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Countdown deadline automation

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A countdown deadline makes a task due a set time before a date you already know. If a meeting is on the 14th, the agenda can be due on the 13th, whenever the process happened to start. Meetings, events, launches, contract renewals and compliance filings all work this way.

Set up a countdown deadline

Section titled “Set up a countdown deadline”

  1. Add a date field for the target date

    In your kick-off form1 or an early step, add a Date form field, such as “Meeting date” or “Contract end date”. It has to be a Date field, because Tallyfy won’t save a deadline action that points at a text or number field. Make it required if the countdown matters.

  2. Add the preparation steps

    Add a step to your template for each piece of work that has to happen before that date, such as “Send the agenda”.

  3. Add a deadline automation

    The automation points a deadline action at one step and counts back from the date field:

    If

    • Meeting date is not empty

    Then

    • Shift deadline
      Apply to
      Send the agenda
      Shift by
      1 day before Meeting date

You can count back in minutes, hours, days, weeks or months. The deadline action counts back with Min (-), and it can count forward from the date with Plus (+).

Several deadlines from one date

Section titled “Several deadlines from one date”
Countdown deadlines from one target dateBook the roomResearch prospectSend agendaDay-of checklistMeeting date 1 week before3 days before1 day before2 hours before

Each preparation step gets its own deadline action, and all of them read the same date field. None of them depends on another. You can build them as separate automations, or add several deadline actions to one automation.

Dates with and without a time

Section titled “Dates with and without a time”

A date field with no time counts from 5:00 pm on that day, in your organization’s timezone. So “1 day before” a meeting on the 14th lands at 5:00 pm on the 13th.

For a countdown in hours or minutes, turn on Collect time on the date field so people enter the time as well. Without it, “2 hours before” a meeting on the 14th means 3:00 pm on the 14th, whatever time the meeting starts.

When the deadline is set

Section titled “When the deadline is set”

Tallyfy checks a countdown automation at these moments:

  • When the process launches, if one of its conditions reads a kick-off form field. If the kick-off form is completed after launch, it’s checked then.
  • When someone completes or reopens a step that one of its conditions reads.

Once the conditions match, the automation runs and won’t run again in that process. Completing the step again with a new date doesn’t move the deadline, so set the task’s date by hand instead. When an automation runs covers this in more detail.

If the date field is empty when the conditions match, the deadline action does nothing and the task keeps its default deadline. The automation still counts as run, so filling in the date later changes nothing. That’s why every example here checks that the date is not empty: the automation waits until there’s a date to count back from. Give these steps a sensible default deadline as well, in case the date never arrives.

A different lead time for each case

Section titled “A different lead time for each case”

When the lead time depends on another answer, add a second condition and build one automation per case:

Room setup for a small meeting

If

  • Event type is Small meeting
  • AndEvent date is not empty

Then

  • Shift deadline
    Apply to
    Room setup
    Shift by
    1 day before Event date

Room setup for a conference

If

  • Event type is Large conference
  • AndEvent date is not empty

Then

  • Shift deadline
    Apply to
    Room setup
    Shift by
    2 weeks before Event date

Show a step and set its deadline

Section titled “Show a step and set its deadline”

A step can appear only for some processes and still count down to a date. In this example, step 1 asks for the shipment’s location and expected arrival date:

Show the customs check

If

  • Location is International

Then

  • Show step
    Apply to
    Verify customs documentation

Customs check deadline

If

  • Location is International
  • AndExpected arrival date is not empty

Then

  • Shift deadline
    Apply to
    Verify customs documentation
    Shift by
    1 week before Expected arrival date

These are two automations because their conditions differ. The customs step should appear as soon as the location is known, while its deadline also needs the arrival date. A single automation would show the step and then be used up before anyone entered the date.

Working days and hours

Section titled “Working days and hours”

A deadline set by an automation isn’t adjusted to your organization’s work week2. Tallyfy counts back in calendar time and leaves the result where it lands, so “14 days before” an event can fall on a Sunday. Pick a gap that clears the weekend, or set the deadline on the step itself, where the work week is applied.

Section titled “Related articles”

Footnotes

Section titled “Footnotes”

  1. Pre-launch form that captures initial data before a process starts in Tallyfy ↩

  2. Working days and hours are set in Settings > Organization > Customization, typically Monday-Friday business hours ↩

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