Despite the need to manage colossal amounts of Data, firms continue to analyze Data using Spreadsheets rather than Databases. They don’t use Databases as SQL scripting skills are often required. That’s where Airtable comes into play. It combines the functionality of a Database with the look and feel of a Spreadsheet so that users are always aware of what’s going on.
Furthermore, Spreadsheets can only store a certain amount of Data. If your team deals with large amounts of Data and makes frequent checkups, Spreadsheets may be inefficient. If you want to save your Data in a Database without doing a lot of technical work, you’ll need to know how to use Airtable.
Airtable is a Cloud-Based Project Management tool aimed at small and medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises. The main focus of this platform is Data organization and collaboration. Airtable boasts that it can “arrange anything, with anyone, from anywhere.” Data can be connected if it is relevant to one another.
In this article, you will gain information about Airtable Project Management. You will also gain a holistic understanding of the different steps involved in the process. Read along to have in-depth knowledge about Airtable Project Management.
Table of Contents
What is Airtable?
Airtable is a versatile and dynamic Work Management Solution with a wide range of applications. If you’re used to Spreadsheet-based tools such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, Airtable will feel like a natural fit. As this Airtable review shows, Airtable can assist you and your team with the following tasks:
- Organize and Manage Project Plans
- Execute Repeatable Task Management
- Assign Work to Resources
- Create Projects from Templates
- Manage Project Budgets
- Facilitate File Sharing
- Workflow Management with Powerful Integrations
If you’re part of a small team that prepares and executes repetitive tasks, Airtable can help. While Airtable bills itself as a Work Management Tool that can be used for anything (e.g., Airtable Project Management, Event Planning, and Sales Pipeline Management), it’s best suited for small teams that collaborate on a daily basis. The users who profit from Airtable are listed below:
- Project Managers
- Project Coordinators
- Operations Coordinators
- Event Coordinators
- Sales Specialists
- Marketers
- Developers
Key Features of Airtable
Airtable offers a variety of features. Here are the key features of using Airtable Project Management:
1) Built-in Templates
Since configuring the Airtable Workspace might be challenging for novice users, the software includes hundreds of pre-made templates to assist you. User Research, Social Media Campaigns, Bug, and Issue Tracker are just a few of the templates available, which span from personal projects to more traditional commercial themes. Whatever you want to do with an Airtable Database, there are pre-made templates to suit your needs in the Airtable world.
Airtable Templates are idealized versions of Airtable Bases (Databases) that are designed to fit a wide range of use cases. The Templates feature the best industry practices based on feedback from a variety of Airtable users, but they’ve been streamlined and simplified to make it easier for newbies to learn Airtable and to serve as a good starting point for creating your own customized Base.
2) Custom Views
Views are unique to each table in your database; you may use them to display only specified fields or records, as well as apply other parameters to manage/monitor the Data in that View. Each View can have its own set of settings for hiding, sorting, and filtering records in a table.
The Airtable app allows you to create custom Airtable Views, such as the Calendar View, to help you adapt to the needs of your team, a Classic Spreadsheet to get a Grid View and a Gallery View that displays the files similar to images and documents. This feature comes in handy while working with Airtable Project Management.
3) Storage
You can store numerous file attachments in your Database records with Airtable. Storage capacities range from 2GB to 1000GB and are available in a variety of pricing schemes. In this manner, you may preserve your Project Data without running out of capacity on your Airtable Base. For the file attachments, the Airtable app supports a variety of formats, including:
- Images and Videos
- Documents in PDF format
- Spreadsheets, including CSV file support
4) Task Management
You can enter Task Data, such as how long someone spends on a task, into the tables in your Airtable Workspace. If you manually update it regularly, you’ll obtain rapid overviews of project statuses.
You can also share the Calendar View with your teams to plan and manage Project Timetables and to-do lists for more flexibility. This feature of Airtable Project Management enables a smooth
process for a project.
5) Third-Party Plugins
“Blocks” are third-party plugins that facilitate Airtable Integration. Blocks allow you to interact with Google Drive plugins. Some of the popular Third-party plugins include:
- Slack
- GitHub
- WordPress
- Stripe
For Further information on Airtable check the official Airtable website here.
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What are the Steps to Implement Airtable Project Management?
The steps involved in setting up Airtable Project Management are as follows:
Step 1: Analyzing the Process
Before you even consider using Airtable Project Management Software, you must first comprehend the process you’re going through. Airtable can perform a lot of things in a lot of different ways, but until you know exactly what information your specific Management Plan requires, even using the built-in content strategy templates can be complicated. Therefore, this step is crucial for starting any task in the Airtable Project Management system.
Step 2: Choosing Airtable Template
When it comes to Project Management Templates, Airtable provides a wide array of alternatives. Many Airtable Templates, both custom and crowdsourced, are designed with very sophisticated but nonspecific procedures in mind. You might be able to tweak one of them to meet the approach you’ve defined above, so they’re worth looking into. Airtable Project Management has become a lot simpler with the help of these templates.
If you know you’ll need specific fields, though, it could be just as simple to create your template from scratch. Each field must be added one at a time, together with the Data type that should be stored in that field. There are Data type options that can save a lot of time and work, such as selecting Multiple Select, Single Select, or even linking to Data from another table if necessary.
Step 3: Selecting Views
After you’ve set up your Data fields, the next step in setting up Airtable Project Management is to go to the Views sidebar on the left side of the page and look around. You have various alternatives to select from, each of which will allow you to Track your Project or Manage your Data Differently. There are different views available in this step:
- Each row is displayed as a separate card in the Gallery View, with the option to sort as desired. For example, you could wish to sort by due date and status to bring up the assignments that are currently in progress to the front of the list.
- Grid View is the greatest way to see your raw Data without being distracted by overlays. You’ll be displayed all of the information in your Airtable base at the same time.
- The Calendar View can offer you an overview of when things are due, allowing you to focus on only the items that are due soon or on a certain date. A single day, a single week, two weeks, a month, and other time frames are all possible.
- You can use Form View to populate an existing Spreadsheet in Airtable without having to touch the raw Data. Rather than returning to the original Grid view, simply fill out the fields that show in Form view and select Submit to populate new assignments.
Step 4: Testing
Before finalizing any process testing is important. Similarly, testing is important before implementing Airtable Project Management. You’ll run into a few snags even with the best-laid intentions. It’s much better to strike those problems with Test Data than with Real Data in real-time and fill in a half-dozen rows and experiment with all of the options. This will also assist you in determining which view you’ll use the most, as well as how to filter and manage that view.
Step 5: Adding Team Members
The last step in Airtable Project Management is to add team members. Even if you don’t chalk out/layout the plan perfectly the first time, it will save you a lot of time in the long run. It’s probably a good idea to get rid of your Test Data (unless you were testing with a real management project, which you simply reset to the starting conditions).
What are the Key Benefits of Airtable Project Management?
Benefits of Airtable Project Management are:
1) Relatable with Spreadsheets
The foremost benefit of Airtable Project Management is that it works in a similar way to a Spreadsheet. It resembles a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets in appearance and functionality. You won’t have to start from scratch with pre-built templates like you would with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets. Let’s say you’re used to using Microsoft Excel to create and manage project plans. Airtable will appear to be a straightforward option in this instance because you’ll have online collaboration and predefined project templates to work with.
2) Adaptable
One major benefit of Airtable Project Management is Adaptability. The user interface of Airtable is based on a basic Spreadsheet format that can be customized to accommodate the Data of any business practice. Users of Airtable can choose from a variety of Airtable Displays and even customize Data values in a variety of formats, such as:
- Dates
- Currency
- Preset values
- Long text
To streamline your existing workflows, you can also use Blocks to integrate Third-Party app plugins into your Airtable Database.
3) Easily Shareable
To compensate for the lack of team collaboration options, Airtable Project Management users can easily share files and Data. Even the free Airtable plan includes this feature. You can access your files from anywhere with desktop programs and mobile apps for iOS and Android. You may also submit massive files for your team to download, thanks to its generous file storage limitations. When it comes to sharing your Spreadsheet Data, with the Airtable Project Management System you will have a few options:
- Share links with varying permissions for viewing.
- Integrate your Airtable Database with your website.
- To personalize your app, utilize the Airtable API key that came with it (all Airtable users have access to their API key through the Airtable API documentation).
- Use the Airtable Importer or other apps that offer an Airtable connector to import your data into Google Sheets.
4) Centralizing the Project
The best part about Airtable Project Management is that all the data is stored in one place. You can collaborate with your Team at the same place and time rather than using traditional Spreadsheet-Based tools. You won’t have to worry about version control because everyone on your project team will have access to the same information in one place.
You’ll be able to attach files and share them as well. Let’s imagine you’ve finished a deliverable and want to share it with the rest of the team. It should be uploaded to Airtable.
What are the various Airtable Pricing Plans?
Airtable has two pricing tiers for small businesses: Enterprise and Free.
- Free: Rather than being a free trial period, the Free tier is always free to use. Users can choose from a variety of views, including kanban, gallery, calendar, and grid. Each database can hold up to 1,200 records. Customers on the Free plan can create an unlimited number of bases, each with 2 GB of storage.
- Plus: Each user pays $10 to $12 per month for the Plus tier. It also offers a free trial period for those who want to try it out before buying it. The Plus tier includes all of the features of the Free tier, plus the ability to store up to 5,000 records per database. Each base has a storage capacity of up to 5 GB. It stores a six-month revision history, allowing users to go back and look at previous versions of the project.
- Pro: Each user pays $20 to $24 per month for the Pro tier. It also comes with a free trial period. The Pro tier includes all of the Plus tier’s features plus the ability to store up to 50,000 records and 20 GB of attachments per base. It has a one-year revision history that allows you to go back and look at previous versions of the project. Gantt chart and timeline views are now available for projects. Apps can be used by Pro tier subscribers to enhance Airtable’s features.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise tier is best suited to large businesses with stringent security and customer service requirements. To obtain a price quote, customers must contact the Airtable sales team. Users can create 100,000 records per base and have 1 TB of attachments in the Enterprise tier. Three-year revision history is available at this level.
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Conclusion
This article has given you an understanding of Airtable, its key features, its key benefits, and how Airtable works along with the steps to set up an Airtable Project Management system. You are now ready to start building your Airtable Project Management system. So go ahead and enter your information and enjoy the smooth workflow using Airtable software. If you need help with your Databases, contact the Airtable Support team. Airtable is one of the best options for handling Databases. In case you want to integrate Data into your desired Database/destination, then Hevo Data is the right choice for you!
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Share your experience of understanding the concept of Airtable Project Management in the comment section below!