Have two tables talk to each other or populate data in each other
Experienced airtable users, I need some Airtable brainpower to help me sort out the best way to create this table(s) to hopefully achieve what I’d like to do.
I think, in summary, what I want to be able to do to achieveis have two tables that can talk back and forth, as opposed to one way, along with table 1 have a way to trigger creation of a record in table 2 and maybe also vice versa.
Update: I was able to use Automation, and “When a record meets condition” trigger and “Create a record” as the action for this piece. :slightly_smiling_face:
And somehow, I assume by linking one to the other, when I enter a date in “Group 1 Discussed” field of Table 2 - if it’s part of a record that is linked to Table 1 - I’d like that to populate the similar field “Group 1 Discussed” in Table 1. Is that possible?
If so, what is the best way to go about this?
I’ve provided a lot more detail below in case it’s helpful. If you have a suggestion of something that might work better that the way I suggested above, I’m open to that too, and would be forever grateful. I’ve spent days and days reconfiguring and trying different methods, reading through the Airtable Support, Community QA, still can’t quite figure this out.
I’m a UX Designer at a small software company. I have two tables currently. I use both tables, more or less, to track the status of items on those tables, as they move through processes that I oversee.
Table 1 is UX Debt Log.
It’s a table of UX-related items I’ve identified on our platform that need to be fixed/improved. The table has many columns. I have a Unique ID serving as the Primary Field and the records. I have many Views that equate to what stage the item is in and one of the key columns that help determine what view an item shows up on is Status. Table 1 views, based on Status, are as below:
- Ready for Development
- Ready for Dev - GTM Only
- Assigned to Future Story
- Completed Via Stories
- Completed/Resolved Other
- Needs More Discussion / Solution
Table 2 is UX Meetings and consists of records made up of topics. The primary record is also a UID at the moment. The idea is that the topics that are moving through a series of discussions with two different groups and we want to track history of when they are discussed, feedback, etc. The typical process, though it can sometimes deviate or circle back, is that we discuss something with Group 1 first, then if approved, it moves forward to be discussed and approved in Group 2. Topics discussed might be a UX Debt item from Table 1, or might be something else. Thus, why I ended up with two tables.
Table 2 has many views, mostly based/filtered by “Status” column:
- Group 1 Agenda (topics to be discussed at next meeting)
- Group 2 Agenda (topics to be discussed at next meeting)
- Action Items (action items that result from agenda discussions)
- Group 1 Past Topics
- Group 2 Past Topics
I would like to be able to add topics to the Agendas for either group that are not always but sometimes a UX Debt item from Table 2. I would like to be able to either enter a topic directly into Table 2, or, while reviewing Table 1, if I identify a UX Debt item in the log that has not yet been discussed with either group and needs to be, update something in Table 1 that would automate adding that UX Debt item as a topic to Table 2, and that Table 2 record would be linked to the UX Debt item in Table 1.
I’d also like to then at the end of a UX Meeting, as I update each topic we discussed from agenda in Table 2 with feedback, action items, and the date the topic was discussed by that Group, that date is populated in the corresponding field in Table 1. So, when me or someone else is viewing Table 1 and looking at the view that shows items ready to be pulled into development, they will also see that the item was discussed and when, by both groups.
The piece about Table 1 triggering creation of record on Table 2 seems the most complicated.
Snapshots of the two tables below. I edited the view names in above description for simplicity (for example, where in screenshot Table 2 shows Guardians Agenda - Guardians is what we call Group 1 so anywhere Guardians is referenced in columns and view names, it equates to Group 1). I also edited out extra tabs for other tables that were irrelvant, if you notice the purple area at top looks a bit off, lol.
