The Challenge
As Bombayworks expanded, so did the complexity of managing their operations and project data. The team relied on separate tools for time tracking, HR management, and employee scheduling. However, these tools operated independently, making it difficult to get a complete view of their operations.
One major challenge was generating custom reports from the time tracking app. Bombayworks needed to track client billable rates while excluding internal time, a function the standard interface couldn’t provide. Additionally, they couldn’t link scheduling data from the employee scheduling software with time tracking data.
The Search for a Solution
To tackle these challenges, Bombayworks explored several solutions. They initially tried using Zapier to automate data imports into Airtable but found it limited for bulk data transfers and missing integrations with some of their key tools.
This led Karl Löfdahl to discover Data Fetcher, built for connecting APIs directly inside Airtable. While not a software developer, Karl quickly learned to work with APIs using Data Fetcher — finding it far simpler than the other tools he had tried.
Implementing Data Fetcher
Karl began by connecting Airtable with the various tools Bombayworks relied on. Data Fetcher made it easy to set up custom API requests, allowing him to pull data directly from these tools and Bombayworks’ internal systems into Airtable.
With scheduled syncs, Airtable always reflected the latest data from each system — without manual exports or fragile event-based automations. For bulk imports, Data Fetcher outperformed event-triggered workflows in Zapier, providing a more reliable and scalable solution.
Impact of Data Fetcher
With time tracking data integrated into Airtable, Karl could finally build the custom reports the original tool couldn’t provide. This significantly improved the management of both internal and client time. Integrating the employee scheduling software further allowed Bombayworks to combine scheduling and time tracking data in Airtable, giving the team a comprehensive view of their operations.
Beyond improving reporting, centralizing their data in Airtable enabled the creation of additional tools, like a salary revision app built on top of HR data and a forecast overview of the team planning tool. Karl also plans to use Data Fetcher’s currency conversion feature to automate exchange rate calculations.
As Karl puts it:
"Data Fetcher has been my guide into the world of APIs. I could never have done this with other tools like Postman—Data Fetcher made it so much easier!"
For Karl, learning to work with APIs not only simplified his job but helped transform how Bombayworks runs its operations.
Wrapping up
By centralizing project, time, and HR data in Airtable, Bombayworks simplified reporting, reduced manual work, and built internal tools without expanding their engineering team.
Ready to turn Airtable into your operational control center? Connect it to any API — no engineering team required. Get started with Data Fetcher today.
