Multiple Bases & Task lists for different clients: I want due dates to populate into a single table & google calendar
I need to manage multiple deadlines for multiple projects & clients more efficiently. I don’t want to update deadlines in multiple places, but that’s where I am. This isn’t efficient and will not work for the long term. Here is the current setup:
I have a Primary Base I use to manage grant research, tasks, and profiles for all of my Clients. This includes 2 key tables: a Research Table and a Task Table.
The Research Table is filtered into views that are specific to each client. Each of those views are synced to a Table within a Separate Client Base. That Separate Client Base also includes a second Submissions Table that is manually updated with specific due dates and other requirements that are unique to that Client (although some research may be relevant to multiple Clients, specific details will be unique to each client). This Separate Client Base is shared with each Client.
The Task Table (in the Primary Base) is manually updated with a wide range of tasks that is grouped by Client. This is not synced anywhere. These tasks are internal and include a wide range of items that do not need to be shared with each Client.
I have several ideas but I’m unclear what is most efficient. The end result I want is two-fold:
I want a Comprehensive Task List that includes 1) all deadlines from the Submission Table in each Separate Client Base PLUS 2) any tasks that need to be added for that Client.
I want this final Comprehensive Task List to sync with Google Calendar. I don’t want to sync multiple calendars if I can avoid it.
Any suggestions? Is this an automation issue? A sync issue? A formula? A base design? A combo of all these? Thank you!
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Hmm, lots of thoughts here. Overall I think your issue is with workflow design, as segregating the data into multiple bases makes it harder to sync. There are three general options I’d look at and then explore deeper on whichever appeals…
Business Tier: Are you on business or enterprise tier (or willing to go up to those)? Those tiers allow for two-way synced tables across bases, so then it’s a matter of structuring the data to flow up from the Separate Client bases into your Primary base.
Client Interfaces instead of Bases: If you’re attached to a Teams plan, then another option might be sharing individual interface pages with your clients, instead of entire bases. This would need a fair bit of restructuring but it’d get all your data in your primary base.
Utilizing 3rd party automations: If A or B won’t work for you, then you could create a bigger picture scheme with Make or n8n to connect your bases together outside Airtable, so Airtable updates to a client base trigger automations copying the data to your primary base.
Yeah, as @DisraeliGears01 mentioned above, it it actually NOT recommended to split up all of your data into separate bases for each client.
What you’d ideally want to do is combine everything into ONE base, and then you only need to create ONE interface page that is automatically filtered by whichever client is currently logged into your base.
When a client is logged into your base, they will only see THEIR OWN records — they won’t see any other clients’ records.
You can do this with the Teams plan, but it’s more secure if you do it on the Business plan.
For what you’re looking for I think your best bet’s multi source syncing + two way like @DisraeliGears01 mentioned, which is on the Business / Enterprise plan; it lets you consolidate data from multiple tables into a single table
And so you’d create Interfaces on each of those Client bases and invite them to those instead
If using Business isn’t an option, then you’re going to need to use automations / an external service to replicate the functionality of multi source syncing. Doable, but tedious to set up and may become hard to maintain depending on how many client bases you have ---
Ideally you’d want to restructure everything so that you’ve just got one base, but the concerns here would be:
If you don’t want your clients to be able to see each other you’d need to have the Business plan, in which case you might as well try multi source syncing first
You’d need to restructure everything, which is probably going to be pretty painful heh
Thanks! These suggestions are helpful and give me a lot to consider. I think my problem is coming down to workflow design and I’ve outgrown what I’ve been doing. I’m on the TEAM plan. I have about a dozen clients, with 5 that are highly active (but this is about to change). I’m going to look further into portals, as well.
A few challenges / thoughts:
I did misspeak above - I’m using Interfaces to share data with each Client from the Separate Client Base. Not sharing the base itself. I haven’t sorted out a way to use a single Table for each Client (yet). The project management templates in Airtable haven’t worked well for me. I can revisit this.
Two-way syncing could work well with better workflow design. I do see problems having too much data split across too many bases where some Tables sync and some don’t.
Question to research: can multiple, synced to-do lists (whether in separate tables or bases) be synced into one consolidated Table?
I’ve tried a single base, but it gets visually overwhelming fast for neurodivergent users with too many Tables. I could explore “grouping” in each Table to see if that helps (right now each fiscal year gets a Table). Some of this work does require maintaining quick visible access to about a 2 year history.
One solution coming to mind, but it will require more frequent maintenance of cross-syncing:
If I continue with a Separate Client Base for each Client: explore one, new Client Project Table instead of using a separate Submission Table and Task Table. A filtered Client Interface could eliminate everything the Client doesn’t need to see. A Separate Client Base allows me to have a separate Project Table for each fiscal year.
The new Client Project Table two-way syncs to the Primary Table (Q above on consolidating tasks lists). The deadlines and due dates from this Primary Table then get synced into Google Calendar. Drawback is that I’d have to update the syncs at the end of the fiscal year approached for each Project Table.
Thanks again for the insights!
Question to research: can multiple, synced to-do lists (whether in separate tables or bases) be synced into one consolidated Table?
Yeap this works fine, the only caveat is that your destination must be one base and all your sources must be from other bases
