Jan 18, 2024 09:40 AM
Hi fellow AT users. Please forgive this long post, but if you have the patience to read through it, I know there is a super smart person out there who has a creative solution.
My boss wants to share an org chart link with other people in the company without them having to login to AT. I know how to do that. I also know that I can find the URL to the org chart so it can be shareable. I have learned I can also share the base publicly with a passcode - so far all is good.
However, as you know, you can click off the link and view the entire base contents which is what we do not want.
We cannot afford the Softr Business plan each month (non profit - even with their 30% discount) so we have to manually find a creative solution.
We thought we could sync a limited view to another base and create the org chart there but with one way sync, it doesnt allow the links and the org chart cannot be created as such.
Here is where automation comes in. We had the idea of exporting the base views we need to csv, using some sort of automation to bring it into the new base (while also keeping them in sync) and then creating the org chart. We tried export to google sheets but changes append a record, so that wont work.
Is there an automation (even a third party cheaper option) that could achieve this? or....
Is there another way we can share an org chart with external members of the company without given them access to the whole data?
Things I have tried: interfaces (no ability to create an org chart), creating my own extension (still not shareable).
Can anyone help me?
For reference, this is a link that seems to be someone who needs what I need too: https://community.airtable.com/t5/other-questions/sharing-org-chart/td-p/54089
Jan 18, 2024 09:35 PM
Hi,
I never used org chart for real tasks, but I just tested solution with sync and it seems like not hard.
You don't need 2-way sync for it.
So, org chart needs a 'self-linked' table. I suppose a primary field is unique.
Let our linked field will be 'Link To'. Which syncs to the other 'non-secret' base to a usual text field.
In synced table, create new field 'LinkTO' (linked to the same table). Then copy-paste values. Then create formula field 'Check' with {Link To}={LinkTO}. Ensure it's 1 in all records (extra line-breaks or some chars might result in 0, but it can be easily fixed).
Now create automation which runs when Check=0 with just one action: update 'LinkTO' with a value of 'Link To'.
That's all. For final likeness, you can hide 2 extra fields. Now you can add org-chart extension and share. At least while the number of org chart changes per month will not exceed the automation limit.
Example synced table (random phrases). I did several quick changes in source table, and it reacted in a few seconds ending in a full synced state.
Jan 24, 2024 09:55 PM
Alex shows how to setup your table to be enabled for the Org chart block. Once you have that setup you can use the embed link to embed that in your public website. The final solution would be architected like this:
Source Base -> Org Chart Base -> embeded link to website.
Your concern about being able to see the underlying data is mitigated by only syncing in the fields you are going to share on the website.
Feb 01, 2024 05:25 AM
Sorry it took so long to reply, I grasp the concept of what you are saying but I cannot make it work. The reason I cannot make it work is that the synced table on the public base will not carry over the link to the Department table. Here is two screenshots for comparison:
How do i get the linked to formula to work?
Feb 01, 2024 06:37 AM
Hi,
It works in a following way:
Base1, has TableA and TableB. They a linked by some LinkedField
you sync both tables to a Base2
In Base2, you have tables TableA(synced) and TableB(synced). They are not connected and LinkedField transformed into usual text. Let's call it LinkedText
You create new LinkField_S in TableA(synced), copy whole LinkText in it and provide that in future every difference between LinkField_S and LinkedText will run Automation which updates LinkField_S according to a value from LinkedText.