How Coupler.io helped no-code agency XRay.Tech to track and analyze their time

Before we can import our calendar data into BigQuery, we sync every event with an Airtable base using another database synchronization app. Then, at the end of each day, we’ve configured a Coupler.io importer to automatically add the latest data from Airtable to BigQuery.

This one simple import with Coupler.io enables us to view a wealth of analytics and insights. Once our data is in BigQuery, we can visualize where our team members spend their time based on nearly any parameters.

We can see which clients and projects get the most of our time, and compare that to a baseline average. We can see how much time is spent on a client on any given day or week, and correlate any spikes with specific tasks or projects that took extra work.

Importing the time tracking data in BigQuery with Coupler.io also lets us see how our team members are using the time tracking tool itself. We can see whether our team is scheduling their time in advance, or logging their schedules at the end of the day.

With the data in BigQuery as a guide, we’ve been able to make several key decisions to optimize the way we do work at XRay. Instead of spending nearly an hour per client on preparing hourly billing statements, we were able to accomplish the task in just ten minutes. Even more importantly, the data clearly showed us that hourly projects were not an effective use of our time, so we switched exclusively to membership and project-based billing models.

Having all of our time clearly laid out in BigQuery showed us which projects were consuming the most of our time, and which could use a little more attention. It’s helped us to keep our workloads balanced as we devote roughly equal time to each client, and it prompted us to move on from certain clients that consistently demanded too much of our day.

With Coupler.io, we don’t have to do any extra work or manual tasks to get these insights; we can just check BigQuery periodically to see the latest data automatically imported.

No-code automation platforms like Coupler.io are an excellent resource for building custom tools that fit unique workflows. At XRay.Tech, we wanted to develop a deep understanding of how our team spends time, and the existing tools didn’t cut it for us.

Without Coupler.io we would have been stuck manually importing data, making our system much more burdensome and less useful. By automatically performing a small but critical step, Coupler.io has empowered our team to make key decisions based on how we spend our time.