How UCLA uses CSV Getter to connect Airtable and Wordpress

UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) recently shared their experience with CSV Getter, a tool that has helped them automate data management processes, saving valuable time and resources. In a recent interview, we spoke with Juan and Angela from the ITS team about how CSV Getter supports their research activities by streamlining the workflow for managing and updating large datasets across Airtable and WordPress.

The ITS team handles a substantial amount of information related to ongoing projects, publications, and individual researchers. Previously, they struggled to keep this data organised using Google Sheets, as it didn’t support linked relationships or a single source of truth for project details. By transitioning to Airtable, they centralised their data management but still faced challenges keeping their Wordpress content up to date.

“Putting it on Airtable saved us a lot of time. Certain fields that we track, we would like to have on our website for public information about the research we’re doing,” explained Juan.

Using a combination of Airtable, CSV Getter, and WordPress, UCLA ITS now automatically synchronises data from Airtable to their website, ensuring that research project details, publications, and researcher profiles are always up-to-date.

UCLA utilised the tool WPAllImport to fill their project page. This tool, combined with CSV Getter made the automatic retrieval of Airtable data for the live page incredibly straightforward:

“With CSV Getter, we grab the link and then have a cron job set up on our website that runs on a nightly basis,” shared Angela. “It fetches the CSV Getter link and updates any changes made in Airtable.” 

The team appreciates how easy CSV Getter makes it to set up these automated processes, saving time and reducing the need for manual updates. The simplicity and user-friendly interface of CSV Getter were major selling points for UCLA. According to Angela:

“CSV Getter is really easy to set up. The UI is easy to use and understand, which contributes to the time saved.”

Previously, keeping the website updated required “an undergraduate student logging into the website and doing a bunch of copy-pasting,” a process that was both time-consuming and error-prone.

Using CSV Getter, the ITS team estimates that they save about 10 hours per week in data management. This time savings has allowed them to increase the transparency and availability of their research, as they can now easily publish both completed research and projects that are still in progress.

“This allows us to be more transparent and forthcoming about the work we have in process and not just the work we finished,” explained Juan. “If all research units around the world had work in progress that was searchable, there would be a lot more collaboration.”

When evaluating options, UCLA initially used another service for connecting Airtable and Wordpress, but found it “bloated” and expensive for their needs. CSV Getter offered a more straightforward solution that aligned with their goal of making research accessible without breaking the budget.

“We’re not making money off of our website,” noted Juan. “We’re offering the website as a service to say, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on.’” CSV Getter fits that use case without the bloat or high pricing of some other solutions.

In an era when many research institutions aim to be more collaborative, UCLA’s adoption of CSV Getter reflects their commitment to sharing ongoing research projects in accessible ways.

“We can now spend less time doing busy work and more time doing real work,” said Juan.

For ITS, CSV Getter has become an indispensable tool for data synchronisation and automation, allowing them to remain transparent, organised, and responsive to research needs. As Juan emphasised:

“There’s a real research benefit in having more information accessible, and CSV Getter has made that possible.”

Through CSV Getter, UCLA ITS has transformed how they handle and share data, exemplifying how accessible automation tools can support institutions in focusing on their core mission—advancing knowledge and fostering collaboration.