Posted on Jul 31 • Originally published at scalevise.com

How We Automated Project Administration with Jira, Make and Airtable

Tired of messy spreadsheets and endless hours lost chasing worklogs? We were too. That’s why we built a fully automated workflow that connects Jira, Make.com, and Airtable — and it changed everything.

This case study explains exactly how we at Scalevise automated our internal project administration and reporting — with a workflow that’s modular, scalable, and accurate.

The Problem: Admin Burnout and Billing Bottlenecks

Like most development agencies, we use Jira to track work. But when it came time to calculate billable hours, track project costs, or share client updates — we hit a wall.

Pain points:

Worklogs buried in Jira, hard to extract per project
No centralized overview of time spent, team workload, or project cost
Manual reporting every week — prone to error, never up-to-date

It wasn’t sustainable. So we built our own solution.

The Stack: Jira + Make.com + Airtable

We decided to connect three powerful tools:

Jira: For detailed time logging and task tracking
Make.com: For automation flows, triggers, filters and routing
Airtable: As our live dashboard and cost-calculation database

Together, they formed a custom middleware that replaced our chaotic spreadsheets with clean, real-time data.

How the Automation Works

1. Developer logs time in Jira

Each time entry is linked to a task, project and user.

2. Make.com scenario is triggered

The automation listens for new worklogs or issue changes. It retrieves data from Jira using filters and routers.

3. Data flows into Airtable

Each worklog is matched to a project and user in Airtable. It calculates:

Total hours per task and project
Billable vs. non-billable work
Project profitability

4. Dashboards update in real time

With Airtable Interfaces, we built custom dashboards per client, team, or role.

Why Airtable Was Our Choice

We evaluated several alternatives: Notion, Google Sheets, even Monday.com. But Airtable gave us:

A structured database feel without the steep learning curve
Interfaces that made it easy for project managers to use without technical help
Custom fields and formulas to track profitability, overrun hours, and billing status
Easy integrations with Make.com and external APIs

In short: it let us design exactly what we needed, without writing code.

Results: 6–8 Hours Saved Weekly

This automation saves us hours per week — per project manager.

Other gains:

No more manual updates or chasing logs
Accurate cost per project, per developer
Real-time project dashboards
Easier reporting for clients and internal reviews

Where You Can Use This

This setup isn’t just for us. It works perfectly for:

Agencies that bill by the hour
Dev teams working across multiple clients
SaaS companies tracking internal project efficiency
Consulting firms with complex deliverables

Strategic Benefits (Beyond Time Saving)

We didn’t just save time. We changed the way we think about operations.

Improved forecasting: See real-time burn rate and time remaining for each sprint
Client transparency: Provide stakeholders with dashboards or exports instantly
Cash flow predictability: Know how much time is unbilled and ready for invoicing
HR insights: Know which team members are overloaded, or underutilized

It’s more than admin — it’s intelligence.

Where This Works Best

This setup isn’t just for us. It’s applicable to:

Agencies that bill by the hour
Product teams balancing feature sprints and client requests
SaaS companies tracking internal development costs
IT consultancies running multiple parallel projects
Remote teams needing visibility without micromanagement

If your organization uses Jira and cares about where time goes — this will bring value.

Visual: Our Interfaces

This demonstrates how filters and formulas help with reporting.

This illustrates how we route and classify logs.

Lessons We Learned

Keep it lean: Automate the essentials first, then scale.
Get stakeholder input: PMs and finance need different views — design for both.
Log everything: Even tiny tasks. It adds up and improves data quality.
Interface matters: People only use dashboards if they’re easy to understand.

How We Rolled It Out

We used a phased rollout approach:

Internal project only (pilot)
Gradual team adoption with feedback
New client projects added one-by-one
Final rollout with documentation and onboarding

This helped us avoid resistance and ensure adoption.

Want to Build This Yourself?

We help clients implement similar solutions using Make.com, n8n, or custom middleware. Whether you want a simple flow or a full enterprise dashboard — let’s talk.

Check our latest resources at: https://scalevise.com/resources/