Quick answer: A due date and reminder workflow automatically alerts the person responsible before a deadline, on the day it's due, or once it's overdue. Unlike the other workflow types, it's triggered on a date rather than when a record is entered or edited — so it fires based on a date field (like Due date or Reminder date) reaching today, not based on someone saving a form.
When would you use this?
| Use case | Without the workflow | With the workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Upcoming equipment calibration | Someone manually tracks calibration dates and reminds the responsible person | AlisQI automatically sends a reminder ahead of the calibration date |
| Internal audit follow-up | The Quality Manager manually tracks the deadline and reminds the responsible person | AlisQI automatically sends a reminder before the follow-up review is due |
| Action due and overdue alerts | Action owners have to check the action list themselves to spot overdue items | AlisQI automatically alerts the action owner both when an action is due and when it's overdue |
Before you start
Make sure you have the following ready:
- Permission to manage workflows in AlisQI.
- The trigger date(s) decided — e.g. a Due date field, or a Reminder date field (which could simply be Due date minus a number of days).
- A date field for each use case you want to cover — a pre-due reminder, a due-today message, and an overdue message are typically three separate date fields.
- A recipient — one or more people, email addresses, or a user selected from a selection list (e.g. the action owner).
- A notification method — email, an in-app pop-up or alarm, or both.
Tips
- Consider a separate workflow for each date field (pre-due, due, and overdue) so each stage can have its own tailored message rather than one generic one covering all three.
- Need a reminder that keeps repeating every few days until the record is closed, rather than firing once? See How Do I Set Up a Recurring Reminder That Repeats Until an Action Is Closed?
Step-by-step: building the workflow
This walkthrough alerts an action owner both when their action/task is due and when it's a week overdue, using two date fields already on the Action list set.
- From the menu bar, go to the results overview of the relevant Analysis set.
- On the right side of the screen, click More > Workflows.
- Click + New workflow. A new panel opens on the right.
- In the panel, click Add filters. A window opens to configure them.
- Open the field list and select Status. This filter makes sure a reminder is only sent for actions that aren't closed.
- Set the condition to trigger whenever status is anything but Closed.
- Click Add field if you want to add a condition on another field too.
- Open the field list, select the additional field, and set its condition — for example, only sending the reminder when Type of incident is Customer Complaint.
- Repeat step 8 if you need another condition — for example, to also include a different type of incident. [
- Once all conditions are set, click Apply to close the filter window.
- Select the trigger action: deselect Entry and select On date instead, since this workflow should trigger based on a date being reached, not a record being entered. The Field list next to it becomes active.
- From that Field list, select the date field(s) that should trigger the workflow — in this example, both Due date and Reminder date.
- Select the recipient type — in this example, User in selection list.
- From that list, select Action owner.
- Add any signals you need. As with other workflows, options include Popup, Alarm, Result transfer, or Webhook — this example doesn't need any.
- Enter a Subject and Message. This example uses the variables
{number_},{actionowner_}, and{duedate_}— available variables depend on your own environment's fields, and each is replaced with the actual value from the triggering result (e.g.{actionowner_}becomes the actual assigned person's name).
- Choose whether the result should be added as a table. If checked, the result and any attachments are included in the message; if not, only the message and a link are sent.
- Click Save. The workflow now appears under Existing workflows on the left side of the screen.
How to test it
Trigger the workflow:
- Add a new result to the Analysis set the workflow is set up for.
- Enter an action with the Due date set to today.
- Save the result.
Confirm it worked:
- On the due date, a message should be sent to the selected action owner.
- Check the Messages inbox: go to the action owner's profile, click Messages, and look for the notification there.
If the workflow doesn't trigger
- The due date or reminder date hasn't been reached yet, or isn't filled in. Set the date to today to confirm the workflow fires correctly.
- The wrong recipient is selected. Open the workflow and confirm the correct recipient is set, then test again.
Key terms used in this article
- On date trigger – a trigger fired when a specific date field reaches today's date, rather than when a record is entered or edited.
- Filter – the condition(s) a record must meet for the workflow to trigger (e.g. Status not equal to Closed).
- Signal – an action the workflow performs alongside the main message: a popup, an alarm, a result transfer, or a webhook.
- Variable – a placeholder (e.g.
{actionowner_}) in a message that's replaced with the actual value from the triggering result.