Migrate from Praktika Australia to Mailchimp

Praktika patient records map directly to Mailchimp contacts within an audience. The primary key is the patient's email address — contacts without a valid email address cannot be imported into Mailchimp and are flagged for manual review before the migration runs.

Praktika stores patient address as structured fields (street, city, state, postcode, country). Mailchimp's ADDRESS merge field expects a formatted string. We split the Praktika address components and assemble them into the format Mailchimp expects for postal merge use in printed campaign mailouts.

Mailchimp provides a native BIRTHDAY merge field that accepts dates in MM/DD format for birthday-based automation triggers. Praktika stores patient birth dates as full dates in YYYY-MM-DD format. During migration, we extract the month and day components from each patient's birth date in Praktika and reformat them into Mailchimp's required MM/DD format. This allows birthday automation workflows in Mailchimp to send automated birthday greetings or promotional offers on each contact's birthday.

Praktika patient phone numbers import directly into Mailchimp's PHONE merge field as plain text values. Australian mobile numbers starting with 04 and landline numbers with area codes are preserved in their original format without any transformation during migration. This field can be utilized for SMS marketing campaigns if the Mailchimp SMS add-on feature is enabled on your account. Phone numbers serve as an alternative contact method for reaching patients who may not engage with email communications.

Praktika stores treatment preferences (e.g., anxious patient, prefers evening appointments) as patient properties. Mailchimp has no native equivalent. We create a custom text merge field (TREATMENT_PREF) on the audience and migrate values as plain text. This field is for reference only and does not trigger automations.

Praktika's recall system tracks when the next checkup is due (e.g., 6 months, 12 months). This value migrates as a custom integer merge field (RECALL_MONTHS) in Mailchimp. It can be used to build a Mailchimp automation that fires a recall campaign at the appropriate interval after import.

Praktika appointment records (practitioner, time slot, surgery location, appointment type) have no Mailchimp equivalent. Mailchimp does not model scheduling data. Appointment information is not migrated — the team uses Praktika's Appointment Book as the system of record for scheduling after the cutover.

Treatment plans in Praktika contain proposed dental procedures, cost quotes, and clinical notes specific to the dental practice management data model. Mailchimp's contact-centric data model has no structure for storing clinical procedure data, tooth numbering systems, or periodontal measurements. These clinical treatment records are not migrated to Mailchimp and remain stored in Praktika as the system of record for clinical reference. The dental practice should maintain ongoing access to Praktika for clinical staff to retrieve treatment plan details.

Praktika account records contain HICAPS and Tyro payment transactions, outstanding patient balances, and billing history specific to the dental practice's financial operations. Mailchimp does not model or store any financial transaction data, billing records, or outstanding balance amounts. These financial records remain in Praktika's Accounts module as the financial system of record for the practice after migration to Mailchimp is complete. The practice accounting team continues to use Praktika for all billing and payment reconciliation activities.

Praktika logs SMS and email communications with timestamps attached to patient records. Only the most recent communication note migrates as a custom text merge field (LAST_CONTACT_NOTES) in Mailchimp — for audit reference, not automation use. Full communication history is not migrated due to Mailchimp's contact data model constraints.

Multi-location dental practices using separate Praktika instances per location may need separate Mailchimp audiences. We map each Praktika location to its own Mailchimp audience, with contact properties carrying the location identifier as a merge tag. A single consolidated audience is also an option if the practice prefers unified contact management.

Every Praktika patient record has a unique internal ID. We preserve this as a custom merge field (PRAKTIKA_ID) on the Mailchimp contact for traceability. This allows the team to cross-reference any contact in Mailchimp back to the original Praktika patient file without maintaining a separate lookup table.