Service 04 · Airtable systems
The data hub everything points at.
Airtable as the central source of truth. The headless database that sits behind your internal tools, customer portals, automation pipelines, and reporting — so every other system reads from one place and stops disagreeing with itself.
01 — Who this is for
When your data lives in five places.
And nobody agrees what’s true.
Teams where the same record gets entered into multiple tools. Where reports never quite agree. Where the source of truth is whoever asks last. Airtable becomes the database the rest of your stack reads from — and one set of numbers everyone can point at.
02 — Common symptomsIf one or more sound familiar
01The CRM, the project tool, and the spreadsheet all disagree.
02Reports show different numbers depending on who builds them.
03Customer or job records live in three places at once.
04Every team has its own way of tracking the same thing.
05Migrating tools means re-keying everything by hand.
06You picked a CRM and then the team built workarounds on top.
03 — What we build
Concrete deliverables.
No retainers in disguise.
- 01Airtable as the central data hubSchema designed for how your business actually models its work — customers, jobs, products, whatever the unit is. Not a generic template forced to fit.
- 02Migration from current sources with reconciliationCSVs, CRMs, spreadsheets, legacy databases. Mapped, deduplicated, reconciled, imported. Nothing dropped.
- 03Views, interfaces, and access per teamSales sees what sales needs. Ops sees the operational view. Finance sees the numbers that matter to them. One database, many viewing angles.
- 04Automation wiring to keep the hub in syncThe hub stays current via workflow automation connecting it to the rest of your stack — CRM, billing, ops, comms.
- 05Custom interfaces on top of the hubWhen Airtable’s native UI isn’t enough, custom internal tools that read and write to the hub in real time.
- 06Documented handover with maintenance runbookSchema docs, migration steps, automation map. Your team owns and evolves the hub as the business changes.
04 — How an engagement runs
Map, build, hand over.
Your team owns the hub from there.
Your team owns the hub from there.
Four phases. Schema before scope, because the data model decides everything that comes after. Migration is part of the build, not an afterthought. The handover is a runbook your team can extend without us.
Phase
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13+
01
Map
02
Build
03
Handover
04
Filed
◆ Your team runs it. We step out.
After handover →
Retainer
optional · continuous
Run
→
Iterate
→
Design
→
Build
01 · Map
You
Show us where the data lives now. Every spreadsheet, every system, every export.
Us
Design the schema. Identify what migrates, what gets archived, what needs reconciling.
Filed
Schema design · migration plan · phased options
One model, before any build.
02 · Build
You
Validate the schema as it lands. Provide sources to migrate from.
Us
Build the hub, migrate the data, wire the views, connect the automation.
Filed
Hub live · data migrated · views in place
One source of truth, finally.
03 · Handover
You
Name the owner. Walk it with us.
Us
Document the schema, the migration, the automation. Train the owner.
Filed
Schema doc · runbook · owner · review cadence
Yours to evolve from here.
04 · Filed
◆ MILESTONE
You
Run it. Extend the schema as the business changes.
Us
Grace period covered. Anything after is booked.
Filed
File closed · no ongoing dependency
The point.
↻ Retainer · optional
Iterate on what’s
live, by the month.
live, by the month.
One cycle · run, iterate, design, build
01 · Run
Keep it operating.
02 · Iterate
Act on what usage shows.
03 · Design
Scope the next thing worth building.
04 · Build
Ship it. Measure it. Back to run.
Typical follow-on
Usage optimisation, workflow tweaks, feature additions. Shape varies by what was built and what the team needs once it’s in their hands.
Cancel any month · 30 days' notice
Engagement is always the foundation · retainer never required
06 — Smallest useful first move
A one-week schema audit.
And a migration plan you can read.
We map your current data sources, design the schema your business actually needs, and write up the migration plan. One week, on-site or remote. You get a schema design with reconciled migration steps and indicative costs before any commitment to build. If you stop there, you stop there.
07 — Start a conversation
If this is the kind of work you’re after, here’s how to begin.
Thirty minutes. What’s in the way, what you’ve already tried, whether there’s a useful first move. No deck, no proposal.