Hat-Trick: How A Football Club Transformed Data Management Using Jira, catworkx, and Backbone Work Sync

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Remember those chaotic spreadsheets and endless email chains? That was the life of a local football club – until they decided enough was enough. Data inconsistencies, security risks, and manual updates were a recipe for frustration. They needed a game-changer.

Enter catworkx and their brilliant idea: two Jira projects, one for admins and one for coaches. But how to keep everyone on the same page? That's where Backbone Work Sync came in, seamlessly sharing key info between the two projects. Collaboration soared, operations streamlined, and the club could finally focus on what mattered: the beautiful game.

Behind this transformation was Michael Bernhard, CEO of catworkx, an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner, and a football fanatic himself. With over 20 years in the local football scene, Michael couldn't stand by and watch his beloved club struggle. He knew they needed a tech upgrade, and he and his team at catworkx were just the people to deliver it.

The Challenge

Imagine running a football club with hundreds of players and members, all tracked on…Excel spreadsheets. For years, this club struggled with hundreds of rows and columns of data, trying to keep track of everything from personal details and payments to team assignments.

As the club grew, this Excel nightmare only got worse. Manually managing data led to errors, outdated records, and security risks. Additionally, different stakeholders—coaches, administrators, and board members—needed access to different pieces of information, but Excel lacked structure and access control.

The result? Data chaos. The approach led to privacy risks, data inconsistencies, and a huge administrative burden, especially at the end of the season when coaches submitted separate lists that had to be manually reconciled.

The Excel-based system presented several key challenges:

• Data Fragmentation & Inconsistencies – Every coach maintained separate Excel lists, leading to mismatched records.

• Lack of Access Control – Coaches needed contact information and player history but weren't supposed to see other sensitive information, e.g., financial data or player addresses.

• Manual Workload – Administrators had to manually compare and consolidate spreadsheets at the end of every season, leading to inefficiencies and wastage of time.

The Solution: Using Jira as a CRM

With catworkx's consulting expertise, the club transitioned its entire membership database to Jira, using tickets to store each player’s information and turning Jira into a CRM.

The next challenge was solving the access control puzzle to ensure data privacy:

• Administrators and board members needed access to all information about the players, like detailed financial and personal records.

• Coaches only needed to see relevant parts of that data set, e.g., contact details and player history.

• Meanwhile, data must remain up-to-date for all stakeholders while protecting sensitive information.

To solve this, two different Jira projects were created:

1. Master Project

   • Contains all player/member data.

   • Includes financial details, membership fees, and personal identifiers.

   • Restricted access to admins and board members only.

     Instead of using complex field-level security to control access for coaches, catworkx cloned the Master Jira project with reduced data fields for coaches.

2. Coach Project

   • Contains limited information (contact details, team history).

   • Excludes sensitive data (e.g., bank details, insurance numbers).

   • Access only for coaches and team management

     The club operates with around 100 free community licenses for Jira, ensuring that board members, admins, and coaches have the appropriate access levels.

Using Backbone Work Sync To Keep Projects In-Sync

The data between the two projects was synced using Backbone Work Sync for Jira. Any changes made to the player status by a coach would automatically sync back to the Master Project and likewise in the other direction.

“We only sync the data from the master to coach projects we wanted coaches to see. This separation, combined with permission schemes, ensures both data security and appropriate access. People do not have Excel lists anymore. They maintain the data in Jira, and it’s always up to date instead of working all season with outdated spreadsheets.”
— Michael Bernhard, CEO, catworkx

Implementation and Benefits

With catworkx guiding the implementation, the configuration was set up very quickly and has been running reliably ever since.

“We configured Backbone’s synchronization, which was done within two hours. It’s reliable. It’s stable. It’s fast. No complaints at all. We set it up once 5 years ago, and it’s been running smoothly ever since.”
— Michael Bernhard, CEO, catworkx

The Backbone Advantage:

• No More Data Silos – Automatic updates between the Master and Coach projects ensure that data remains consistent. 

  • Besides Jira work items, comments, and attachments are also mapped and synced. 

  • Members’ lifecycle is also tracked and updated across the two projects using workflow mapping. For example, if a member has canceled their membership, their status will be updated on the master project and automatically synced on the coach project.

• Improved Security & Access Control – Coaches see only relevant data, while sensitive information remains protected.

• Eliminated Manual Data Entry – No more manually consolidating multiple spreadsheets at the end of the season.

Why This Matters for Other Organizations

This use case and its benefits extend to any organization needing to synchronize data across multiple Jira projects while maintaining strict security. Examples include:

• Customer Support & Engineering: Sharing ticket updates across JSM and Jira instances like Arvato Systems or Jira to Jira behind firewalls like MIC GmbH.

• HR & Compliance: Employee records in separate HR & payroll Jira projects.

• IT Asset Management: Keeping IT & Finance records in sync.

 Secure Data Sync for a Winning Team

By transitioning from Excel to Jira and implementing Backbone Work Sync, the football club’s data has improved security and management has become as smooth as a perfectly executed pass.

catworkx’s consultants were crucial in ensuring a seamless implementation and making Backbone an effortless and reliable solution.

“Backbone Work Sync was the perfect solution for us. The sync ensures our coaches always have up-to-date information while protecting sensitive data. It has significantly reduced manual work and improved our overall efficiency. We don’t even have to think about it anymore—it just runs seamlessly in the background.”
— Michael Bernhard, CEO, catworkx

With this transformation, the club is better equipped to focus on what truly matters—developing players and fostering community engagement—without worrying about outdated or fragmented data.

Want to Streamline Your Organization’s Data Management?

Connect with one of the catworkx solution experts today to explore how Jira & Backbone Work Sync can streamline your data synchronization—securely, efficiently, and at scale.