read the choices it made for you. Read A few choices we made for you: one main contact per practice, and each record keeps the current details, not a log of every call. That suits a follow-up list. Fix anything here now, because saved fields cannot simply be renamed or removed. Click the box.
Read the choices it made. One contact per practice, and current details only. Fix them now, because saved fields cannot simply be renamed.
- Instructions for your assistant. Open Custom assistant instructions. It wrote rules for ChatGPT: use only these fields, ask if a required field is missing, and never invent records or status values. You can paste them into a custom GPT later. Click the instructions.
It also wrote rules for ChatGPT. Use only these fields, and never invent records. You can paste them into a custom G P T.
- Create the tracker. Click Create tracker. On the free Try It plan, this is your one tracker; paid plans hold more.
2. Load your partner list
- Your tracker is ready. It opens on Connect, with Ready for first test. Before you connect anything, check the fields once more. Click Data setup.
Your tracker is ready.
- The fields, in one list. Here are the 8 fields with their types. Your CSV columns must use these names, such as partner_practice_name and next_follow_up_date. Click Data + visuals.
These field names are your CSV column names.
- Upload the partners you already have. You already keep a list of partners. Save it as a CSV with the field names as headers and dates as 2026-11-17. Click Upload CSV. One tip from our test: a row with an empty date stopped the whole upload, with no message on screen. Fill every date, or leave that column out.
Upload the list you already have, as a CSV. Fill every date. In our test, one empty date stopped the whole upload, with no message.
3. Update a partner
- Four partners, ready to work. Four partner practices, with the contact, the date you last reached out and the status. Scroll the table to the right.
Four partners are in.
- A partner called back. Each row has its next follow-up date, its notes, and Open and Edit. Dana at Lakeview Pediatrics just called back and booked a lunch-and-learn. Click Edit on her row.
Dana at Lakeview Pediatrics just called back.
- Change what changed. Change Status to Meeting set, the Last Contact Date to today, 11/13/2026, the Next Follow Up Date to 11/24/2026, and the notes. Status is a pick list, so nobody types "mtg set" by mistake. Click Status.
Set the status to Meeting set, and update the two dates and the notes.
- Save it. Click Save changes.
4. Check what changed
- Every save is a version. The record opens. It says who made it and who changed it last: Tracker owner, and Current version: 2. When ChatGPT edits a record, you see that here too. Click Show previous versions.
Every save is a version. It shows who changed it last, and when.
- Open the old version. Click Version 1.
- See before and after. It lists each field that changed, before and after: last contact date, status and next follow-up. If an assistant ever saves the wrong thing, this is how you see it and put it back. We only looked; we did not restore. Close the record with the X.
It shows each field, before and after. If an assistant saves the wrong thing, this is where you see it. Close the record.
- Your follow-up list. Lakeview now shows Meeting set and 2026-11-24. Read down the Next Follow Up Date column, and you know who to call this week: Northgate Pharmacy on Nov 14, Brightside Orthodontics on Nov 20. Click Lakeview's new date.
Lakeview now shows Meeting set. Read down the next follow up column, and you know who to call this week.
5. Connect ChatGPT safely
- A key for this tracker only. Back on Connect, the tracker already has its own key, hidden behind dots. It says "This key only opens Referral Partner Outreach." So a custom GPT that uses this key can read and change this tracker and nothing else. Treat the key like a password: do not paste it into chats or share it. Click the note.
Each tracker gets its own key. It only opens this tracker. Treat it like a password.
- Or add the plugin in ChatGPT. The simpler way: in ChatGPT, open Plugins, search ChatData Sync, and click Install plugin. Then ask in plain English, such as "add Maple Street Family Medicine as Not contacted" or "what follow-ups are due this week?" We stopped at this button: installing links ChatGPT to your ChatData Sync account, so we did not test the chat side here.
Or, in ChatGPT, open Plugins, and install ChatData Sync. Then ask in plain English. We stopped at this button, so we did not test the chat side.
- Keep the final say. Back in Data + visuals, Review assistant changes holds edits from assistants with review turned on. Nothing is saved until you approve. Check here, and in each record's versions, after ChatGPT has worked on your list. Click Review pending changes.
Assistants with review turned on propose changes here. Nothing is saved until you approve.
Screenshots
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Terms in this lesson
Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.