Setting due dates, times

Scheduling workflow due dates can be rather straightforward. If you never use templates, and always create single-route workflows, setting due dates is  simple. Worldox knows the workflow request will be sent today (now, as soon as you click the Begin  button on the Workflow > Create dialog). That knowledge means you can pick a specific day and time as a due date. All it takes is a few short steps, done in one dialog window.

Add more routes to a workflow - or start creating templates - and that start date certainty is gone. Worldox can’t know in advance when the next (or any template) route starts, so the due date has to be conditional, based on a start date to be determined later.

•       Conditional date setting

•       Using date/time setting dialogs

•       Working days vs. calendar days

•       Best practice guidelines

•       Examples

Conditional date setting

When Worldox knows (presumes) when a Workflow route will begin, it offers a simple due date choice. Here is that simple choice, seen as you set up the first or only route in a workflow.

In all other workflow scenarios - additional routes on a new workflow, workflow templates created for future use - Worldox cannot presume the start date. In that situation, here is the dialog used to define due date when start date is unknown.

This type of due date is conditional, meaning it is dependent on another date, one that is yet to be determined. Every date set in template development is conditional, because each template is a generic form. The case of second and following routes in a new template is a little different, but still conditional.

Template use is illustrated in this scenario:

Scenario: You are creating a new template. The first route is a simple approve/disapprove decision, with SUCCESS defined as approved by more than 50 percent of recipients. The due date is a week from today.

•       In defining the second route (this time a review request to other recipients), you might think that there will be a known start date - one week from today. In fact, SUCCESS or FAILURE can happen at any time. If 50 percent of route one recipients respond and approve within 24 hours, that second route can start then. If 50 percent respond and do not approve within 48 hours, that second route cannot start at all. So Worldox cannot presume when the second route starts.

•       The only sensible way to schedule in advance is to determine the interval you want to wait after the to-be-determined start date before starting the second route.

Specifying conditional future dates is complicated by three factors:

1. It is inherently more difficult to set an interval after an unknown date than to pick an exact date and time. Worldox makes it as easy as possible, but setting conditional dates simply requires more thought.

2. In order to ensure that a future, to-be-determined due date makes sense at your firm, Worldox needs to factor in your working schedule, weekends and common holidays. For example, what good would it do to have a due date fall on a Friday afternoon at 5 PM if you always close at 1 PM on Fridays for summer hours?

That is why you have the opportunity to use “working” days and hours vs. “calendar” days and hours in setting future due dates, in the dialog used to set due time when start date is unknown.

3. There are several ways to define an interval. With options come choices. That leads to best practice, our suggestions for how you should best define future due dates.

Using date/time setting dialogs

Referring again to the conditional date-setting dialog:

1. First, define the day on which you want the due date to fall. That can be:

•         Same day - same day the route starts. or

•         The following - any day within the next week, or

•         Begin day plus - a specified number of days after the start date

If you use the Begin day plus option, be sure to check the schedule shown. Use day links in that dialog to change day/hour schedules if necessary.

2. Next, set the time on which you want response to be due on the selected date.

•         Specific time - a designated hour on the due date, or

•         Begin time plus - a specified number of hour after the start time, on that due date

Here too, if you use the Begin time plus option, be sure to check the schedule shown. Use day links in that dialog to change day/hour schedules if necessary.

3. Test the resulting date.

The Testing area on the conditional date-setting dialog shows how a due date selection plays out, based on a start date of today, now. These fields are interactive. You can experiment here. Put in a different date and time to see how the specified interval actually works. If the due date is not working to your satisfaction, start over. Re-specify date and time, the check the Testing area again.

4. Click OK when the due date is set to your satisfaction.

If you use Begin day plus or Begin time plus options in that dialog, be sure to check the schedule. Here’s the dialog used to set Begin day plus.

The days and links appearing as the dialog opens represent a default, day-by-day schedule. It’s an assumption only, a starting point. Please change this schedule if hours at your firm are different. Just click the links to change hours and availability. That way, Worldox can schedule due dates and times based on your firm’s actual hours.

Working days vs. calendar days

“Calendar” days and hours mean every day counts, regardless of weekdays and holidays. “Working” days and hours take weekdays and holidays into account. To illustrate:  Let’s assume a workflow route actually starts on Monday, November 19, 2012, at 5:00 PM:

If you specify a begin day plus due date, start date plus 6 days:

•       Using working days, Worldox can account for holidays and weekends. Thanksgiving falls on Thursday the 22nd. Then Friday is a working day, followed by the weekend. That puts the due date on Wednesday, November 28.

•       Using calendar days, weekends and holidays do not matter. The due date falls on Sunday, November 25.

Working vs. calendar hours uses the same principle. If you specify a number of hours as part of the interval defining a due date - and that interval ends up placing the due date to a weekend or holiday - Worldox pushes the due date to the next business day.

Best practice

These guidelines can help you save time in filling out due date dialogs for workflow templates. Referring again to the conditional date-setting dialog:

If effect, setting your due time in reference to the time a request went out only makes sense if you are requesting a same day response. You can set time either way. It’s easier to set a specific time, so we consider that option best practice as long as the due date is not Same Day.

Examples