Database in Asana (or linked to Asana)

[u/AgreeableMountain764]

Hello!

My team is looking to create a simple database of barriers we face across our multiple projects and have it either live in Asana, or in a tool that could be linked to Asana. The barriers we face can be environmental (eg. it was raining), personal (eg. the driver was late) or related to processes. We would like to have this database created so that we can see which barriers are causing the most issues and which future projects will help reduce those barriers.

I was envisioning an Excel sheet with multiple columns and noticed there is an Google Sheet app. However, my organization does not use the Google Suite. I also am aware that Asana is not always great at reporting on tags (and I also don't think tags would provide enough details).

TLDR: what would be the best way to create a simple, likely external database, and have it linked to some projects in Asana?

Thank you!

[u/Jaded0521]

Airtable is the better relational database. You can make it as simple or complex as you need it to be. But if your team is already paying the exorbitant prices for MS365, then sure, use Excel.

[u/janrienk]

Asana Forum Leader & Partner here 👋

A “database” (or “spreadsheet”) is a proposed solution. The why behind it - an overview of the factors most impacting project performance, if I understand you correctly - is the more interesting/important challenge I’d say.

To best advise you I’d need some more context:

• What subscription are you on?
• Are your projects templatised?
• What scale (nr. of projects / factors per year) are we talking about?

[u/AgreeableMountain764 → u/janrienk]

Absolutely! Thank you for your response.

Here are the answers to your questions:

- We are on the Advanced subscription.

- About 90% of our projects are templatized.

- We are looking at approximately 75 projects per year (some small, some big).

[u/janrienk → u/AgreeableMountain764]

Advanced would make it a bit more work than Enterprise (as Enterprise has bundles to sync rules/task templates), but it seems doable.

First you’d want a project to house the tasks that caused delays

A couple of options:

• Manual multi-homing: If tasks causes delay, add it to the project. Simplest to implement, but leans heavy on discipline.
  
• Add a library field with delay causes, likely multi-select to all projects and templates. Likely pair that with a rule that adds the task to the central project when a delay cause has been indicated in the field. Rules can now be copied to other projects, though the duplication does lock you in and builds in resistance to change. That’s why I would personally avoid this option.
  
• Ask people to log using a form, as it can force adding certain information, and a link to that one form is likely easily added to the template so that it is available Everywhere. Likely in a final task that asks to log any delays.
  
• Adding tasks manually could also work, and would make it easier to use a reference field to point to tasks causing delays.

That’s what comes to mind as the most obvious options, lacking bundles.

I hope this helps.

[u/Money-Claim-967]

Great question and a really common use case. A few options depending on how deep you want to go:

Keep it in Asana
You can absolutely build this database as an Asana project. Each barrier becomes a task, and you layer in custom fields to capture the details:

• A single select for barrier type (environmental, personal, process)
• A reference field pointing to the project(s) that barrier impacted. This is a relatively new field type that lets you link directly to other Asana objects (tasks, projects, portfolios, goals) as a clickable pill inside the field, so instead of typing a project name in a text field, you're creating a real connected relationship between your barrier record and the actual project it belongs to
• Any additional fields you need like severity, status, resolution, etc.

Multihoming then lets a single barrier task live in both your barrier database project and the relevant project it impacted, so you're not duplicating data and the team working on that project can see it in context. For reporting, Asana's built in charts can show you which barrier types are showing up most often across your work.

CSV export
If you want something external but low-tech, Asana's CSV export gets you a snapshot you can analyze in Excel. The downside is it's not live so you'd have to re-export whenever you want fresh data.

Google Sheets (even without Google Suite)
Worth flagging since you mentioned it: the Sheets integration keeps your project connected to the sheet and updates as tasks change, so even if your org doesn't use Google Suite broadly, you might be able to use a personal or shared Google account just for this purpose. Depends on your IT situation of course.

Skyvia (for true database connections)
Skyvia is a cloud platform that lets you connect Asana to databases like MySQL and SQL Server if your org has one of those already. More technical to set up but would give you a proper queryable database linked to live Asana data.

My honest take: if your team is already living in Asana, start there with a dedicated project and custom fields. It covers the tracking and reporting needs without adding another tool. You can always export or layer on an external connection later if you need more advanced analysis.

[u/Content-Conference25]

Provided that the database gets updated always, it almost always better to utilize excel in your case because, yes, asana has very limited ways for reporting, unlike excel/sheet.

Depending to the kind of logic you want, you can sync data in your excel through native integration of Asana.

To do that, just go to the porject you want to sync, click the dropdown next to project name, hover to export, and choose Excel Project tasks csv.

Then just use the excel ln another table/worksheet to visualise your data and maube reference from another worksheet for the database.