Field projects rarely involve just one organization. Environmental assessments have prime contractors and sub-consultants. Archaeological surveys have CRM firms and agency reviewers. Infrastructure inspections involve owners, engineers, and field crews from different companies.
The data sharing workflow for these multi-org projects has looked the same for decades: export CSV, email it, wait for the other team to import it, hope nothing gets lost or duplicated. It's slow, error-prone, and creates version control nightmares.
FieldTap Connect replaces that entire workflow with direct, real-time data sharing between FieldTap organizations.
What Is FieldTap Connect?
FieldTap Connect is a built-in feature that lets two FieldTap organizations share projects and field data directly — no exports, no file transfers, no manual imports. Once two organizations are connected, sharing a project is as simple as clicking "Share with Organization" and setting permissions.
Shared data syncs automatically through FieldTap's offline-first engine. Both teams see the same records, photos, and maps. Changes appear in real time when connected, and sync seamlessly when field crews come back from offline work.
How It Works
Step 1: Connect Your Organizations
Navigate to Settings → Connections in your FieldTap dashboard. Click New Connection and enter your partner organization's name or admin email address. Add an optional message and send the request.
Your partner's admin receives a notification. They accept the request with one click. That's it — both organizations are now connected.
Step 2: Share a Project
Open the project you want to share. Go to the Team tab and click Share with Organization. Select the connected partner from the dropdown.
Step 3: Set Permissions
For each shared project, you choose the partner's access level:
- View Only — Partner can see records, photos, and maps but can't modify anything. Perfect for client deliverable sharing.
- Contribute — Partner can add new records to the project but can't edit or delete your organization's records. Ideal for sub-consultant data collection.
- Full Access — Partner can view, add, edit, and manage all records. Use for joint ventures where both firms need full control.
Permissions can be changed at any time as project needs evolve.
Step 4: Collaborate
Once sharing is active, both organizations see shared records in their dashboards. Records are clearly labeled with the originating organization. The full audit trail tracks who created, modified, and reviewed every record — across both organizations.
Field crews work exactly as they normally would. Collect data offline, take GPS-tagged photos, fill forms. Shared data syncs when connectivity returns.
Real-World Use Cases
Prime Contractor & Sub-Consultant
A prime contractor shares the project area and base mapping data. The sub-consultant's field crews collect data directly into the shared project — soil borings, wetland delineation points, archaeological site forms. The prime sees incoming data in real time without waiting for weekly data dumps.
Agency & Consulting Firm
A state agency shares a monitoring project with their contracted consulting firm. The consultant submits field inspection records directly into the shared project. The agency reviewer can approve or flag records without downloading files or switching platforms.
Multi-Firm Joint Venture
Three firms working a large infrastructure project all connect to the same shared project. Each firm's crews collect data independently — the data converges into a single, unified dataset. No more monthly data reconciliation meetings.
Client Deliverable Sharing
Share a view-only version of your project with the client. They see live field data, photos, and maps as work progresses. No more generating PDFs and emailing status updates — the client sees the current state of the project at any time.
Why Not Just Export and Email?
The export-email-import workflow has real costs:
Time. Every export, email, and import cycle takes 15-30 minutes. On a project with weekly data exchanges over six months, that's 6-12 hours of pure data logistics.
Errors. CSV exports lose data types. Email attachments get lost. Manual imports create duplicates. Each handoff is an opportunity for data loss or corruption.
Version conflicts. When both organizations work from separate copies, the data diverges immediately. Reconciling two datasets that have been modified independently is painful and error-prone.
No real-time visibility. The prime contractor doesn't see sub-consultant data until the next export cycle. Problems that could be caught in a day go undetected for a week.
FieldTap Connect eliminates all of these issues. One shared dataset, one source of truth, real-time sync.
Security and Control
FieldTap Connect is designed with security as a first principle:
- Mutual acceptance — Connection requests require both organizations to agree. No one accesses your data without your permission.
- Granular permissions — Control access at the project level. View Only, Contribute, or Full Access — your choice.
- Encryption — All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256).
- Audit trail — Every action on shared records is logged with user, organization, and timestamp.
- Instant revocation — Remove access to any shared project at any time. Takes effect immediately.
Getting Started
FieldTap Connect is included in all Team plans at no additional cost. No add-ons, no per-connection fees.
- Sign up for FieldTap if you haven't already
- Go to Settings → Connections
- Send a connection request to your partner organization
- Share your first project
For a detailed step-by-step walkthrough, see our FieldTap Connect guide.
The more organizations on FieldTap, the more valuable the network becomes for everyone. Every connection you make is a workflow you'll never have to manage manually again.