Is there a general methodology (Best Practices) to follow in setting up a workspace?

[Curt_Ranta]

What are best practices for using a single base or multiple bases in setting up a workspace? I am a real estate developer (multifamily buildings) and I want to capture all workflows that make up a real estate project from cradle to grave. Acquisition, Entitlement process, Existing Management of asset, Project Management, Construction Management, Financing Management, etc…

Do I create a separate base for each workflow and then have them linked or do I create a large single base with many tabs? Do I create a separate calendar base to track timelines or is that integrated into a single base?

Really trying to understand how to architect the platform from the get go so I don’t go down a dead end and have to rebuild everything… in terms of best practices… looking for people’s share on this… thanks!!!

[Nathalie_Collin]

Hi @Curt_Ranta and welcome to Airtable Community :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Your question.

Curt_Ranta:

What are best practices for using a single base or multiple bases in setting up a workspace?

This a very good question that I find most of my clients ask as well. Let me first say, bases don’t speak to one another natively.

Having said that, a base should contain information that are related. Let’s think of a filing cabinet with drawers

• Each drawer represents a base
• Each folder represents a subject matter
• Each paper represents the record or data set.

In this example, you wouldn’t file your business receipts in the same drawer as your child’s progress reports because there is no link between them. On the other hand, you would file your receipts in the same drawer as your tax returns because they are all related.

Now here’s the cravat, if you only have enough filing for a few filing folders in total, you wouldn’t want to get a huge filing cabinet with 4 drawers.

So back to your question, the answer is – it depends.

Let me ask you. Is there any correlation between each category and more importantly, how much information will each category have. You don’t want 10 bases with one record in each, but at the same time you don’t want a single base with 100 sheets in it.

I always tell people that if you’re unsure, start small because you can always move thing to another base later on down the road if you need to.

Hope this helps.
And again, VERY good question.

[Curt_Ranta]

Thank you so much Nathalie!!!