Setting Due Dates on Document Workflows

In SOLABS QM10, it is possible to set Due Dates on document workflows (review, approval, and retire cycles).  When Due Dates are set, this will trigger notifications for task due or late (reviewers or approvers can only be due or late on review/approval/retire cycles if Due Dates are set).

Due Dates can be set by selecting the attribute Use due dates set on document workflow tasks on the Authoring screen for a document and then completing the Delay to review/approve field when setting the Document Workflow.

The Use due dates set on document workflow tasks option can be found at the very bottom of the document View screen when on the Authoring page.

 The Delay to review/approve field is found when setting the Workflow Parameters.

A delay can be selected for each level of review/approval/retire. The first reviewer can be set with a 5-day delay, the second can be set with a 10-day delay, etc. When delays are set on a workflow and the attribute Use due dates set on document workflow tasks is selected on the document, the Due Date for each reviewer/approver will be calculated whenever a cycle is started. The calculation of the Due Dates can be managed in two different ways.

Option 1)  You can set a Reference Date on each cycle, upon which the Due Date will be calculated:

When a Reference Date is selected and the cycle is started, the Due Date will be calculated based on that Reference Date plus the delay set for each reviewer/approver.  For example, if the Reference Date selected is 2020-09-01, the delay set for the first reviewer is 5 days and the Review Cycle is started on 2020-08-29, then the calculated Due Date will be 2020-09-06.  If the delay set for the second reviewer is 10 days, with the same Reference Date, the Due Date will be 2020-09-11.

Option 2)  You can set the Due Date without using a Reference Date.

In this case, the Due Date will be calculated based on the date the cycle is started.  Using the previous example, if NO Reference Date is entered, the delay set for the first reviewer is 5 days and the review cycle is started on 2020-08-29, the calculated Due Date will be 2020-09-03.  If the delay set for the second reviewer is 10 days, the Due Date will be 2020-09-08.

It is also important to know that for the Approval and Retire cycles, where the approvers are set in series (level 1, level 2, level 3…), the Due Dates will also be calculated in series. If a delay of 5 days is set for the first approver at level 1, a delay of 10 days is set for the approver at level 2 and the approval cycle is started on 2020-08-29, the Due Dates will be calculated as follows:

• First approver:        2020-08-29 + 5 days = 2020-09-03
• Second approver:   2020-08-29 + 5 days + 10 days = 2020-09-13

As mentioned above, using Due Dates will then trigger email Notifications for Review/Approval/Retire Cycle participants when they are Due or Late.

The Notification for a cycle step Due is sent one day before the Due Date.

The Notification for a cycle step Late is sent once a week based on the Due Date as follows:

• Document to Review Late: every Monday after the Due Date is passed
• Document to Approve Late: every Tuesday after the Due Date is passed
• Document to Retire Late: every Tuesday after the Due Date is passed