Due dates that calculate themselves from your data

Anchor a step's deadline to a date your team actually collects in the run — a go-live, a renewal, a ship date. Set it once as “2 business days before” and every run works out the real date on its own, no manual math and nothing to keep re-typing.

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Step due date Relative
This step is due
2 business days before
From the collected date “Target go-live date”
calculated for this run
Due date for this run Thu, Mar 12, 2026

Stop guessing deadlines run by run

Every event has a different date, so a fixed deadline is wrong the moment the run starts. Relative due dates read the date your team enters and work out each step's deadline for that run — consistently, every time.

Fixed or hand-set dates
  • Someone edits each step's date on every run
  • A slipped go-live leaves stale deadlines behind
  • Reminders fire off the wrong day
Relative due dates
  • Set the rule once on the workflow
  • Each run calculates its own real dates
  • Reminders land relative to the true deadline

Three steps to self-calculating deadlines

1

Collect a date in a step

Add a Date data-collection field to a step — the go-live, the renewal, the appointment. Your team fills it in as the run progresses.

2

Anchor a step's due date to it

On another step, set a relative due date: an amount of time, before or after, measured from the collected date. That rule lives on the workflow template.

3

Every run does the math

Once the date is entered, Manifestly calculates the real deadline for that run — and recalculates if the date is later corrected.

The date flows straight into the deadline

Inside a run, one step captures the date. As soon as that step is completed with a value, the deadline on the step you configured is worked out for you — and written to the run so it drives everything downstream.

  • Calculates once the source date is entered and its step is complete.
  • Correct the date later and the due date recalculates to match.
  • Step reminders can key off the calculated due date, so nudges land on time too.
Product Launch — Run In progress
Confirm launch date with the client
Target go-live date Mon, Mar 16, 2026
Prepare launch assets
Final go / no-go review
Due Thu, Mar 12, 2026 — 2 business days before go-live

Anchor a deadline to whatever matters

A relative due date is an amount of time measured from a starting point. Choose the starting point that fits the work — a collected date is one of four.

From a collected date

Measured from a date field your team fills in during the run.

“3 days before the renewal date”
From the run start

Measured from the moment the run begins.

“Due 1 day after kickoff”
From the previous step

Measured from when the prior step is completed.

“2 days after the last step”
From the run due date

Measured backward from the run's own deadline.

“5 days before the run is due”

Before or after, in the units you count in

Say how much time and which direction. A positive offset falls after the anchor date; a negative one falls before it. Measure in minutes, hours, or days — and for days, choose whether you're counting calendar days or business days.

  • Before for lead-time deadlines — “prep is due 2 days before go-live.”
  • After for follow-ups — “send the recap 1 day after the meeting.”
  • The rule reads in plain language on the step, so anyone editing the workflow understands it.
Build the rule
2 business days before Target go-live date
March 2026 business days only
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16 collected date 12 due date — weekend skipped

Count the days that actually count

When you measure in days, business-day counting skips weekends and the holidays on the workflow's business calendar — so “2 days before go-live” never lands your team on a Saturday. A landing rule can nudge a result onto the next business day when a calculation falls on a day off.

  • Choose calendar days or business days per step.
  • Business days honor the workflow's working days and holiday calendar.
  • A landing rule keeps deadlines off weekends and holidays.
Calendar days
Counts every day, including weekends and holidays.
Business days
Skips the days your team doesn't work — weekends plus the holidays on the workflow's business calendar.
Landing rule
When a result lands on a day off, roll it to the next business day so nothing is due when nobody's working.

Automatic, but never rigid

The calculation handles the common case, and a person stays in control of the exception. Override a single run's due date by hand and Manifestly respects it — it won't quietly recalculate over your change, and the run's activity records both what it would have set and that a person overrode it.

  • Manually set a due date on any run when a one-off calls for it.
  • A manual override isn't overwritten by later recalculation.
  • Due-date changes are logged to the run's activity for a clean audit trail.
Run activity
Due date set to Thu, Mar 12, 2026 — 2 business days before “Target go-live date.”
Recalculated to Fri, Mar 13, 2026 after the go-live date was corrected.
Calculation skipped override — due date has been set manually.

Where a collected date drives the deadline

Launches & go-lives

Capture the target go-live date up front.

The final review is due 2 business days before — and shifts automatically if the date moves.

Renewals & compliance

Record the renewal or expiry date on the run.

Paperwork is due 5 days before the deadline, every contract, without a spreadsheet of dates.

Events & appointments

Collect the event or appointment date.

Prep tasks are due before it and follow-ups after it — all anchored to the one date entered.

Relative due dates, answered

Any date data-collection field on an active step in the same workflow. Add a Date field to a step, then, on the step you want dated, choose that field as the basis and set how far before or after it the step is due.

Once the source date has been entered and its step is completed, Manifestly calculates the deadline for that run. If the date is corrected later, the due date recalculates to match.

Yes. Choose before or after when you set the rule. “Before” is ideal for lead-time deadlines — prep due 2 days before a go-live — while “after” suits follow-ups.

Calendar days count every day. Business days skip weekends and the holidays on the workflow's business calendar, so a deadline never lands on a day your team isn't working. You choose the counting mode per step when you measure in days.

Yes. A manual override on a run is respected — the automatic calculation won't overwrite it — and the run's activity notes that a person set the date so the history stays clear.

A step's due date can also be measured from the run's start, from completion of the previous step, or backward from the run's own due date. Pick whichever anchor fits the work.

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Set Step Due Dates from a Collected Date

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