You’ve just closed a major deal.
It’s taken months of hard work to convey the value of your product, negotiate a solid agreement, and get the customer ready for launch. The sales team is pumped, but the handoff now matters more than the close.
Ensuring a smooth handoff from the account executive (AE) to the relevant customer success manager (CSM) is now the priority. This critical process cannot be overlooked if you are hoping to build a trusting, long-term relationship that keeps both parties happy.
There are numerous tasks that need to be completed during the handoff, and they must be done efficiently or the customer could get the wrong impression.
Dynamic due date basics
Everyone has deadlines. At some point, we all experience what it feels like to be chased by a due date pushing us toward the finish line for a task or project.
In the example above, the CSM needs to know not only when to begin the onboarding process, but also when to complete tasks whose deadline depends on a prior action. The right timing may depend on the contract sign date, the handoff task, the workflow run due date, or another date captured inside the process.
Setting one static due date for the whole handoff does not quite cut it. Some tasks need to happen in quick succession, and some need to happen a certain number of days before or after a specific activity.
That’s where dynamic due dates come in. Dynamic due dates are task deadlines that adjust automatically based on another date or event in a workflow. In practical terms, they let you create relative due dates such as “one day after the contract sign date,” “two days after this task is completed,” or “three days before the workflow run due date.”
For example, if you want the AE who closed the deal to post links to all relevant calls, emails, notes, and CRM records within one day of the contract sign date, you can build that timing rule directly into the workflow instead of recalculating the deadline every time the process runs.
Process flexibility is the key to execution
The whole idea behind dynamic due dates is to make your processes more flexible. How things get done in reality will always be more complex and nuanced than a list of 50 tasks getting checked off one by one in regular sequence.
Nevertheless, while a checklist cannot perfectly encompass every aspect of what needs to be done, when and by who, to consistently complete a process on time, it can get pretty close.
Features like conditional logic and dynamic due dates provide a deeper level of flexibility that is transforming how much value you can extract from accurately documenting processes.
We wrote an article on process flexibility a few months ago, which I’m going to use a foundation for explaining the value of dynamic due dates, along with a number of powerful use cases that may just get you thinking about what kind of impact this feature could have on how efficiently your processes get executed.
The main approaches to process flexibility
According to a research paper by Schonenberg et al., Process Flexibility: A Survey of Contemporary Approaches, there are 4 main approaches to process flexibility:
- Flexibility by design – The ability to incorporate alternative execution paths during the design of a process, allowing the selection of the most appropriate execution path when the process is run. This is most suitable for situations wherein the flow of a process depends on real-time variables.
- Flexibility by deviation – The ability for a process instance to deviate at runtime from the execution path prescribed by the original process without altering its process model. This is most suitable for processes in which tasks may need to be completed in various different orders.
- Flexibility by underspecification – The ability to execute an incomplete process model at run-time, i.e., one which does not contain sufficient information to allow it to be executed to completion. This is most suitable for complex processes that are unpredictable and highly prone to variation.
- Flexibility by change – The ability to modify a process model at runtime such that one or all of the currently executing process instances are migrated to a new process model. This approach lies separate to the other three in the sense that it is broad and applies equally to all kinds of processes. It really comes down to building a process that can be and is refined over time to improve execution.
The flexibility approach behind dynamic due dates
Dynamic due dates are set up when you are designing a process, specifically a Process Street workflow. In the case that real-time variables influence the due dates of various tasks, dynamic due dates can be implemented. Therefore, it is the flexibility by design approach that applies to this feature.
Why is this important?
Beyond the benefit of classifying it against a defined set of approaches to process flexibility, it helps you better understand when it is most appropriate to use the feature, particularly when thinking about how it can be applied to various business processes run in your team or organization.
Dynamic due dates in Process Street
Dynamic due dates let you adjust a task’s due date based on a varying factor unique to each workflow run, like a date field, a previous task completion, a specific earlier task, the workflow run due date, or the workflow run start date.
You can set dynamic due dates based on five trigger types:
- Any date form field in the workflow
- The completion of the previous task
- The completion of a specific earlier task
- The workflow run due date
- The workflow run start date
Dynamic due dates are available on all plans. They can also be configured for weekdays only, which pushes deadlines that would fall on a weekend to the next business day. That helps keep work from becoming overdue just because a rule landed on a Saturday or Sunday.
7 ways to use dynamic due dates
1. Employee onboarding
Use case: Manager of a new hire is expected to assign training material within 2 days of granting the employee access to all of the software tools they need.
Let’s say you are employing a new marketing coordinator. Task number 6 in the employee onboarding checklist requires you to grant the new hire access to all of the software tools they need. Task 14 in the checklist is titled “Assign training material”. You have determined that you would like the employee’s manager to assign the training material within 2 days of granting them access to the software tools.
To set this up, you would follow the simple process described in the how-to section at the end of the post, selecting “2 days”, “after” and the specific task “Give access to any tools they need”.
2. Sales training
Use case: A new sales rep is expected to deliver a full practice demo of the product within 5 days of presenting the sales pitch.
This use case is relatively similar to the previous example.
There are various key steps that need to be completed in order to successfully train a new sales rep. One of the most important aspects, at least in my opinion, is having them deliver a full demo of the product to 5-10 colleagues about a week after they have got a good grip of the high-level sales pitch. This puts them in a high-pressure situation, providing an opportunity to build their confidence and showcase their product knowledge to other team members.
To set up this dynamic due date, you would go to task 15 of the sales training process, and follow the procedure described in the previous use case, selecting task 7 (Presentation of product) as the trigger task.
3. Sales to service handoff
Use case: The AE who closed the deal is expected to add links to all relevant calls, emails and notes to the customers CRM profile within 1 day of the contract sign date.
This example goes back to the situation I illustrated in the first few paragraphs of the article. An AE has just closed a deal, and now it’s all about ensuring a smooth handoff to a CSM. No time to waste! As part of the handoff, you require that the AE add links to all relevant calls, emails, and notes from interactions with the customer to their account’s CRM page, providing the CSM with easy access to valuable information.
To set this up, you would select task 7 of the sales to service handoff process, and the “Contract sign date” form field (in task 5) would be the trigger.
4. Tenant screening
Use case: A property manager is expected to complete a background check within 2 days of receiving a rental application from a prospective tenant.
There’s quite a bit of work that goes into screening prospective tenants. From verifying their identification, employment status, background, credit status, and previous track record as good or bad tenants, property managers need to be on point if they want to find suitable tenants quickly and effectively.
In this example of setting up a dynamic due date, an employee at a property management firm is expected to complete a background check within 2 days of receiving a rental application. This would be done by selecting task 20 of the tenant screening checklist, selecting the time frame of your choosing, in this case “after 2 days”, and task 10 “Collect and review rental application” as the trigger.
5. Budget preparation
Use case: The finance department requires that a departmental budget is finalized and has been submitted for approval by senior management at least 3 days before the workflow run due date to give enough time for a detailed review.
You are writing up an annual budget for your department. It’s an important time of the year and making sure senior management have enough time to review the budget carefully, discuss any minor adjustments and confirm approval, is number one on the priority list. To make sure you are fully aware of when the budget needs to be submitted, a dynamic due date can be set against the workflow run due date.
To set this up, go to task 22 of the budget preparation checklist, titled “Request approval from top management” select “3 days” and “before” as the rule. Then select “workflow run due date” as the trigger to finalize the dynamic due date.
6. Event planning
Use case: You and the rest of the event management team need to start publicizing an event at least 2 months before the event start date.
There’s a big event coming up and preparations are about to get underway. While the process may well take 4-6 months from start to finish, a critical checkpoint is when the event is just a couple of months away and its time to begin publicizing. This will likely include press releases and circulating material to your partners, affiliates, sponsors, speakers etc.
To set up this dynamic due date, select task 18 of the Eventable event planning checklist, titled “Start publicizing the event”, select “2 months” and “before”. Then, choose the “Event date” form field in task 2 as the trigger to confirm the rule.
7. Daily store opening
Use case: Store managers require that employees opening a store must check the cash registers within 15 minutes of their time of arrival.
It’s company policy that every morning when an employee clocks in and registers their time of arrival, they are required to check the cash registers within 15 minutes. This ensures that any discrepancies that may have occurred regarding the management of cash from the previous day are quickly identified and reported to the store manager.
This rule can be set up going to task 10 of the daily store opening checklist, titled “Check cash registers”, selecting “15 minutes” and “after”, followed by selecting the “Time of arrival” date form field in task 4.
Setting up dynamic due dates
Now that we’ve been through the use cases, let’s look at how dynamic due dates are set up in Process Street. They are configured inside the workflow editor on the task that needs the deadline.
Select the task, open the due date controls, and choose the trigger that should drive the deadline. The trigger can be a date field, the workflow run due date, the workflow run start date, the previous task, or a specific earlier task. Then choose whether the deadline should happen before or after that trigger, and set the number of minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months.
You can also apply dynamic due dates to multiple selected tasks when the same timing rule should apply across a group. For teams that work business days only, use the weekdays-only handling so weekend deadlines move to the next business day.
Dynamic due dates can still be adjusted on active workflow runs when the real work changes. Overriding a task’s due date breaks the dynamic link for that task, which is useful for one-off exceptions. Users can also override task timing from the Process Street Inbox by using snooze.
For current step-by-step setup instructions, use the Process Street help docs for dynamic due dates, editing workflows, and running workflows.
Conclusion
The primary purpose of dynamic due dates is to tell people the right time to do a task or activity. In that sense, they share the same goal as regular due dates.
What makes dynamic due dates powerful is that they account for variables determined in real time as a workflow run moves forward. The deadline is not just a fixed point on a calendar. It is connected to the work itself.
The seven use cases above only scratch the surface. Dynamic due dates are useful anywhere a deadline depends on a handoff, form field, approval, start date, completion date, or final process deadline. Build the rule once, and every workflow run has a better chance of moving at the right pace without manual deadline chasing.